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The Basement
Still no product?...RANT
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<blockquote data-quote="W. Mark Hellinger" data-source="post: 35412" data-attributes="member: 692"><p>Re: Still no product?...RANT</p><p></p><p></p><p>I moved from our family farm to one of the local towns about 15 years ago. I could pick any one of the three towns local to our family farm as an example to compare the downtown business district of a generation ago vs. today:</p><p></p><p>All three a long generation ago had (in no particular order):</p><p></p><p>1) one or two grocery stores</p><p>2) a bowling alley</p><p>3) 2 or 3 resturants</p><p>4) a medical center</p><p>5) one or two barbers and a of couple beauty parlors</p><p>6) a flower shop</p><p>7) one or two or three car dealerships</p><p>8) one or two fabric shops</p><p>9) one or two drug stores</p><p>10) one to three gas stations</p><p>11) 3 or 4 or 5 churches</p><p>12) a grade school, a Jr. high school, and a high school</p><p>13) 1 - 2 movie theatres</p><p>14) 2 or 3 or 4 bars</p><p>15) 2 or 3 or 4 equipment dealerships</p><p>16) a couple law offices</p><p>17) 2 or 3 or 4 banks</p><p>18) 2 or 3 or 4 hardward & general supply stores</p><p>19) a machine shop or two</p><p>20) a few general contractors</p><p>21) a couple butchers</p><p>22) one or two lumber stores</p><p>23) A few to many factories</p><p>24) Plumbing & electrical supply stores and contractors</p><p>25) Furniture & appliance stores</p><p>26) 3 different railroads</p><p>27) a full-time cop & police station</p><p>28) one or two real estate offices/ combination insurance offices</p><p></p><p>The list could go on & on... tire shops, body shops, mechanic shops, bus stations, car washes, etc...</p><p></p><p>Right now... one town has a sort-of grocery store... more like a convenience store... the bakery and meat counters are all gone... it's mostly twinkies, soda pop, and really small tubes of tooth paste. Each town seems to have hung-onto a bank. All but one set or railroad tracks are gone in one town... the other towns all the RR tracks are gone, the depots are long gone, some of the business dist. buildings have been converted into storage units... the towns contract to the local sherrif's dept for some drive-through law enforcement, the schools have been merged, the bowling alleys & movie theatres are long gone, there's a couple of churches hanging on, with a traveling preacher that comes once a month or a few times a year... most of the churches have been gifted to the towns and fast falling into disrepair. Each town has hung onto a post office... but most everything else is gone... the central business district would look like a bombed out war zone... except the combined fire departments do a pretty good job of burning the rements of the abandoned central business dist. building that have gone to pot.</p><p></p><p>The population hasn't shrunk, in-fact it's expanded. Most everybody drives an hour or two one-way to work, or to church, or to shop. Residential real estate prices are through the roof (10X to 50X what they seemingly were a generation ago).</p><p></p><p>The growth industries seem to be: Retirement homes, sewer systems, and govt. mandated services.</p><p></p><p>BTW: as an observation on the state of affairs retail wise: I stopped by a Goodwill store , during my 100+ mile drive to a local gig, to pick-up some suitable shoes to compliment my kilt for a Saturday performance. The store building was fabulous... probably a $1M+ facility. The mens shoe selection was megar (to say the least... probably about 10 - 15 pairs). There was a pair that probably would have worked for my application... almost the right size and sort-of the right genre... but really worn, decidedly very dated, and... well... basically "old, really used shoes... price: $24.99. Shocking to me to say the least... but I suppose this is an indication of what it takes to support snappy retail display space... zero cost inventory at a minimum must be priced at somewhere around $25 sq. ft. on a multilevel display case ($100 - $200 margins per actual floor space sq. footage) to support the inferstructure, multilayer management, and referigeration level air conditioning it takes to sell the goods.</p><p></p><p>Maybe it makes no difference... whether the plankton are healthy or the swardfish are seeminly healthy if you fish around enough... or the folks seeking swardfish are still showing up in droves and driving new beamers... and nevermind that swardfish isn't on the menu anymore, but has been replaced with fauxswardfish... made from a heavily seasoned soybean tofu product which was chemically "grown"... the new beamers are still showing up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="W. Mark Hellinger, post: 35412, member: 692"] Re: Still no product?...RANT I moved from our family farm to one of the local towns about 15 years ago. I could pick any one of the three towns local to our family farm as an example to compare the downtown business district of a generation ago vs. today: All three a long generation ago had (in no particular order): 1) one or two grocery stores 2) a bowling alley 3) 2 or 3 resturants 4) a medical center 5) one or two barbers and a of couple beauty parlors 6) a flower shop 7) one or two or three car dealerships 8) one or two fabric shops 9) one or two drug stores 10) one to three gas stations 11) 3 or 4 or 5 churches 12) a grade school, a Jr. high school, and a high school 13) 1 - 2 movie theatres 14) 2 or 3 or 4 bars 15) 2 or 3 or 4 equipment dealerships 16) a couple law offices 17) 2 or 3 or 4 banks 18) 2 or 3 or 4 hardward & general supply stores 19) a machine shop or two 20) a few general contractors 21) a couple butchers 22) one or two lumber stores 23) A few to many factories 24) Plumbing & electrical supply stores and contractors 25) Furniture & appliance stores 26) 3 different railroads 27) a full-time cop & police station 28) one or two real estate offices/ combination insurance offices The list could go on & on... tire shops, body shops, mechanic shops, bus stations, car washes, etc... Right now... one town has a sort-of grocery store... more like a convenience store... the bakery and meat counters are all gone... it's mostly twinkies, soda pop, and really small tubes of tooth paste. Each town seems to have hung-onto a bank. All but one set or railroad tracks are gone in one town... the other towns all the RR tracks are gone, the depots are long gone, some of the business dist. buildings have been converted into storage units... the towns contract to the local sherrif's dept for some drive-through law enforcement, the schools have been merged, the bowling alleys & movie theatres are long gone, there's a couple of churches hanging on, with a traveling preacher that comes once a month or a few times a year... most of the churches have been gifted to the towns and fast falling into disrepair. Each town has hung onto a post office... but most everything else is gone... the central business district would look like a bombed out war zone... except the combined fire departments do a pretty good job of burning the rements of the abandoned central business dist. building that have gone to pot. The population hasn't shrunk, in-fact it's expanded. Most everybody drives an hour or two one-way to work, or to church, or to shop. Residential real estate prices are through the roof (10X to 50X what they seemingly were a generation ago). The growth industries seem to be: Retirement homes, sewer systems, and govt. mandated services. BTW: as an observation on the state of affairs retail wise: I stopped by a Goodwill store , during my 100+ mile drive to a local gig, to pick-up some suitable shoes to compliment my kilt for a Saturday performance. The store building was fabulous... probably a $1M+ facility. The mens shoe selection was megar (to say the least... probably about 10 - 15 pairs). There was a pair that probably would have worked for my application... almost the right size and sort-of the right genre... but really worn, decidedly very dated, and... well... basically "old, really used shoes... price: $24.99. Shocking to me to say the least... but I suppose this is an indication of what it takes to support snappy retail display space... zero cost inventory at a minimum must be priced at somewhere around $25 sq. ft. on a multilevel display case ($100 - $200 margins per actual floor space sq. footage) to support the inferstructure, multilayer management, and referigeration level air conditioning it takes to sell the goods. Maybe it makes no difference... whether the plankton are healthy or the swardfish are seeminly healthy if you fish around enough... or the folks seeking swardfish are still showing up in droves and driving new beamers... and nevermind that swardfish isn't on the menu anymore, but has been replaced with fauxswardfish... made from a heavily seasoned soybean tofu product which was chemically "grown"... the new beamers are still showing up. [/QUOTE]
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