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Discover Mid-America — October 2007
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It ain’t that bad…perk up
by Bruce Rodgers, Editor/Publisher
If you’ve been paying attention to the economic news recently, TV/radio talking heads and some print journalist report that economists are beginning the throw around the “R” word, as in recession. Blame it on the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, they say.
I know, for some antique shop and mall owners, what else is new? Some of those folks feel like they’ve been in a recession for the last five years. Still, it’s understandable to be nervous.
But in my book, sub-prime problems don’t have a bearing on the antique and collectibles trade. Without sounding elitist, the folks in trouble because of increasing adjustable mortgage rates aren’t the folks buying antiques and collectibles.
Granted, I’m not an economist but more worrisome to me are energy costs and the diluting of the marketplace with reproductions and the deceptive marketing that may go with that. I don’t have hard proof but the closing of the Fenton Art Glass Company (see page 11) point to economic threats other than greedy mortgage bankers lending money to people buying houses beyond their means.
Fenton President George Fenton was quoted on the Bruno’s Basement eBay web page as saying the following about the trends that caused his company’s shutdown:
“One is that we generally sell to people in rural (areas) with moderate incomes. They have less discretionary income. Two, people are doing less collecting. Three, there is more competition from overseas. Four, there are higher costs, especially natural gas. Health care is right behind. Those have all come together.”
Troubles in the small town America come from a variety of sources, but the big one is loss of jobs, particularly good paying jobs. Less collecting can be corrected by better marketing by the antique and collectibles trade. Higher energy costs and the health care crisis are policy challenges government, on all levels, should tackle.
Depressing, uh? Could be if you let it.
But I’ve been hearing a lot of positives lately. One dealer/shop owner in Harrisonville, MO told me straight out, “I’m not giving up, no way.”
And here’s what Emily White-Gartrell, who has launched a new show in Crocker, MO called Top of the Ozarks Antique Fair, had to say, “Despite the concerns of many experts in the field of antiques, I don’t believe that the antique world or that antique shops are a white elephant in the retail world.
“I think that with any retail business, reinventing new methods of marketing will prove to be the salvation so to speak in the new millennium in the world of antiques.”
Here at Discover Mid-America, we’re into new marketing approaches. We believe the Internet is important, we’re going to try a Holiday Gift Guide insert, our annual Destinations voting is coming up and our editorial approach factors in an approach of trying to reach new antique buyers.
If you’re in business, you’ve got to be optimistic, and inventive. Otherwise…
Bruce Rodgers can be contacted at publisher@discoverypub.com.
> Refurnished Thoughts Archive — past columns
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