Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/01/19/save-dark-delicacies.html
…
3 Likes
some things are worth saving. gems like this are among them.
I’m totally 100% in support of saving the store. My great regret is that I don’t live in Burbank where they have a amazing Haru bookstore. I would be there every weekend. And I would actually spend money there as opposed to probably a lot of the people who just go in there and browse. I’m not a real huge fan of charity for charity sake when it comes to businesses but I’m sure there something that you could do to help them out.
That all being said I’m not sure why we are calling the landlord’s greedy. As far as I understand it most commercial landlords are simply trying to maximize their income. I don’t think that they’re running some special not-for-profit that is trying to save the community character. If the horror bookstore could charge more for its services then I’m sure they could afford it. But most people Are not supporting actual bookstores and are more happy to give their money for five dollar coffees. Or hundred dollar yoga pants. I am not really sure I’m going to blame the landlord for that. I certainly trying to maximize my income. I’m sure many of you do too.
I dunno. Old Town Pasadena is always packed, despite the corner of Fair Oaks and Colorado being home to a Cheesecake Factory, a Pottery Barn, and a Sephora.
1 Like
This sort of thing happens here in the U.K. as well. The city of Bath, which is a major tourist destination, used to have many great little independent shops, but greedy landlords keep hiking rents, driving those shops out, but the chains that move in don’t have the appeal, because they don’t offer anything different to many other similar shops elsewhere in the city, and disappear within a short space of time, rinse and repeat. Now the centre of Bath has many empty shops just sitting there, gone are the record shops, the skate and surf clothing shops, and many others.
At least the city still has several really excellent bookshops, and one excellent shop selling musical instruments and equipment.
Yeah, it’s tempting to think that booting out the indies and bringing in the high rent-paying chains will backfire and make the landlords lose money, but there isn’t a lot of reason to think that’s the case.
ORLY?
So they have a failing business model, and people want to bail them out with a fundraiser - what happens in 12 months - will the failed business model suddenly be successful? It might be sad, people might wish it isn’t so, but bailing out a business that can’t make it on their own is just a waste of time and money.
I’m not seeing how that contradicts me. Your own article claims that the NYC landlords aren’t losing money from the vacant properties as they can collect tax credits while waiting for a chain.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
