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A new week, a new rant. This time the underlyining cause is a little far away in time, so stick with me because is going to be a little long.
I'll begin to say that I live in a small town just outside Amsterdam, and it is like any small town that lies just outside any big city that attract most of the business and most of the peoples. Every day (more or less) while I walk towards the train station (when ice and snow prevent me to get by motorbike) I walk stright throw the center of the town.
Looong ago, I noticed that one of the thousands of shops in the center was being renovated. If I'm not mistaken, the original was selling photographic material (and there are at least other 4 similar shops nearby) and being that everybody has digital by now these shops are dying out.
Anyhoo, a few weeks later the shop re-open as a specialized "boutique" for... soap. No, I say.. SOAP! I don't know what you do, but if I need soap while I'm at the supermarket I grab some from the shelf, I don't go to a 'boutique' where the same soap costs twice as much. And indeed the place looks desrted, a few months later I see a lot of "SALE" signs and then it goes empty with a "for rent" sign on the window. A few weeks later is again under renovation. And one day I walk by and I see the next incarnation: candies...
No I mean... CANDIES? This too survives for a few months and then it goes down. After a while is again under renovation and re-opens with another new dress: muslim bakery.
I've no clue what kind of bread the arabs eat, but considering thare are at least 4 more bakeries around, it looks like a bad position. The bakery stay for a while and then it closes the door.
And a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the place was again under renovation. That made me think that somewhere there is a real estate agent that just ordered his sixth mercedes, and yesterday I saw the new shop.
Shoes. Baby shoes!
Now, once again, around there there are at least 4 different shoeshops, ok, they are not 'specialized' but what the hell... Somebody wants to bet how long will it takes to go down?
I don't want to bring bad luck to anybody, but this thing is leaving me a little perplexed. Allow me to expand: how much did all these peoples paid for all that? I mean: buy the place, renovate it, get the permits and registrations, buy the stuff etcetera... it's not cheap! Is a lot of money that has to be paid off even before you can open the door. Anybody thought "wait a sec... do I have ONE chance to make it?"
This is what is usually called common economy, somebody calls it "Business Plan", I call it "a couple of number on the back of an envelope". The idea is that before jumping into any 'adventure' you should make a couple of calculations and verify:
And if the answer to the last question is "well...." maybe (byt maybe), is better if you don't jump in. Especially if your "product" is something that cannot be returned to the supplier.
Ok, we are in a recession so it could be a momentary problem, but this should make peoples more carefull instead of jumping into it with both feet at once (seriously: soap and candies?)
Not to be accused of sciovinism, but to me it looked like all the "proprietor" (and so the peoples behind the various "plans") were women. And maybe the problem is that these peoples were following more their own hearts than the cold mathematics. But I'm still perplexed. If it is true that "behine a great man there is a great woman", how is that behind a woman with a plan there isn't a man with a calculator?
Davide Bianchi
24/03/2010 11:10
Comments are added when and more important if I have the time to review them and after removing Spam, Crap, Phishing and the like. So don't hold your breath. And if your comment doesn't appear, is probably becuase it wasn't worth it.
Off-Topic sui negozi di caramelle By Nicoletta Cau posted 18/03/2010 16:53
Sembra che parli dell mia Ex moglie By Luigi posted 18/03/2010 16:54
Dico la mia By Mistya posted 18/03/2010 17:58
magari... By Lisa posted 18/03/2010 18:15
@ Lisa By Mike posted 23/03/2010 01:15
Dipende dagli incentivi By Julo posted 18/03/2010 18:38
Tutt'ilmondo č paese By Anonymous coward posted 18/03/2010 19:30
Che nervoso By Verzasoft posted 18/03/2010 21:37
Trovi sempre una razgione razionale By Mallin Shetland posted 19/03/2010 11:11
sarebbe bello se... By Alberto posted 22/03/2010 20:31
@ Alberto By argaar posted 23/03/2010 15:36
a volte By robibo posted 24/03/2010 09:40
@ robibo By Davide Bianchi posted 24/03/2010 09:42
@ Davide Bianchi By Luca Bertoncello posted 24/03/2010 11:04
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