Woke up to a bright, crisp Central Oregon Spring morning. It filled me with contentment. This is what I've always loved about this place, the smell, the feel of the air. A little white snow on the ground, but flowers starting to emerge too. The whole atmosphere just settles over me with a nostalgic blanket.
We just had a mammoth week at the store with Spring Break. I mean, it was frightening. If we make it through this, it will definitely show the efficacy of masks, because that all we really demanded from our customers. I've been double-masking ever since I had the thought.
So at a time of year when we are usually struggling to break-even, we are doing considerably better. I think there is a bit of a surge because of the Covid shut-ins. Pokemon and Magic have gotten hot again. But it's not the kind of bubble that will hurt us if it bursts.
Meanwhile, book sales are spectacular--and I include graphic novels, and especially YA graphic novels in that equation. We seem to be getting a lot of newcomers and tourists. It's like we're being discovered all over again.
I don't know. This seems to happen every decade or so. We quietly go about our business and then a bunch of locals finally get word of us for some reason.
But to get to the point of the above title.
What I seem to be seeing at the store is a huge surge of people coming to Central Oregon. It reminds me of the mid-aughts just before the bubble burst. I don't think this is a bubble--I think this is a population shift of well-to-do folk finding the spot they want to live and having the means to do it.
This is probably not a revelation--but I think Bend is about to be a very expensive place to live. Based on the number of people in my store who said they were moving here, were planning to move here, want to move here.
No surprise to people living here, I suppose. But I feel like I have a front row seat at my store.
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