I happened to drive by Northfield Photo and Memories on 111 West 6th St today and was surprised to see that they had closed. When did this happen?
I don’t see any mention of the closing on their still-alive website, nor on the sites for the Nfld News or KYMN or Northfield.org or…
The building is for sale, listed with Wendy Thorpe at Edina Realty.
When? months ago -- at least four, maybe six … victims of the mortgage crisis. I know they had a going out of business sidewalk sale in warmer weather.
Perhaps the EDA should have stepped in.
Why dpn’t you start a list: here’s some …
Hodge Podge
BookFellas Books
Sweet Lous
The Ideal never even reopened…
Erbert & whatever…….
Sweet Pea’s
The saddle shop -- equine outfitters
D&L Gathering
The Fine Groove Record shop…
River City Books
Art Org
Bagel Bros — oh that doesn’t count -- been gone for over five years
Victor- Thanks for posting the list. The common characteristic of all these stores is their narrow market segment. Anyone with a hankering to open up a shop like this would be advised to get some accurate market reseach, IMO. One characteristic of an entrepeneur that I have seen is that they are all fired up about Their particular interest. The successful ones are those that fill a market niche that no one else is filling. This is where some good research becomes important.
John…I agree, at least about most of the stores on the list. In other cases, book stores and accessories for example, I’d say one main reason was market saturation. The recession may have precipitated the failures, but the real problem was too many people doing the same thing.
Victor…I understand that ‘micro-loans’ are one bone of contention in the current EDA situation. There might be a reason for the EDA to help some existing small businesses with short term loans, particularly in this era of tight credit. Life-Ring loans are often unsuccessful…so I’d rather see these loans be used to improve or expand a business, rather than to keep it afloat. Still even with that, it seems like there are problems: What about the competition…do they get loans as well? For example, why should one small restaurant be favored over another? If a finite amount of money is available for the micro-loan program how will it be fairly allocated? Finally…is the amount of due diligence required for small loans a good use of staff time?