Thursday, October 9, 2008

Poor eggs.

Linda and I have managed to save up 85% of what we owe in taxes, so I'm going to pull the last bit of what we owe out of savings and just get it out of the way. Should be able to replenish within a month or so. Supposedly, we still have that 1200.00 refund coming our way, so that will pay for part of it.



Interesting article on the 'resellers' in the paper this morning. Certainly seems to be borne out by Linda's sales at the BookMark, and my sales downtown. And if calls from people trying to sell comics, toys, cards or books are any indication, people are clearing out their closets.



Selling of homes uptick. Great. Best sales day I ever had was when I had a storewide 2 for 1 sale. Of course, I didn't make a dime in profit. My focus has always been on jobs, and this wouldn't seem to be enough to make much difference in that direction.



Maybe we should elect McCain (not really!). But the federal government and him seem to have the same approach.

Let's try this! Doesn't work? O.K. How about this?

Or this?

Would you believe?

All right, I'm really serious now.....how about this?


I find myself settling into the new retail mode. It's always a game of expectations, as long as you stay above your break-even point, it's a matter of ordering the proper quantities. Of course, it's compensating; if you sell less, you have to buy less, and so on. Especially after a long boom, though, it can be hard to change your thinking. This time, perhaps because of the national and local news is keeping me company, I've made the transition rather easily and quickly.


Over in Redmond, they're going to bull ahead with the Sixth Street renovations, no matter it's affect on local businesses. Cities just have a different time perception than small business -- they figure they have to break eggs to make omelette's. Not much consolation to the eggs.

2 comments:

RDC said...

If you look at the areas with the home selling increase, it is all REO property. I would not take it as good news until REO volume drops well below 50%. The problem is that the sales volume follows the number of REO properties (severe discount, which the bank prices below the last REO sale, which drive down comps even faster)

Anonymous said...

The next 20 years will be very, very interesting. Change is the only constant.

I am a strong believer in adversity defining character. Hard times will refocus our country and teach some very important forgotten lessons.

Something for nothing has been our mantra for much too long.

I still plan on stopping by your store next time I'm in Bend. I look forward to meeting the man behind this great blog.