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Here today, gone tomorrow....

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by downndirty, Apr 15, 2020.

  1. downndirty

    downndirty
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    Once things open back up, I've got a suspicion there will be a bunch of places around my way that shut down.

    There's a comic book store that pays at least $4k/month in rent.
    There's a ton of old folks restaurants that were on their last legs. Places that still serve single pats of butter and have turkey and dressing on Sunday.....gone.
    At least one supermarket is going down. They are going gangbusters now, but once things return to normal, the only sure place that will thrive around here is Aldi, maybe a Costco.
    The creepy sex toy store? Done, son.

    Nationwide, I think Harley Davidson is definitely going bankrupt. $45k for a new bike? $35k for a 2019? Who the fuck is paying that? I know this has been predicted for a long time, but I think the impending depression is the blow that kills them.

    I could see Nissan having to either fold into another entity or sell off some shit to keep afloat.

    I also think we're seeing the last days of the old-school retail giants. K-Mart, Belk, Macy's, Sears...I'm thinking it's a safe wager one of them will tank, and at least one smart one will convert to a Marshall's/TJ Maxx, Nordstrom Rack kind of approach.

    Lastly, I'm saying another restaurant chain is going down. Looking at you, Friendly's and Steak and Shake.

    FOCUS: What is not going to survive 2020?
     
  2. Juice

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    GameStop is probably going to be a casualty unless it can drastically pivot somehow. Then again, Michael Burry (guy played by Christian Bale in The Big Short) just dumped another large chunk of investment capital into it, so maybe he knows something we don’t?

    Sears was already almost dead, so was K-Mart and JCPenny. Sears had been stripped down to the studs and the latter two have had a few bankruptcy filings between them. Wouldn’t take much to push them over, and you’re right that this might be it.

    Friendly’s is near-and-dear to my heart for nostalgic reasons, and I don’t know how their recent overhaul and restructuring went. Haven’t been in years. I do hope Applebee’s and Ruby Tuesday both die.

    And if this whole doesn’t kill a money laundering scheme like Mattress Firm, nothing will.
     
  3. Aetius

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    Friendly's is a cockroach that will never die. It feels like they've had no one working there for decades, so I can't see why all their employees being sent home should have any effect on the speed of their service.
     
  4. Frebis

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    As long as the black croutons live on. That shit is like crack.
     
  5. walt

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    I've thought about this subject a while and I can't really think of anything off the top of my head besides as previously mentioned, the small "mom and pop" places. A buddy of mine just bought the last non-corporate owned movie theater in our county, a beautiful, historic building which we frequented. But I don't know how he's gonna dig out from all this. Because I think the thing that's going to survive this is how or where we go for entertainment. I am quite sure we're not going to see this "beautiful, perfect V" Mr Tangerine man likes to describe the coming recovery as. And that's gonna continue to make life difficult for the restaurants, theaters, etc.
     
  6. downndirty

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    Here's the thing for the mom and pop places: Facebook, Twitter, etc. are the great equalizers. They can run more nuanced promotions and community events than the chains. They are now more nimble.

    I used to live near the Senator Theatre in Baltimore, and it was gorgeous. Golden era decor, huge old curtains, and they ran specials that no chain could touch. They'd show local film students work, they had microbrews and you could order burgers and poutine from the restaurant next door. They did marathons of Star Wars preceding the new releases, classic movies with the seasons/goings on.

    I think as we get through this, the only liability they have is they can't assume a ginormous amount of debt.

    Also, I see Game Stop as pivoting from making a cut off of systems and discs (their business model since the 1990's), but to a more "nerd emporium", encroaching a bit into the Hot Topic/Spencer's gifts space, albeit focused on video game culture. I think they won't have as many stores, but they will keep afloat once their identity gets stabilized.
     
  7. Crown Royal

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    On a more positive note than the above, I am hoping this murders and buries the entire industry of social media influencing. People are now starting to catch on how useless, lazy and entitled those fucks are.
     
  8. wexton

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    And what is shitty about situations like that is he will/might go bankrupt, then someone else will just come in and buy it, and start off where he left off.
     
  9. Revengeofthenerds

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    The restaurant industry is gonna be interesting. Go put a commercial kitchen in a few theaters of a former cinema and sublet space to different restaurants for delivery-only out of the same place.
     
  10. ODEN

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    Movie Theaters. They were struggling already. During COVID, rent $20 straight to video new releases to sit at home on my couch, drink my booze and not walking on a tacky-sticky floor as opposed to go sit in chair with 20 years worth of trapped farts in it, in big room full of booger eaters fucking with their phones while you try to watch a movie. This seems like a no-brainer to me.
     
  11. Rush-O-Matic

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    US Box Office was $11.4 billion in 2019, and over $42 billion worldwide. There have been easy streaming options for awhile, to compete with the fart rooms and booger eaters. Movie theatres as a whole aren't going away, but the mega chains will be impacted, and some struggling facilities. It will certainly change in some way. The theatres don't make that much off the films, but supplement with concession revenue.
     
  12. dixiebandit69

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    I hope Harley-Davidson dies.

    Fun fact: I've wanted a Harley for most of my life.

    But I don't like what the company and its consumers have become.

    I remember going by the local Harley dealer when they rolled out their latest engine, and I asked the guys in the service department about some of the specifics of it.
    Just basic stuff, like how they put two cams in one block, and wether it had multiple valves per cylinder.
    They politely told me to fuck off, that they can't share that information.

    Fuck them in their fucking asses.
    That isn't the first time the Harley people have pissed me off.

    These days, the only people patronizing Harley dealerships are douchebags with too much money (mostly white-collar guys, from what I've met).

    Harley owners of TiB, flame me all you want, I don't give a shit. You know I'm right.
     
    #12 dixiebandit69, Apr 16, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2020
  13. Revengeofthenerds

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    for some reason you strike me as someone who’d ride an Indian
     
  14. scotchcrotch

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    Any brick and mortar store these days that dedicates a significant amount of floor space to media is doomed.

    Looking at you Best Buy and GameStop.
     
  15. xrayvision

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    I haven't bought anything from Best Buy in a long, long time. I will go in there to look at something. But I won't pay their prices. Also their selection typically isn't as good.

    I take that back. I bought some earbuds from there last year because they had a model I couldn't find anywhere else. But that was it.
     
  16. Revengeofthenerds

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    Thought about adding Best Buy to my post about restaurants, as they aren’t so great of a buy anymore. But their IT part, do they still call it nerd squad? That’s gonna keep them afloat. If they were smart they’d leverage their supply chain network into an IT solutions company exclusively. They’re already successful doing that, and the more people who work remotely the more that sector is gonna explode.
     
  17. malisbad

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    I don't have specifics, but there are a lot of high-cost producers that are going to die. You see all the ads on insta, but once people are out of the house, the demands for those items is gonna drop hard. A lot of "boom" businesses might find themselves needing for capital, but have massively inflated expectations as to what their valuation is.

    As for the small businesses, that's sad, to a point. A lot of the worst bosses I ever had were Small Business Tyrants, and I can't say I'll ever be upset to see them lose.