"Specialty stores tend to file for bankruptcy first."

Once upon a time, downtown Bend had drugstores, and stationary stores, and department stores, and hardware stores. And some nook style restaurants and gifts shops. Even a few service businesses, such as shoe repair and engraving. And yes, sprinkled through the downtown core, a few fine dining restaurants and high end clothing and jewelry stores.

Now....

Nothing but high end!

Specialty stores and fine dining. More specialty stores, jewelry, purses, clothing, art. More fine dining....

I've always been more than a little suspicious of this.

In my store, I've tried to have both high end and low, mixed. Items for customers who wants to spend a couple of dollars, and a few really spectacular items for those that want to buy something special. The vast majority of sales fall somewhere in the middle, with customers buying a book, or graphic novel, or toy somewhere in the 5.00 to 20.00 range.

Someone told me years ago not to let any one supplier be more than 50%; or let any customer be more than 50% (though that's hard to imagine.) I applied that formula to all aspects of my store. I may be a specialty store, but I'm a department store of specialties -- that is, I carry 8 separate product lines, all of which could have been one store.

Over the last few years, I've managed to add enough new product to make comics 50% of my sales, instead of 65%, 75% all the way up to 80%. Sports cards reached 85% of my sales once, and we were almost wiped out when they stopped selling.

Anyway, I think a downtown with a better mix of stores would be healthier.



A couple of very interesting articles I've read speak to the problem of having nothing but specialty and high end stores.

In the article Is it Time for a Massive Mall Meltdown, Media Post says,

"Clothing stores...continue to be the most vulnerable...with such chains as Wilson's Leather, Geoffrey Beane-outlet stores, Goody's Family Clothing, Ann Taylor and Talbots among the many retailers that shuttered stores in the first half. "...those that offer a broader selection of merchandise are in a better position," says Tony Gao, Ph.D., marketing professor and retail expert at Northeastern University's College of Business Administration in Boston... "And specialty stores tend to file for bankruptcy first."

Speaking to that point, an article in the Minneapolis-St.Paul Business Journal discusses the closing of the 35 store Acorn chain which was a "... boutique concept [that] appeals to a more affluent customer with an eye for unique styles.”

Meanwhile, an article in the USA Today about credit cards points to the problems that fine dining is having.


"...54% of consumers said they plan to spend less on "discretionary" or luxury items, while a mere 5% plan to spend more. The percentages of consumers spending less were even higher among consumers aged 35 to 64. And 57% said they are "more careful" about eating at restaurants, where bills are often paid with plastic." And they use as an example, the recent bankruptcy of Bennigan's -- "...joining a few other operators of casual dining chains that succumbed this year as more people chose to dine at home."



In other words, the types of store most in danger from the current slowdown are exactly the types of stores that infest downtown Bend. There are few nook stores, few funky critters.

One of the great things about being downtown is that each store, each building, each landlord is separate and independent. The downside is, unlike a mall, there is no one to control the mix. Restaurant can open up next to restaurant, jewelry store next to jewelry store. Newer buildings, renovated buildings necessitate higher rents. Because of higher rents, only high end businesses can afford to come downtown.

Which is why I've always bemoaned the loss of the funky habitat.