I feel as though my business has survived through 3 different epochs.
The first was the hardscrabble 80's.
The second was the growing population and competition of the 90's.
The third was the go-go 00's (up to now.)
I think we're about to enter into a fourth epoch.
If you had asked me a year ago, I would have told you we're likely to slide back into the 90's era type business climate. With the excess gone, but a still viable economy.
Instead, I'm beginning to wonder if won't resemble the 80's more.
My experience with the 80's was -- it was a very hard time to survive. Most of the businesses I knew of were very down to earth, very common sense. There wasn't a lot of fluff. There weren't a lot of silly businesses. Everyone was just getting by.
If you wanted to advertise, you thought long and hard. It was more a "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" kind of atmosphere. You didn't buy yourself a new car and put your business logo on it; you tried to find used fixtures or built them yourself. You didn't renovate anytime you felt like it; or eat out much; or buy unnecessary luxuries.
What I remember about the occasional 'high end' businesses that would come to downtown, is that they would open with a certain amount of arrogance, of showing the poor benighted locals what a first class store looks like, and then an inevitable realization that it wasn't happening, resulting in a sudden disappearance into the night, or a sort of half angry/half dismayed complaint, and a withering away.
No one was getting rich. Everyone was just getting by, and that was counted as success.
I'm not sure people are ready for that again.
The first was the hardscrabble 80's.
The second was the growing population and competition of the 90's.
The third was the go-go 00's (up to now.)
I think we're about to enter into a fourth epoch.
If you had asked me a year ago, I would have told you we're likely to slide back into the 90's era type business climate. With the excess gone, but a still viable economy.
Instead, I'm beginning to wonder if won't resemble the 80's more.
My experience with the 80's was -- it was a very hard time to survive. Most of the businesses I knew of were very down to earth, very common sense. There wasn't a lot of fluff. There weren't a lot of silly businesses. Everyone was just getting by.
If you wanted to advertise, you thought long and hard. It was more a "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" kind of atmosphere. You didn't buy yourself a new car and put your business logo on it; you tried to find used fixtures or built them yourself. You didn't renovate anytime you felt like it; or eat out much; or buy unnecessary luxuries.
What I remember about the occasional 'high end' businesses that would come to downtown, is that they would open with a certain amount of arrogance, of showing the poor benighted locals what a first class store looks like, and then an inevitable realization that it wasn't happening, resulting in a sudden disappearance into the night, or a sort of half angry/half dismayed complaint, and a withering away.
No one was getting rich. Everyone was just getting by, and that was counted as success.
I'm not sure people are ready for that again.