Memorial Day weekend. Very good Saturday, average Sunday, very poor Monday. Still, I didn't get the sense we had as many tourists in town. Paul-doh asked how we were doing, and I mentioned my bang-on Saturday, to which he said:
"Yeah. I've come to expect Dunc's stores performance to be poorly correlated with downtown retail in general.
He's sort of a quasi-monopoly. Not a Me Too store, like 90% of downtown. You got plenty of places to buy shoes, for example. Pegasus probably'll be OK come hell or high water...."
Yessiree. We are the cockaroach of downtown businesses.
No, I know what he means.
But it reminds me of a time I was bemoaning how few of some graphic novel I was selling in comparison to Rory Root's Comic Relief, and telling him he was lucky to have such a prosperous and populated area. In his very gentle way, Rory said, "Well, it wasn't an accident I located here."
(This is a small memorial to Rory Root, who was one of the nicest guys I've ever met online and who died last week.)
Anyway, I've made a conscious effort to attract regular local business as well as tourist business. I've made an effort to pursue product that the mass market ignores, and which other small businesses haven't been able to make work.
I think it's interesting that almost all my competitors from even 2 years ago are gone; Gambit Games, American Sports, Anime Mountain, Fun n Games, even the Book Barn. How is it that so many of these niche businesses are having trouble surviving -- and yet we see a multitude of small businesses opening in downtown Bend. I think the fact that full time game, toy, sports card, anime and bookstores (along with Boomtown) haven't found Bend to be lucrative enough to keep going is more an indicator of real business conditions than another clothing store opening. Another jewelry store. Another restaurant.
While I don't know if I'd call them "me too" businesses, they are pretty generalized and hard to get a handle on.
"Yeah. I've come to expect Dunc's stores performance to be poorly correlated with downtown retail in general.
He's sort of a quasi-monopoly. Not a Me Too store, like 90% of downtown. You got plenty of places to buy shoes, for example. Pegasus probably'll be OK come hell or high water...."
Yessiree. We are the cockaroach of downtown businesses.
No, I know what he means.
But it reminds me of a time I was bemoaning how few of some graphic novel I was selling in comparison to Rory Root's Comic Relief, and telling him he was lucky to have such a prosperous and populated area. In his very gentle way, Rory said, "Well, it wasn't an accident I located here."
(This is a small memorial to Rory Root, who was one of the nicest guys I've ever met online and who died last week.)
Anyway, I've made a conscious effort to attract regular local business as well as tourist business. I've made an effort to pursue product that the mass market ignores, and which other small businesses haven't been able to make work.
I think it's interesting that almost all my competitors from even 2 years ago are gone; Gambit Games, American Sports, Anime Mountain, Fun n Games, even the Book Barn. How is it that so many of these niche businesses are having trouble surviving -- and yet we see a multitude of small businesses opening in downtown Bend. I think the fact that full time game, toy, sports card, anime and bookstores (along with Boomtown) haven't found Bend to be lucrative enough to keep going is more an indicator of real business conditions than another clothing store opening. Another jewelry store. Another restaurant.
While I don't know if I'd call them "me too" businesses, they are pretty generalized and hard to get a handle on.