Two weekends ago I stopped by a local bookstore to pick up some reading material for a relaxing weekend at the beach. I wanted to buy the latest INC magazine. The Saturday morning buzz, so familiar to our college town, was still evident in this store. Many customers were browsing. I walked past the lazy resident cat on my way to the magazine racks. This particular store has four rows of magazines; I love the selection. Today though, most of the shelves had several empty spots, once filled with the latest glossies. The first thought that came to my mind was, “dang another store is folding”. I walked up to the counter and asked about my missing INC. To my relief the clerk told me that they were doing fine, but their magazine distributor, Anderson News LLC, had gone out of business suddenly, leaving them with no supply.
When we reached our beach destination, I decided to slip out to the local grocery store and pick up a few items. As I perused the isles, I was constantly met by empty shelves. The candy section had four bare shelves and one bar of chocolate. The soda section had only the standards for Pepsi and Coke. Obviously the varieties had been ditched in this ever tightening economy. This is frustrating to the consumer. I did not have the nerve to ask the manager if the store was closing its doors, but that was the perception all of the customers left with. Right then perception was everything.
