Anodyne
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
 
Grey sky. Storm-light along the western rim of the visible horizon, like those theatre lamps that shine up from the base of an old wooden stage. Statistically slowest day of the year, the ancient neon OPEN sign flickering off and on. A chill in the air, my cheap landlord now economizing by turning off the boiler on weekends and holidays. FOR RENT signs scattered through the neighborhood, a few long-term local retailers having skedaddled in the middle of the night. That recession that those media types keep going on about? It's here. My evidence? Trade slips dated 2000, 2001 and 2002 being used to purchase Christmas gifts. The major competitor who offered to sell me his business over time -- essentially a "pick up the keys and let me get the hell out of here" arrangement, which I turned down after establishing that the monthly sales are covering the rent and not much else. "There's tons of potential here. With your ideas and a little hard work, the sky's the limit!" Anyone who wants to sell you on the potential of anything -- a used bookstore; a gold mine; a retail lease; your free labor on a new social networking site -- is lying, guaranteed. So: slump, malise, recession, retail funk, whatever you want to call it. Full-blown and here and licking its long yellow teeth. I don't fear it -- though I was lying awake in the dark the other morning when K. called, contemplating the long-term sustainability of my jerry-rigged "retail model" vis-a-vis my inner equilibrium -- but a lot of my competitors should. Example: the guy with the ostensibly "successful" business who's worked his way through an inheritance, a bank loan, and a real estate equity cash-out. The question of an apparently successful business versus an economically successful one. The subsidy model, whether "buying one's self a job" or disguising the real opportunity cost of being in business in the first place. The old joke: what does a bookseller say when he wins the lottery? "Guess I'll keep selling books till the money's all gone. . . ." A grain of truth in there.


<< Home

Powered by Blogger

.post-title { display: none!important; }