Business Thursday

 

I am now able to tell a few friends, "I told you so."  During a rare few minutes to kill last week, I did something I hadn't done in a while-- walked through Christmas Tree Shops in Moosic.  The company filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, and a handful of stores closed.  The sign on the store in Moosic said it was staying open.

I walked inside, and it was different.  What was once a quirky and fun place to shop looked dead.  Empty shelves.  Empty floor space.  A boring merchandise mix with nothing special, nothing interesting, and nothing you couldn't get anywhere else.  This just didn't look like a healthy business.

The word came down the other day.  Unless there is a last minute White Knight, the company is going out of business.  One stroll through the store told you that was inevitable.

By the way, the Shops at Montage is like a lot of other shopping center, here in our area and across the country.  There is a lot of empty space, and now that empty square footage is about to get much larger.

Moving on...

An analysis by Spotlight PA, done by talking to several state legislators, says fireworks in Pennsylvania is here to stay.   The overwhelming reason is that fireworks companies invested in their facilities here in Pennsylvania, after Harrisburg foolishly okayed the fireworks expansion.

Really?  Hey, your product kills people, burns houses, and causes a major nuisance for the elderly, veterans, and pets.  Every police fire department and police department is against it.  Police this week are chasing down fireworks complaints, and spending a lot of time when they can be doing other things, but hey, since you have a nice building, you can stay.

That reasoning is ludicrous.  

Once again, Harrisburg favors tax revenue and dollars over public safety.

I'm not heartless.  Throw the fireworks people a bone when you outlaw their product.  Give them some tax breaks when you shut them down.  Offer grants and loans to get in to another line of work.

This shouldn't be happening.

One more...

You have to stand in awe of the genius of Sheetz.  The company halved gas prices on Independence Day.  Swamped stores.  Extra traffic.  Just about everyone who stopped in to gas up went in to the store to buy drinks, sandwiches, and more.  That's where Sheetz made the real money, the big money.  There is more.  Sheetz dominated social media.  There were stories on TV.  Translation:  free advertising.  

The bottom line:  KA-CHING!