Another One Bites the Dust

[olive bleu]

I was very sad to read in our morning paper here in Halifax of one of our long time mom & pop joints closing down.This place has been around since the 50's, and not a lot about it has changed since then.

It breaks my heart to see closures like this. It is happening more and more here in Halifax as big business moves in and squeezes the little guy out. Eventually, the buildings are getting sold, developers move in, and the ugly streetcapes just go on and on....pretty dishearteniing for an "historical" town

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1119179.html

 

[John in Covina]

I am not sure I got the reason for closing clear.

While it does sound like they lost out on selling the supermarket type goods, it also seems like the switch to being a more of a luncheonette / dinner type of restaurant was working. (Focus on what you do well.)

However it reads more like the reason is that the owner's children were involved in other careers and did not want to devote the time it takes to run the familiy business.

Plus, it doesn't really sound like the fault of the local Mega-low-mart, but that it's not a goldmine business so the owners could simply sell out (intact) and move on. (Note there were 2 previous owners that did so.) Times change, attitudes change. A business is based on the repeat customers in this type of case, and if their market is shrinking then they need to make some changes to survive or target another or expanded customer base. Also loyal customers could rally to support and help expand the base by telling their friends, etc to keep it open and viable.

There is a reason that so many buggy whip makers went out of business...

I was unhappy when Tower Records went under out this way, as a brick and mortor store, I was most likely to find the CD I was looking for. However the other question was if I was willing to pay the price they were asking when I found it.

 

[Paisley]

One key to the closing:

"Dad [the deceased owner] always preached to us to go to university so we wouldn’t have to work the hours that he had to work," Mr. Karmas said Tuesday.​

From what I've read elsewhere, this is typical: immigrant (often Russian, Greek or Korean) arrives in U.S., works long, long hours at a small business, and urges offspring to take up a profession. Which they do.

 

[olive bleu]

oh, i understand the business side of things,I'm speaking strictly from the heart. I know that many immigrants have moved to North America so their children can have a better life, and then put in many long backbreaking hours to give them that opportunity.

From a purely emotional standpoint, i feel sad about these changes.There have been a lot of these in my town. In fact in my own neighbourhood. There was for many years a small convienience store owned by an old Greek guy where we always bought our feta and olives. I would go in there with my small children( who loved olives from an early age),and he would tease them and tell them how odd they were because they preferred olives to candy.
What makes me sad is that there is nothing to replace it when these guys retire.Buying my olives at the supermarket in a shrinkwrapped tub is just not the same.

maybe I'm being overly sentimental,but that's what you get when you remember a time when your packages came home from the store wrapped in brown paper and string

 

[John in Covina]

Often at some point there will be a specialty market / deli to handle stuff like your olives and cheeses. Sometimes you have to seek them out and find new sources. Life is an adventure and things change, I don't recognize my home town, there is little left that is the same as from my childhood there.

 

[olive bleu]

well, i suppose you have a good point Maybe instead of spending my energy looking back, and grieving over what's gone, i should focus on finding and supporting those new businesses that are trying to make a go of it now...so i'm not griping in another 5 years that they're gone too.

 

[Mid-fogey]

I think...

...OB's point is that it's distressing to see the personal and unique replaced with the impersonal and homogenized. The why of it may be true, but that doesn't matter when the old place you enjoy goes away because not enough other people patronize it.

We live in a time of galloping change. People often need something that is personal and lasting to have a sense of security and well being.

 

[olive bleu]

Exactly