We left the Pegasus Books "Sale" table out overnight. There was enough money for 3 books on the table in the morning, and someone brought in .50 later in the day.
Hmmmm. Maybe I should leave it out by mistake every night!
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Not to pick on CACB, but since no one else has mentioned it: the stock dropped to a new low of .46 Friday...so even a stock doubling wouldn't get them to 1.00.
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In talking about Staccato closing, John Stearns of the Bulletin makes a pretty good case for what I call "The Beautiful Corpse" scenario.
Downtown has been "failing upward" for years now, (get it, "failing upward, not falling upward"): As rents increased only wealthier stores could move in, who would then fix up the spaces, but who would then have to pay for the improvements and startup costs and high rent at the same time.
Ultimately, when they fail, the next guy in line gets a much improved space for lower rent.
I'm beginning to think I'm the last unrenovated space in downtown; I can't afford to close and move everything out and completely redo the space. I still have my old-fashioned lights. I did replace the carpet at one point, and I've painted the walls a few times.
But whoever ends up in my space years from now is going to get a "worn out and looking it's years and he lived a full life" space. Only the good die young.
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So my former competitor Brad Irwin has gone from selling games, to hosting poker tournaments, to distilling "spirits." Intriguing career arc.
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Interesting article "Taking the Leap to Self-Employment." I have trouble agreeing with this statement, however: "At first, the actual business may be secondary because you will need to devote most of your time to marketing."
Not with a storefront, you don't. I realize they are talking about all kinds of self-employment, but this idea of 'marketing above all' is why I think the a second paragraph in the story is true:
"Half of all startups fail with the first five years."
My advice for a storefront is pick "location, location, location" as your marketing, then work your ass off to work your store and fill it with product. You know, the nuts and bolts. Start small enough with low enough overhead that you can grow your business.
Otherwise, my question is -- "Promote WHAT?"
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My peonies and poppies and half the other plants in my garden stubbornly refuse to bloom. They've got enormous buds -- fat, healthy looking buds -- but they won't open.
Then again, I brought my shorts and sandals out from the closest yesterday for the first time this year...
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For fun last night, I watched my wife Linda watching a author on Book T.V. (yes, that's fun for us, pretty pathetic.) I knew the author was extremely right wing, but he also is the most 'reasonable' sounding guy you ever heard.
I waited for it to dawn on her that the guy was saying exactly the opposite of what she believes.
When she finally realized it, I laughed. "Yeah, he sucked me in once, too."
You can say the most outrageous things, if you say them in a reasonable and measured manner...
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H. Bruce made his usual yearly comment in the Wandering Eye blog about my usual yearly 'rant' about street closures.
Actually, I realize that I can't change any of this; so I've been pretty good at avoiding these events altogether and putting my employees in the stores on these days. That way, I don't have to be exposed.
What caught me off guard was that it was a Friday, my regularly scheduled day, and that one of my employees is on vacation making more work for the other guys and I didn't feel I could leave.
Of course, this moving into Fridays is a new thing. Cascade Criterion used to be called the 'Twilight' race, because it didn't take place until after store closing. This last Friday's race was completely new last year.
I figure I'll probably have retired by the time they start closing on Thursdays or Mondays....Tuesdays and Wednesdays...
Oh, hell. What do we need stores for? They just get in the way of all the fun...
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13 comments:
"Oh, hell. What do we need stores for? They just get in the way of all the fun..."
Believe it or not, that's more or less what some of the comments on my Wandering Eye post say.
Some people just don't get it. I wonder what universe they're living in.
Just talk to some of these events guys sometime.
They act totally mystified by me -- "Who are you?"
"I'm the guy who has the store behind your booth."
"Store? We're here to ride bikes, sell food, what do you have to do with it?"
"Errr...nothing. I just pay the rent all year long so you can come and sell stuff in front of my store. Sorry to get in your way, sir."
"Believe it or not, that's more or less what some of the comments on my Wandering Eye post say."
I'm about to get hammered, aren't I?
I'm a public relations genius.
I'll amend that a little.
"I'm the guy who pays rent all year long on weekends you are cozy in your bed so you can sell stuff on what would normally be the busiest weekends of the year. Sorry to get in your way, sir."
Was the author Michael Crichton?
Hey, I'm only off 800.00 from last weekend. No big deal.
Sigh.
I'll try to explain again.
I'm worried about the constant adding of new events. Most events stay on the schedule forever, once added.
Each event is worthy in it's own right.
There are no end to worthy events.
One event added per year would be ten closed weekends per ten years.
They assured us that they had set a cap.
After setting a cap, they went ahead and added new events and expanded existing events.
Events aren't good for everyone.
Like having a neighbor having a wild party next door, you can chuckle the first time, smile indulgently the second time, but after the tenth time of no sleep it ain't no fun.
It is clear when talking to both the organizers and the attendees, that the STORES are the last things on their minds.
They also tend to not be very thoughtful -- in their placement of events, in the way they can block eyesight and or access to my store. Yesterday, for instance, they piled their stuff on the sidewalk even though they had the whole 'closed' street to themselves. When I asked them if they could move their piled stuff one yard to the north, they acted like I had three heads.
I'm not against established events; especially the parades, but in adding new events.
I'm not against events in the off season when they have a chance of adding customers, but I wish they would leave a few of the busiest weekends of the year for stores to be stores.
Why are they doing this on the busiest weekends-- because of the nice weather. The same reason why I'd be more likely to get more actual customers.
It's cherry picking, folks. Without paying the freight for the rest of the year.
It was Victor Davis Hanson, talking about how Pre-emptive wars were sometimes a good idea.
I'm also for locking up criminals before they commit crimes.
Duncan, as I mentioned last year about this time, there's lots of alternatives to having bike races and events downtown. If organizers want to have downtown events that do impact the sales on retail businesses located there, (other than the events that have been there for years and years, such as Summer Fest and Cascade Classic, etc), they should pay the shop owners for lost revenues. Messy, and probably would never be properly figured in terms of dollars, but a fee system for new events may make the point better than just a few folks pointing out that this is not a sustainable practice.
By the way, saw in Julie's blog today this line (she is moving to Eugene after 5 years in Bend, her family is moving due to her hubby's job) "After 5 years of adventures in Bend, which as you know is sort of like living in Pleasantville except without the jobs or perfectly ironed shirts, it seems..." Her blog, which is excellent, is www.chubbymommyrunningclub.com. We'll miss her!
"sort of like living in Pleasantville except without the jobs"
LMAO!!! She got THAT right!
Blackdog, that quote killed me too! It's so much more wholesome than the old standby, "Bend: Poverty with a view", isn't it?
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