Morlocks with iphones.

How can the economy be bad, the future so dreadful, when we have such wonderful technology?

Maybe because only the wealthy can truly partake of the bounty?

I've got myself a new toy; an iphone. But, it ain't cheap. It ain't something I would have bought 10 years ago (well, it didn't exist, but you know what I mean.) Actually, my wife bought it, because I'm still really cheap.

But I'm not dense enough not to see what a Marvel it is.

The smart and clever among us just keep partaking of the bounty...but the not so smart and clever just keep falling further behind.

It's like some kind of evolutionary endgame. It's the Eloi and the Morlocks, I tell you.

I identify with the Eloi, because I'm a bleeding heart liberal and because I think I've been lucky more than smart.

What can we do about it?

The biggest thing would be to make sure that the smart engines and devices are available to all. That the smartest of Eloi will be able to raise themselves up. And the dumbest Morlocks will fall way.

So I ask you. Have we done that?

Almost as soon as I wrote this, I knew I hadn't got it right. Buster immediately posted that every 12 year old in Asia has a iphone knockoff.

So maybe it isn't access to technology that separates the Eloi from the Morlocks, but the ability to use that technology effectively.

In fact, this may be a great leveler. Any poor but clever person might be able to raise himself up, and every rich but dumb person will piss away their money.

But I'm still pretty sure that we're going to keep seeing an ever widening divide between the two types of people.

August results.

I think maybe summer business is over.

You never can tell. Some years, summer "thinking" extends into September. Some years, it ends mid-August. Has to do with the smell in the air, the feel of the wind, I don't know.

Anyway, the last two weeks really slowed down. I still beat August of last year, by 8%, which is cool. So that's two months in a row, with a good chance that September will come through as well, if the DC #1 perform at all.

Then again, though I didn't know it at the time, I think last summer MAY have been the bottom for us (knock wood, knock wood.) I mean, comparing it to everything else, it pretty much sucked.

So this year was probably a bit of a dead cat bounce. Plus the total increase was less than the increase in magic. Books and games were up, everything else was down.

Normally, three months in a row I consider a trend, but I think I'll reserve judgment. A bunch of this is just bouncing off previous bottoms.

Though I normally wouldn't point to the stock market as an indicator of anything, I think the drop in mid-August in the market was so severe, that it probably actually did have a dampening effect on spending.

For me, a recovery would be a feeling that the bottom won't drop out again. Holding to previous lows wouldn't surprise me, in fact, I'm kind of expecting that to happen.

Not because I have any knowledge of the future, but just because that is how every bust I've experienced in the past has happened. Just when you think it's over, down it goes. Then, just as you expect it to be over, down it goes, and then...well, you pretty much give up looking for it.

And then, sometime in the future, you realize it isn't dropping anymore. It happened when you weren't looking.

"Everything seeming too ephemeral."

I liked the word "ephemeral" to describe digital.

The article in the Bulletin the other day: "Young Tradespeople Blaze -- and Craft -- Their Own Trails."

"...you find (working in an office) is not avoidable."..."You'll still end up in a cubicle doing graphic design."

"...12 to 14 hours a day he was spending at a computer..." "...creating things that could disappear with the click of a button.

"I think (it was) the combination of the digital age and everything seeming too ephemeral. I've had to get tangible again." ..."I want an opportunity to have a beautiful piece in your hand."

I think I may have to make that my new slogan: "Get Tangible Again!"

But ultimately, that's the way I feel. Everything can disappear by the click of a button. Did it ever really exist?

Pandora's Box.

So by getting an Iphone, I basically also got an Ipod. Which I never thought would happen.

So what have I been doing with my new toy?

Opening Pandora's box.

It's been interesting. I love me some power pop, so I started with Oasis and Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello.

But after an evening of listening, it turned into golden oldies. Blech.

So I started over. This time, I decided I would thumbs down any super big name. I let Elvis Costello pass.

I also like my singer/songwriters. But with edge; more John Doe, than James Taylor.

So I started with Nick Lowe, T. Bone Burnett, John Hiatt, Marshall Crenshaw, John Doe, Richard Thompson, Boz Scaggs, David Lindley.

After assiduously eliminating most big names, I finally arrived at the sound I like.

The 'base' sound seems to be a group I'd never heard of: Calexico. Also getting a bunch of Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams.

I like hearing groups and songs I haven't heard before; so I consider this a successful channel. Though I seem to be hearing repeats before I hear my first Boz Scaggs, or T.Bone, which is slightly annoying.

Also, if I don't watch out, they hit me with a bunch of mellow soft rock. No.

Oh, oh. Van Morrison. I love Van Morrison, but he's a big name. I'll let it pass.

Next: some country/rock and bluegrass concoction.

Blasted toy.

"Pow!" In the Bulletin, this morning.

Flashy article in the biz section of the Bulletin today. About the relaunch of the New 52 DC comics coming out this month. Always good to be in the paper.

It's about time -- I was feeling neglected. (Ha, just kidding.)

It's a pretty straightforward article; the only quibble is that I give the impression that comics are only now becoming more "sophisticated" with the relaunch of the DC titles -- but of course, they've been that way for a long time now.

I should have plenty of copies of the upcoming titles -- starting next Wednesday. But I'm close to running out of the first one to show: Justice League. I'm somewhat chagrined by that.

But you just can't predict what the media might want to cover.

Got a picture of me flashing my comic.

It's been noted elsewhere, but the media seems more intrigued about a whole line of comics starting over than we'd have expected. Of course, such things go on all the time in comics: but not to this extent. I really believe DC is committed to this venture. Almost no one is talking about the digital part -- or why DC felt like it had to take such a huge gamble.

Google knows all.

So that's scary. Google just asked me if I wanted to add my mobile phone to my account.

And the only place I've talked about it is on my blog, about two hours ago....

Wow...how did they do that?

Wow...should I like that they are able to do that?

I was brutally deflowered last night.

I am a cell phone virgin no more.

I had casually mentioned -- in passing -- that maybe -- I wasn't saying I was ready yet -- but I thought maybe since I was going on a upcoming trip by myself that perhaps -- just perhaps -- I might need to have a cell phone.

Then yesterday, I had sort of decided to maybe, perhaps I should get myself a stupid phone. No, really. As stupid a phone as I could get.

So Linda was all over that puppy.

I got home last night, and she handed me a brown-paper package. Inside was an old beat up copy of THIS SIDE OF INNOCENCE, by Taylor Caldwell. Somehow I knew, from the second I saw it, there was something inside.

The enemy. An IPhone 4.

Yes, my wife deflowered me for the price of the book.

She has been cackling ever since, in a nasty sort of way.

Of course, I immediately offered it in exchange for her android. That's the way it works around here -- we get a new car, phone, anything techie, and I inherit the older version. Because I just don't care. I'm not in to brands -- I just want something functional.

For the first time ever, she refused. Though I know she's coveting it. ("I'm in deep coveting," she said, as I read this.)

So not only didn't I get a stupid phone, she got me the smartest @^^@#@ phone there is.

I'm probably only going use a fraction of it's capabilities.

Twice lately, when we were out and about, I had a question about a word or a history problem,
which Linda was able to answer by hauling out her android. Does that make her smarter than me?

In a way.

I'm frightened.

Anyway, I spent over two hours last night playing with Pandora on my phone -- trying to get the right blend, reading the little histories of the artists.

Meanwhile, I'm not totally sure I even know how to call someone or answer the phone yet. I don't know my own frackin' phone number yet.

I'm intimidated, I tell you.

But I can never be a half-virgin, I guess. Every techie step of the way, I've been pushed, not pulled. But it's like some kind of irresistible force.

Bloody, fucking stupid smart phone!!!!

Barnes and Noble proclaims with great joy: "We're obsolete!"

In times of extreme change, people are willing to admit things that ordinarily they would deny.

DC Comics head honcho's are being interviewed all over the place, and are admitting -- even emphasizing -- that sales are so bad and trends so dire, they HAD to make drastic changes.

Which is an interesting marketing plan.

Apparently, the 2.99 price didn't increase sales, but they maintain that sales might have been even worse without the change. They admit that the characters were getting tired, and they just needed the ability to tell the stories they wanted, without being hobbled by continuity.

Event Fatigue? They just say that the events weren't good enough, not that there is anything wrong with events. And they kind of brush off the "Not enough Kid's comics" questions. (Which, they rightly should. It's a non-starter, much like asking why people don't buy comics despite the movies.)



Meanwhile, over at Barnes and Noble, they're trumpeting the huge increase in digital sales.

But what caught my attention was that sales of book/ books in existing stores only declined by
1.6%

Hardly a dire drop. Especially considering that all the efforts have been put into digital sales. If they had put the same amount of money, time, and space into book/books, chances are those sales would have been higher too.

You know, instead of having a kiosk facing the front doors that proclaims: "We're obsolete!!!"

A man is what he reads.

"More than 24" golf courses in Central Oregon. (Bulletin, 8/30/11).

Five bookstores.

24 versus 5

Says a lot about our values. And our politics. And our economy.

**********

"Hasta la vegan..." Linda said. "No, wait....that isn't right...."

"Yes, it is! It is totally right. Arnold hates vegetarians. Hasta la vegan, baby. Blam!"


You probably had to be there...

**********

The Bulletin editorializes that "parents shouldn't speculate" about the Redmond principal's suspension.

But the paper then proceeds to have two front page articles doing exactly that.

**********

After deleting a large book order last week, I've had a couple of slow days. Which is like a warning to me that we are headed into the fall season and watch out. So I'm going to be extra conservative in my spending over the next couple weeks. (Isn't that what causes recessions....?)

**********

President Chaney has released a book.

**********

10.00 coffee? Time to wean myself from caffeine again...

**********

I have a kind of routine browsing the net in the morning.

First I check the new sites to see if the world ended overnight. USA Today, Huffington Post, KTVZ, etc. (This is just a quick check, later in the day I read some articles.)

Then I check my e-mail and the local blogs through Bend Blogs.

Then I go to sites that are related to my business -- Diamond Comics, Comics Reporter, The Beat, Shelf Awareness, ICv2, Comic Book Industry Alliance, etc.

Then a quick check of the pop culture sites; Flavorwire, Rotten Tomatoes, Salon, Slate. (Again, I go back throughout the day to read articles.)

And finally, when I'm sufficiently awake, I read the economic blogs: Naked Capitalism, Big Picture, and Calculated Risk. Mostly, the first two; sometimes a bunch of other less favorite.

Meanwhile, during all this, I'm drinking four or five cups of coffee (that's it for the day) and reading The Bulletin, and composing this blog.

I don't actually go looking for new sites, but occasionally will drop or add a favorite.

Now you know everything there is to know about me.

Misery loves company.

It may not be a conscious decision, but it feels to me like the Bulletin has taken on a different slant toward the economic slowdown since declaring bankruptcy. They seem to be much more upfront about it; even playing it up slightly.

An article about corporate type people starting their own businesses was headlined as a "nightmare." The original article in the N.Y. Times a few days before, while saying that it was a surprise to these new entrepreneurs how hard they had to work, and how little money they made -- was mostly a positive slant.

(By the way, every new business should understand those two concepts: working harder for less money...)

I don't know. It's just an impression. It's an understandable need to show that it's not just the Bulletin, that bad times are everywhere.

Misery loves company.

At the same time, they still spout conservative views on the editorial page -- which seems somewhat contradictory. (You know, the idea that times are tough and people might just need some help, governmental or otherwise is more a liberal viewpoint -- while the Bulletin's natural stance would be -- touch luck, don't ask for help, it's your own damn fault.)

**********

Going to be a fair amount of commentary on digital this week, with the new DC initiative. Justice League #1 is coming in this week.

But I think that digital thing is going to take a very long time to play out -- not weeks, not even months, but years...

I'm a bit more concerned about the immediate impact of the difficulty in ordering correct numbers of these new titles.

They are NEW. Which means they don't have a track record. I got a bunch of new signups, which is good, right? Except that I'm committed to those titles -- legally and financially --- while my customers can more or less take them or leave them.

No matter what I do, I'm pretty much guaranteed to have either underordered or overordered, you know? On one hand, I don't want to sell out -- on the other hand, I'd really like to sell out (maybe have one left, two or three on the bigger titles?) So the temptation is to overorder, usually, if what you hate to hear is "Is this ALL you got?"

I thought I was being pretty conservative, but my DC orders more or less doubled. (Originally, they went up by 2 and a half times, but I've shaved them a tad.) These have to be paid for within the week.

I'm not worried about my store -- I'm pretty solid right now. But I know that for much of my career, that would have been a gamble and a cash-flow risk.

On one hand, I'm hoping that I and all my brethren ordered enough copies to make the venture a success --- and on the other hand, I'm worried that if the whole thing is a dud we'll be sitting on stacks of comics for months, even if we can return some of them in the end.

The unintended consequence is that I've had to be even more careful than normal in ordering non-essential comics -- which means, if everyone did as I did, all the other publishers are going to take a hit.

So far, I'm glad DC did it. I think it's going to be a boost for a few months, at least. But change is risky.

**********

Unsolvable problems.

I do go on about digital, heh?

But what if there isn't a solution? What if there is only wreckage?

It's possible a solution may arrive eventually, after much time and damage.

I was thinking about the great science fiction series by Isaac Asimov: 'Foundation." It's set in a time where it is clear to the historians of the day that the mighty galactic empire they are living in is about to fall. The conceit of this series is they believe they can plan for this by harboring knowledge and experts. (Ah, faith in experts.) They hope to shorten the resulting 1000 years of Dark Ages.

Things go wrong, of course.

I actually have no doubts that when it all shakes out, there were be a way to get the news, to read a book, to listen to music, and to pay for it all. It's just that I can't imagine in advance how that is going to happen.

I watched a show on C-Span yesterday that was talking about newspapers and how they are between a rock and hard place and NO ONE has really figured out how to solve the problem of paying for foreign news bureaus and expert reporters and political coverage and all that unsexy stuff.

I'm not blind to the possibility that comic shops, or bookstores, may become rare. I'm pretty sure that I can extend my career to the end. I don't think we have to rush it, which I think the book publishers and comic publishers are unwisely doing.

I don't look to automobiles versus horse and carriages as an analogy. I look more toward radio; which was once a creative, thriving venue for original material; and is now a corporatized, soul-less, machine/robot, mass market lowest common denominator unlistenable to me platform. But it exists, and it makes money, and a few radio stations manage to defy the odds and play some good music.

Something will emerge from the Dark Ages.

I just which we could figure out a way to bridge the gap.

The drive is the thing.

I walked through the screen door. Literally, walked right straight nose-first into the door, and rebounded, Linda said, with the strangest look. The door came off the tracks before ripping out, which is fortunate.

I think it's the smoke in the air, and that I'm blind, and it was morning and I wasn't awake.

**********

To hell with it. I bought The Wise Man's Fear, Patrick Rothfuss, new and am enjoying it immensely. I've been up til 2:00 in the morning the last few nights, which is unusual these days.

I'm giving myself an early birthday present and letting myself read the list of 7 books I posted the other day which I have new in stock. Life is too short, and I own a book store dammit.

To the list of seven books, I just remembered another, Bujold's latest Vorkosigan book.

I spent a few nights unsatisfied with the Ted Bell book, and gave up 200 pages in.

Like I said, life it too short not to read the best.

**********

You know, not to downplay the harm of Hurricane Irene, but it was a Category 1. One can only imagine what would happen if a C3 or C4 or -- Armageddon! -- C5 were to hit the east coast!

**********

Again, I'm trying to write through my doubts. I think reading the New York Times Book Review and other publications relating to books, and looking at the huge lists of "remainders" in books and seeing what appear to be good books ignored....well, the sheer mass of books gives one pause.

But this far in, I'm realizing that my self-identity as a writer is tied up with finishing this book. I stopped identifying myself as a writer soon after I bought the store. But I'm back to writing, to exploring my creative side -- and to hell with the doubts about publishing.

**********

Speaking of books, I spent over 2 hours assembling a "remainders" order. Thing is, some of these books are absolutely good buys, such as being able to buy several of the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time books -- which continually sell -- for much lower prices.

But to get to the minimums, I have to get a lot of "mid-list" books. Nothing wrong with that if I have the money and space.

What I don't have right now, is the space.

Instead this month, I spent a whole lot of money on the "evergreens"; refilling the slots for Ken Kesey and Christopher Moore and Kurt Vonnegut and Chuck Palahniuk and so on. Costs more, but every slot of space is precious.

After two hours, I started visualizing how I was going to display this new order of books.

I deleted the order.

It's a bit of trick that Linda taught me -- fill out your wish list and then don't follow through. I'm not sure why it works, but it does.

*********

Linda and I have seen 8 of the movies in town -- usually, on Sunday afternoons. She wants to go for a drive "Maybe to Prineville" today, which sounds good to me. We know they have new owners to the bookstore there, though I suppose there isn't much chance they'll be open today.

The drive is the thing.

Again, watch out what you wish for.

You know, I don't think people are fully understanding who the digital content actually affects.

Of course, it affects retail. That's undeniable. Maybe it affects retail the most.

But believe me, it will have a huge affect on the publishers and even more so on the distributor(s). And eventually, that circles back to the consumer.

When I read the comments on the Tilting at Windmills column, I think there is this idea by a lot of comic readers that it doesn't matter if the local comic shops disappear. They seem to believe they'll get their comics some other way. In fact, many of them seem to be actively cheering for our demise --because their local shops didn't satisfy them, they want them all to go away.

Which really is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

What's more likely is, the whole edifice will collapse, as soon as the base erodes enough. It's all interconnected, folks. That's how the world works these days. It doesn't take a 100% adoption, I keep trying to tell people. A 20% adoption, which means 8 out of 10 people still buy their comics through stores, might be enough to do permanent harm. As I always ask people, can I take 20 or 25 or 30% off the top of your paycheck and you keep paying your bills?

I worry most about my distributor, Diamond Comics, who seems to be stressed in other areas of their business.

I'm about 50% comics and graphic novels , and I could probably get at least about half of those titles by some other means if I had to: either direct from the publisher or through one of the book distributors. It would be inconvenient, but not impossible.

I'm also fairly convinced that if I took the money, time and space devoted to comics and put some other product in their place, I would replace a good percent of lost sales.

Ultimately, I worry about the publishers themselves. Oh, Marvel is owned by Disney, and DC is owned by Warner Brothers, but both are such small components in comparison, that I can see the corporate parents deciding to keep the "licenses" alive -- maybe digitally, just enough to keep the copyright. Disney has done that for decades now with the Duck and the Mouse.

Comics will continue to exist. No doubt.

Superman and Batman, and Spider-man and Captain America and Thor will exist, no doubt.

But whether you will be able to read your monthly comic may be in doubt; whether physical OR digital.

Creators must be paid. Schedules kept. Plans made.

So here's the biggest irony. Comic shops will probably survive, at least some of them -- and some of them may survive longer than some of publishers. Record stores are still around, bookstores are still selling books.

Small retail can be very adaptable; those small businesses who aren't adaptable are going out of business anyway, someday, someway.

I'm convinced all this radical change isn't even necessary. That the change could happen slowly and organically. That we aren't the music industry, because we aren't so easily plundered, unless we let ourselves be.

But the publishers are diving off that cliff with a parachute they've never used before.

You know, about 20 years ago, the card companies made the decision to flood the mass market. What I wouldn't give, to get in a room 20 years ago with Fleer, with Pinnacle, with Leaf, with Action Packed, with Sky Box, with Donruss... and say to them:

"In 20 years -- you'll all be gone. And I'll still be here. And there will be Topps, and Upper Deck will only have the hockey license, and Basketball will be produced by an Italian sticker company..."

Good job.

And even more ironic, all those card collectors who could care less about the local "overpriced" card shop when they could buy their cards cheaper from Walmart?

They're all gone, too. At least 99% of them are. A lot of good it did them.

Online is bloodless. No body language; all reviews sound the same, no way to really gauge the enthusiasm, (or the honesty (paid for?) of that enthusiasm), no flesh and blood person to connect with.

Again, I think back to when sports cards would arrive in the store, circa 1986, and there would be palpable excitement in the air; 5 years later, the same collectors are wandering the aisle of Target or Walmart, vaguely unsatisfied; 10 years later a few of them are still buying online, but feeling forlorn. 10 years after that, they call me at the store with a confused tone in their voice: "Isn't anyone buying sports cards anymore?"

Can't everyone see that you still need that flesh and blood person to connect with? No?

Anyway, like the title says, watch out what you wish for...

You can't blow up the building and select which floor you want to survive.

Books, books, everywhere. And not a book to read.

Here's a funny thing about the book market that I'm pretty sure most people don't understand, and if I hadn't been doing it for 15 years, and my wife's store for the last 8 years, I'm sure I wouldn't understand either....

Books you want usually aren't available.

I know I have to explain that.

Let me give you an example: I currently have 6 books in the store I want to read that are in new hardcover (about 25.00 average price.) That's too much for me to break them, read them, and turn them into 'used' books. So I keep my eye open in Linda's store -- who gets hundreds of books a day in trade -- for a used copy of the hardcover, or if I have to wait long enough a used paperback.

The hardcovers are:

Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin. (I'm going to buy this, dammit.)
The Wise Man's Fear, Patrick Rothfuss. (DID buy it, dammit, and I'm reading it now.)
Blood's a Rover, James Ellroy (I know this is in paperback, but I have yet to see it.)
The Sentry, Robert Crais (I suspect this is close to paperback, but have yet to see it.)
Dead Zero, Stephen Hunter (ditto)
Burn, Nevada Barr.

Plus the new James Lee Burke in paperback.

So...I look every night for what's been turned in, and every night I strike out.

I don't believe this is particular to our stores-- I think it happens everywhere. The really good books are kept or passed on to friends and family, and when they do finally make their appearance, they get snapped up.

Eventually, when the attention has moved on, they show up, but that can be several years down the road.

Sometimes, like currently Hunger Games, they can't be found used for more than millisecond. And then, someday, we'll be able to build a house with them: the house that Dan Brown built, or Tom Clancy built...

Just saying.

Sometimes you have to buy new.

Feel the Love.

It seems like every time I see Linda, she's connected to her Ipad.

"I wonder if that Ipad is enjoying it's human," I said.

**********

After ignoring the Bulletin story for most of a day, KTVZ finally did the most minimal story they could do, and almost immediately dropped it down off their lead headline scroll. Professional courtesy?

**********

Nature seems to have decided that if we can't get a stimulus plan together, it will give us one.

Earthquakes. Hurricanes.

Unless we've descended so far that we won't even fix our national monuments.

Which at this point in history, seems possible. We're just ripe for the rise of the Apes, I think.
Time for a new species.

***********

My UPS guy assured me that The A-Team was a lot of fun.

It was a whole lot of yelling and incomprehensible action scenes. Ugg.

Did enjoy Conan, though it will never match the sheer strangeness of the original stores.

Fright Night was fun, too.

Had a customer assure me that Ted Bell was a great thriller writer.

It was a whole lot of bad dialogue, cardboard characterizations, sloppy plotting. And why do so many thriller writers have to be such right wing lunatics? Worse than Tom Clancy?

Meanwhile, I discover John Burdett's Bangkok novels, which are brilliantly done. Great stuff.

Can't people tell the difference between good movies and books and bad movies and books?

To answer my own question, apparently not.

I've learned in my store to ask what books the customer likes. If they tell me about three authors I don't like, I leave them alone, mutter something like, "Lots of good books in here. It's so hard to know what a person will like!"

If, on the other hand, they tell me about three authors I like, I start telling them about my recent favorites.

Really quite amazing how the readers seem to split into these two camps.

**********

We'll be getting the first of the new DC titles next week. Justice League of America, with Jim Lee art, Geoff Johns writing.

Did I mention I got a ton of new signups for these 52 new #1? I'm hoping for one or two new readers, and maybe a few more returning readers. Not just the same readers reading more books. Because that will probably dissipate.

Execution will be everything with these titles, I think.

***********

The comments after retailer Brian Hibb's latest Tilting at Windmills column, just make me 'feel the love' comic fans have toward their local comic shops.

Not.

Thing is, this really is a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Look, most of us aren't perfect -- we don't make enough money to be perfect. Leaving out personalities and individual differences, that's the biggest roadblock for comic shops. We have to be very lean to survive, or like me, accumulate material over time.

I had a great example yesterday. I guy who comes into the store regularly from out of town was looking for a couple of this week's releases.

One, CHEW, is a comic that has been coming out for a couple of years. I carried the first year and a half of the comic, and when I went over to see what was in stock, I had two copies of the last six months I ordered it for the stands, and one copy of each of the preceding six months.

In other words, I hadn't sold a copy off the stands for six months, and sold a single copy in the six months before that.

The other comic he asked for, The Bionic Man, I didn't even order. I'd had no requests for it. Makes me a bad comic shop? Except that every month's catalog has dozens, hundreds of titles that are iffy sellers. Sure some of them would sell, but most, from experience would not.

If I ordered all of them, I'd be a great comic shop that was losing money. Thing is, if this customer had been a local, I would've immediately reordered them. Instead, he walked away empty handed, probably thinking I was doing a lousy job.

But I'm doing the job the market will allow me.

Anyway, I wish the customer could see that.

Downtown Comings and Goings. 8/26/11.

A boutique, Kariella, is moving downtown to Lava Rd, which I assume is along the east base of the parking garage. (Which, what with the Visitor Center, seems to be finally filling in.)

Luluemon is closes -- just because, from what I can read of their explanation. ? ?

From the rumbles I'm hearing, I suspect I'll be back here soon to update.

NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN

Kariella, Lava Road, 8/24, 11.
Plankers, Wall St., 7/11.
Faveur, Franklin, 7/11.
Dream Pebbles, Minnesota Ave., 6/15/11.
Bend Yogurt Factory, Franklin/Bond, 4/26/11.
High Desert Lotus, Bond St. , 4/4/11.
Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails
(Fall, 2008 or so).

BUSINESSES LEAVING

Luluemon, Bond St., 8/26, 11.
Shear Illusions, Franklin Ave., 7/11.
Crepe Place, Wall St., 7/11.
Pita Pit, Brooks St. , 6/28/11
Smith and Wade Salon, Minnesota, Av. , 6/3/11.
Perspectives, Minnesota Av., 6/1/11
River Bend Art Gallery, Bond St., 5/5/11.
Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro

'Real' news.

Superman doesn't wear red panties anymore.

Just so you know.

***********

6 of the top 10 stories on the KTVZ site are about fires. Not a word about the Bulletin, though.

**********

I think that the Bulletin's travails was Real News; and yet, other than their own (understandably) self-serving stories, there was little information to be found.

I expect we'll hear almost nothing from here on out.

I think it impacted on me more than most news because I've been reading the Bulletin forever; it's always been here. Unlike others, I've thought it is a pretty good local paper. They may have bought into the real estate hype, but in my opinion no more than any other newspaper probably would have. I think their editorial slant is awfully conservative, but then so is most of Bend.

I had just about the most hits and page counts yesterday than I've ever had, which reflects interest in the story and a paucity of places to explore it.

I didn't feel schadenfreude, just surprise.

***********

Went out to the Badlands to write yesterday, and unlike the time before, it wasn't exactly comfortable. It was hot -- and muggy. It was kind of fun to be in nature during the thunderstorm ,though.

Wrote half a chapter, and came back and realized I'd duplicated what I'd written before. Now I have to choose one version or the other, or try to integrate the two.

Where's the reaction?

If nothing else, I think I'll need to keep this blog going because there doesn't appear to be anyone else who is willing to discuss local economic issues.

Where's the reaction to the Bulletin bankruptcy filing?

I mean, most blogs seemed to be concerned with the latest Brew pub, or what they sold on Etsy this week, or whatever.

Kind of sad what blogs have become. Twitter ain't much better.

The other guys who were addressing this issue all quit, most of them saying as they left, "our job is done."

Well, no.

This downturn still has a long way to go, with lots of permutations, and even if you don't much like my blathering, the least I can do is provide an open forum for discussion that isn't mainstream or commercial.

A bulletin from the Bulletin.

They put the best face on it they can, but....

I think I'll just leave this open for comments, if anyone is so inclined. Please, no mean-spirited posts...

My basic comment is -- being a *Newspaper* in *Bend* has to be double whammy. And, um, especially if they bought into the "Bend is Special" hype that they so often portrayed. They bought a huge new building, and one has to believe that may be the problem.

Reading the article -- maybe I should have done that first, I was pretty startled by the headline so rushed this -- yes, it probably was the new building and equipment as well as buying another newspaper.

It's a bit disingenuous to make the issue about 'fairness' of the interest rates and penalty payments. Everyone in trouble with the bank could make that argument, no?

It matters not, I think, the whole spiel about how solid the newspaper was when they got the loan -- even going into how eager others were to loan them money.

Any way you look at it, we've only gotten one side of the story. Wonder how we'll ever hear the other side?

I guess by watching the results.

My counter-intuitive solution.

I just got a gander at the comic sales charts for the last 5 years -- and it ain't a pretty sight.

I knew it, of course. I've been living through it. But I hadn't seen such clear confirmation that it was happening throughout the industry until now.

I have managed to cover most of the decline by bringing in boardgames and new books. The revenue from these two products has more or less replaced the lost revenue from comics.

New books, especially, would seem kind of counter-intuitive. I mean, aren't they dying?

Except, even the weakest products have a certain base of strength which can be tapped into. I know that when I order the "Song of Ice and Fire" books, that they are going to sell. I know that if I carry Catch-22, and Confederacy of Dunces, and 1984, that I will sell them on a steady basis. I don't have to take risk on the newest hardcover best-sellers; which are carried by the major chains. No, I can look at the track record of books already in existence and pick the best of them.

Same with boardgames -- and all my other sidelines. I can pick the product I know will sell, without taking on the risk of trying everything new that comes out, or trying to be all things to all people in the depth of my inventory.

Having a full-service new bookstore as my main business would be much more challenging. (Though I'm egotistical enough to think I could do it; I have a business plan all mapped out in my head.) Being a full-service game store would be much more challenging.

I like to think of my store as a "Pop-Culture General Store"; where I'm likely to have most of what you're looking for. I let the specialty stores in each niche carry the 80% of the product that doesn't sell as well. That's their job. My job is to have a nice sampling in each of the pop-culture categories I carry.

I've mentioned this analogy before, but it is so apt, I just have to mention it again. There was a Mythbusters episode where they tested different materials for ropes, such as hair, toilet paper, and linens. All of the materials worked, as long as you strung enough strands together. Alone, no one strand is even close to strong enough -- together, they become strong.

So, counter-intuitively, I'm stringing together enough pop-culture strands to make a strong whole. Put 6 or 8 losers together, and they become a winner.

That's the theory.

By the way, this isn't the easiest of solutions. It meant I had to invest in each of the new product lines so that I would have permanent inventory. With the old rule of thumb that I have to sell an item 4 times to make the profit I would've made from one sales if I still want to keep that item in stock, such a maneuver requires a fair amount of long-term planning.

I did most of it through cash-flow, instead of borrowing the money.

I was earning enough profit to divert it into new product lines. (Which means, of course, that my profit is still tied up in the inventory -- which is a bitch to extract.) That's why to so-called boom wasn't as good for my store as it was for others, because I was busy diversifying.

It also meant I had to take the time and space to make it work.

I was worried enough about overall sales levels to go ahead and make the gamble.

Now I'm glad I did.

You can't make a profit with product you aren't carrying...