How is Your City Fairing?
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| Mon, 12-07-2009 - 8:47am |
Yesterday I went to one of my favorite stores - The Old Time Pottery. It's this big store that sells glassware, linens, silk flowers, frames, seasonal stuff - cheap!! Love that store. I went there to pick up some candy tins for Christmas.
I get there and there's a big "Going Out of Business" sign in the window. WHAAAAAAT?!?!? Omigod. This can't be. Sure enough, January 31 is their last day.
When we leave the store, DH and I look around at the area and we can't believe all the businesses that have closed just within eyesight of us. A strip mall across the street is completely empty. Corky's BBQ is gone, Macaroni Grill, The Blue Marlin, Applebee's, and another BBQ restaurant I can't remember the name of are gone. So is Picadilly and Buffalo's Cafe. Edwin Watts Golf store is gone. Of course Circuit City closed. Hobby Lobby closed a store in that area, as did Linen's and Things. The is an entire mall up the road on the verge of collapse. No one shops at malls anymore.
Yes, there are areas here that are still viable, but we wondered what is happening that is causing so much business closure. Many of these businesses I mentioned above have been around for many, many years. They didn't just fly in and fly out. We found it a little disturbing to see so many closures that have taken place just in the last 18 months or so. They are trying to tell us the economy is improving, but so far we aren't seeing it AT ALL.
I'm especially sad to see lower end retail stores closing, like the Old Time Pottery, because I can't afford to go to expensive department stores to shop. And Wal-Mart provides only so much. As a shopper I'm being left with fewer and fewer places to go. I guess the alternative is to sit home and shop on-line.
How does your city seem to be fairing these days?


The only business locally that's closed was a store that did shipping & packaging. They sold cards, stationary, pens etc. They shipped either UPS or FedX. The fault, I believe, was no advertising. DH told me about the store & by the time I went there they were closing the next day. Another customer said
Maybe, because my community is smaller, it was obvious more than a year ago. All the major car dealerships were gone last year. The only car dealerships left are a couple of small lots that sell used cars that have been around for decades and probably own their lots free and clear. There were many open store fronts in downtown that sat empty for quite awhile. Landlords finally lowered their rents and people who previously coulnd't afford a downtown storefront moved in, but now their old sites sit empty. Arby's shut down and stayed empty. The building is falling into ruin and disrepair. Around our grocery stores, shop after shop sits empty, with for lease signs on them. You see licensed contractors, with their trucks and tools, with signs, sitting out in front of the hardware stores looking for work. Unemployment is over 12% now in my area. The local food bank has 300 new families that wanted Thanksgiving help this year.
I am so grateful for all that I have.
Well...my favorite garden statuary place is closing on Jan 31st after 20 yrs in business.