My sister, Betsy, is visiting from Seattle, and she mentioned that she almost worries about 'getting lost' here. "The population was only 13,500 when I left here, you know."

To which I answered. "I just follow the old roads around, 3rd St., Wall, Franklin, Bond, Greenwood, etc. Everything else is just extra overlay."

I wonder sometimes if the newcomers really understand how much Bend has increased in size. I get the comment, like with my sister and Seattle, that towns are growing 'everywhere.' People just don't see the degree of difference.

Bend had a population of MAYBE 15,000 not so long ago, including 'metro area.' (By which I mean, there was NO metro area, really.) Now we have a population approaching 150,000 including a metro area. The town has grown by 10 times, which is not a normal growth rate, to say the least. That's Deadwood boomtown rate. And we know what happened to all those old mining towns when the goldrush was over.

And yet, old Bend is still here. The routes I normally travel are the same routes, downtown still is downtown, and so on. All the rest is froth, to me.

Once of the reasons I'm not so worried about a downturn is that my business was geared for a much, much smaller population. Less than 20,000 people. My square footage is the same, my overhead, while higher, isn't out of bounds of increases in costs of product, and my margins are probably better, and my inventory has grown also, so that is probably a wash. It's a shame that downtown landlords didn't make more of an effort to retain some of the older businesses, because they were the type of businesses most likely to gain from the population increase. Like a household sticking to their old budget despite a salary increase. If they get replaced by businesses that are geared to the higher population in costs and effort, then it's like starting all over, again and again.

Not to be insulting, but so many of my customers might as well be tourists for all they are aware of Bend, it's history and customs. The number of people who have lived here for five years and don't know we exist, for instance. If they buy something from me, they could just as easily have come for L.A. They are resident tourists, if you will.

I like that term. Resident tourists.

If they become a regular, they're extra.
One customer at at time.

It's sometime hard to explain to newcomers the dynamic of what's going on here. I've come up with a new saying: The people in the houses of the neighborhood you just moved into, have been here about 5 minutes longer than you have. The 'established' business you just visited downtown is still wet behind the ears. When everyone is new, no one really has perspective.

I can totally ignored those swathes of subdivisions; they need not impact much on my life, except I suppose when the roads narrow in the old part of town and they tail-gate me.