Since I need to practice writing more, my NYR will be to blog everyday. Heh. It will be a contest to see who tires of it first, me or the readers.
Anyway, today I have a sad thing to write about. For a year and a half I have been patronizing a scrapbooking store called Paperoni. And today, first day of the new year, I open my e-mail to see their January newsletter in my inbox. Hooray! Check when the sales are, check when the all-night crops are being held... maybe I'll take a Friday night off from work, even, if there aren't any Saturdays scheduled. But instead of bonus buy days and crops, the newsletter just says "Sorry. We're closing."
Well, it's not like I don't know that small business owners have the deck stacked against them, especially in the scrapbooking business. Not that it's hard to spend a lot of money on scrapbook supplies, but... it's the kind of business where you have to turn over nearly all your merchandise on a regular basis in order for your customers to have new inspirations. And you have to be in a really high traffic area in order to pull in enough paper artists to do that. You have to compete with AC Moore and Michaels and all the other chain stores that can routinely run supplies at 40% off. So I know the decision to close is probably a practical one. But I reserve the right to be sad all the same.
Although it flies in the face of logic, I almost think Paperoni would have been better off to park itself right next door to ACMoore (which, in our community, is directly across the street from a Michael's.) Kind of like fast food places that bunch themselves all in a row. Paperoni carried unusual items and different brand names than the others do... they could have dropped adhesives and other ordinary items and only carried things the chains don't have. But the rent in the higher profile shopping centers would probably have eaten up their newly won profits anyway.
Well, now what will do on Saturday nights? No cozy store to hang out in until closing time, no place to learn all the latest fads in, no back room stuffed with snacks. And after closing, when the front doors were locked... no watching Roz (who is, after all, "DA BOSS") win at poker once the others tired of scrapping and turned to cards instead (me, I NEVER get tired of scrapping, so no poker for me.) Wait, did I say Roz won at poker? Maybe my memory is a little faulty there. But she would have enjoyed winning the most, so let's just say that she did.
I don't have a lot of friends (not the running around with kind of friends) and I have a feeling that though people will be determined to keep the circle going, without the store as a hub, we will all spin off in different directions. A sad thought for the first day of the new year. Here's hoping the next e-mail I get in 2008 brings better news.
