Monday, June 27, 2011

Easy Solution.

I'm just avoiding the downtown street closure events.

Letting my guys handle it.

I expect the streets to be closed every weekend from now on, so I'll be pleasantly surprised on any weekend when they aren't closed.

I think economically, they may be a bit of wash, nowadays, instead of a complete negative like they used to be. I'd still like to be just a store in a retail district instead of sideshow in a circus, but there you go.

Friday was extraordinarily slow -- and once again I wonder if anticipation of (before the event) and satisfaction from (after the event) keep customer counts down. But, hey, I'm assured that the events create future customers, so that can't be right.

A -- mild -- rant this year, HBM.


Postscript. We had a big day on Saturday and a better than average day on Sunday, after a pretty horrid week, so the weekend helped. Stop my bitchin'? Not just yet. I'm still not convinced that overall they are a great idea, even when they come through once in a while.

6 comments:

H. Bruce Miller said...

I noticed that for this event they had the entertainment area separated from the sidewalks by barricades, which improved the pedestrian flow along the sidewalks and might have helped people access the stores (including yours) more easily. In other downtown events like this people have had to push and jostle their way through a milling mob.

Matthew Funk said...

Not to be overly negative, but I think for the amount of people we had in the door Saturday, there were probably fewer per capita that actually bought anything than normal. It's just that there were so many people in that it came out positive anyway.

Anonymous said...

A note about the greater depression. July 15, the US govs bans sale otc gold to the usa resident.
ok, same in april of 1933, then a few months later banned private ownership.
Everything is going according to plan

Anonymous said...

In asia everyone is being asked to buy private gold for savings. Quite easy gold shops every where. I think the basic 'rule of thumb' here is about 5 ounces per person, which at today is about $7500. In asia history paper money has a long history of becoming worthless. Quite funny that the USA citizen is banned from trading gold, but in asia the government highly advises such,.... quite funny indeed.

Well if the dollar does go into the toilet as many predict this summer, an investment of $7500 gold will certainly buy any house in Bend, assuming about 10x gain on crisis, and any house in Bend selling for less than $50k.

In my mind like all rules, never good to have more than 5% or such in gold. Just a cheap insurance policy, with no loss, unlike insurance.

The dollar demise is over-played, but the 'greek' crisis is way over-played by our gubmint. The EURO is the only currency on earth backed by gold, albeit about 15%, but the USA is a big zero.

Anonymous said...

well 'pet parade' the biggest day of year in bend is almost here,
then its all downhill into hbm winter :(

H. Bruce Miller said...

"then its all downhill into hbm winter :("

HA! One more interminable, dreary winter to endure in this shithole and then it's hasta la vista, baby.

Since I started reading "Song of Ice and Fire" I've been thinking of this place as Winterfell.