Local Business Closing

[FarmerChick]

How much of this is happening in your little local area. Most of us are small towns.....

for me the newspaper said Cochrane Furniture is closing...185 people out of work. They have been around since 1920 and are a nice local company that treated people well....due to financial problems they are closing their doors.

This is one of MANY small business that are closing in my area.

What about ya'll? Seeing alot of this with true, local run business that have been around for 50-60 years and owned by a local family?

This is 185 that are going to hit our little local market looking for work that can barely has job openings that can support a family for the wages...UGH

times are going to get alot harder, alot harder before they even start to get somewhat better.

just wondering what your little local area is like with business.

 

[enjoy the ride]

A local furniture store is closing here too.
My father was in the furniture business in San Francisco in the Great Depression- he always said that the real sign of a serious economic downturn was when furniture stores close, that one thing people forgo first is furniture.

 

[FarmerChick]

serious economic downturn was when furniture stores close, that one thing people forgo first is furniture.

********ew, that is scary what your Dad said

 

[miss_thenorth]

well, my small town is just a farming community(pop 650)--so no industries to close here, but in windsor, where the big three are--they are hurting bigtime. chrysler laid off many,and gm and ford aren't doing too great either. My home town of wallaceburg is a (or was a) big tool and die town, and it is basically a ghost town now. a few factories are left, running at bare bones, and the biggest industry was a call centre that recently closed.
there are a few homes here in this area that have been foreclosed- my neighbour was one. they worked in a factory in tilbury, built a new house two years ago, tore down the old one, then their plant closed, and they lost their new house. Sad story, even though I can't say I'm sad they are gone-not good neighbours.

(Just so yall know, my right shift key is not working, and i am too lazy to go through all my posts and capitalize everything)

 

[Wildsky]

well, my small town is just a farming community(pop 650)

Thats HUGE.... almost three times the size of our town!

Our grocery store has been struggling for a while, most folks (self included) prefer to drive an hour - do a large grocery shopping/stock up trip.

We really do need to try keep some of the money here in town. We have only three or four little shops, the post office, bank, hair salon, photo studio, and one larger outfit making cattle panels etc.. (my husband works for them)

 

[ScottyG]

This is such a problem here in small-town Michigan. This town used to have a lot of factories, but all but one closed down in the 80s. And then the hospital was the largest employer in town, but the hospital closed about 5 years ago. You know things are bad when the hospital shuts down. Ugh. Now, the college where I work is the biggest employer in town, but it's kind of awkward. I mean, the town has something like 20% unemployment rates, and meanwhile I work at a liberal arts college full of rich frat boys, with an equestrian center. Pretty odd. And the local businesses are hurting bigtime. So many closed storefronts in the business district...

 

[poppycat]

I live near a medium-ish city (Portland OR.) It's been somewhat less of a problem here although still some are closing. A distant relative owned a few appliance stores and they went out of business. But quite a few towns have been pretty successful in keeping Wal-Mart out.

We have Target instead

Downtown is really thriving here partially due to strict land use laws. There are also more, uh, adult entertainment venues per capita in Oregon than in any other state due to "innovative" interpretation of the right to free speech. That sector of local business is thriving.

 

[Homesteadmom]

We just had a appliance'furniture store close that has been here since the 60's, just closed. A kids resale shop closed last Jan.,

Poppycat, if you don't mind what is the name of your town I have a uncle that lives near Portland, along with a friend too.

 

[poppycat]

I live in Lake Oswego. It's the snooty suburb, sorry to say. We moved here because of the schools and proximity to work.

 

[Dace]

Yep, here to. Although we are a big city and there are many businesses that go under with out drawing attention, I have noticed some biggies go...a few car dealerships. Much like the theory on furniture sales being an economic indicator....same for car dealerships. No one has money for such luxuries.

We were just talking about this last night. I am the cheer coordinator for our local pop warner. Last year we came up with a new fund raiser for the cheerleaders, they make up a poster board that says something to the effect of 'Go Joey! Stomp the Sultans' or whatever and deliver it to the players home on Friday evenings, when he opens they door they present him with his sign and perform a cheer. For this the families pay $20 to the cheer squad. Last year every single Friday night during the season our girls were working delivering these signs, they made HUNDREDS of dollars! This year our 6 squads have sold a total of 6. Perfect example of the economy and people cutting out the luxury items.
I think nearly everyone is feeling it and I agree with FarmerChick, it is going to get uglier before it gets better.