Ch-ch-ch-changes!

A typical Staples office supply store, in Ontario, California. Photographed on March 22, 2005 and uploaded the same day by user Coolcaesar. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        Kind of a running gag that I have upon returning from a vacation is that as I exit the freeway and head toward home, I'll say to my wife, "I wonder if much has changed while we were gone?"

         Whether it be a few days or seven weeks like our most recent vacation, I'll make my little joke.  Most of the time there is no change or, if any, only something minor.   So it seemed when we rolled into our hometown last Tuesday--everything looked the same.   It took me two days to realize there was a very big change--one that was very disappointing to my wife and me.   The Staples store across the street from us was closed down.

          This change won't affect us too adversely, but it was convenient to have an office supply store so close that I could easily walk to it.  I had grown so used to looking out our back windows to see that friendly Staples sign across Rosemead Boulevard.  Now there's just a sad red rectangle where words used to be.

          The demise of our neighborhood Staples came without any real warning unlike the closing of the Borders store that was in the same shopping center.   Borders advertised their closing for a few months ahead of time and each week cut prices until that last week when the little remaining stock went for ultra-bargain prices.  You can bet that I stocked up on books during that closing sale.  I reaped benefits but I was disappointed to see the store close.   A major bookstore in easy walking distance was like a dream come true.

         And now Staples.   Not only Staples but also an AT&T phone store where my wife and I had bought all of our cell phones over the past several years.   Losing the phone store is no biggie since phone stores seem to be on every corner around here.   The closest office supply store will now be at least five miles away.   Still convenient, but not as much as one I could see from our house.

         So what will show up next in those empty store spaces?   It took a while to reoccupy the Borders space.  Eventually a Petsmart--a mega pet store--moved in.   I was not particularly thrilled about that since I don't own any pets and don't intend to.    Only once have I entered that store and that was to buy some of those colorful rocks like you put in aquariums.   My granddaughter kept emptying decorative vases that we have around our house to add to her rock collection.   I bought her a bag of colored stones so she might let our vases be.   Haven't been in that store since.

         The phone store space will probably find a new occupant relatively quickly since it's a smaller space.  The former Staples site might be a tougher proposition.  It's a big space.  I'm not sure what I'd like to see there next.  I wouldn't be too surprised to see a pop-up Halloween store open in that space for a couple months or maybe a temporary Christmas store.  

        The shopping center already has  Lowes, Walmart, Ross, Marshalls, and a plethora of smaller shops dealing in clothing and other sundry items.  With stores closing all around us I'm not sure who else would venture to open up business in the current economy.   Goodwill maybe?   I suppose I could see that though I hope I don't actually see it.   Then again, I wouldn't have to go so far to take my cast-off items for tax write-off donations.

        Whatever does end up opening in those spaces--and I do hope the spaces become occupied quickly--I hope it's the ideal store for me.   A place that I'd love to go to look around and even maybe buy something now and then.   At the moment I can't imagine what that  store might be.  There's not much I want these days.    After all, I'm trying to get rid of stuff.   Hmm--that Goodwill store is starting to sound like a good idea.

Battle of the Bands

       Another Battle of the Bands is coming this Friday August 15th.   Participation grew to greater numbers last round so I would imagine we might see similar numbers this time around.   And even if you aren't staging your own Battle we hope you will vote on the ones who are.   My next Battle will be the start of a themed series where I will be pitting "Boys against the Girls".   The classic tune I've chosen is an oldie but excellentie.  It's one of my favorite tunes--one that I hope you too will enjoy.  Please stop by on Friday.

          What were some stores in your area that you were sad to see close down?    What new stores would you like to see open near you?   Do you ever shop at Goodwill?

Related articles

• Staples to close 225 stores as sales move online
• The Value of Bookstores
• Staples is NOT EASY!
• Staples to close 225 stores as sales move online

Closing Time

 

       Nothing like waiting until the last minute.  It's something I often do.  I've decided to submit an entry to the first challenge for Rachel Harrie's Platform-Building Campaign.  You can find the rules here.   If you're doing the challenge you probably know the rules; if you're not doing the challenge you may not care about the rules so just read and enjoy.  My story begins and ends with the qualifying prompt phrases and clocks in at exactly 200 words according to my MS Word count.

Closing Time

        The door swung open to admit a solemn cluster of people who had been waiting outside.  As they entered the store the people dispersed, some milling with looks of apprehension as their eyes scanned the surrounding shelves, while others moved with intention as they filled arms or plastic baskets with books.

        Signs throughout the store stated what had been seen on the outside:  LAST DAY!  ALL BOOKS 4 FOR $5.00 STORE CLOSES AT 3 PM.    Even the display fixtures were for sale.  Most of the shelves had been emptied and the remaining stock had been moved to the front of the store.  Now most of the store was roped off looking like a party room after the guests had gone.

        For five hours a steady flow of customers came and went quietly on a quest for a bargain and to pay a final tribute to the store that had been there for the past ten years.  The lines were modest as customers were efficiently checked out by polite clerks who seemed more like carnival workers on the last day of a fair.

      After today the Borders Bookstore would be closed forever.   At precisely three o'clock, the door swung shut.

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       Have any of you gone to your local Borders store to take advantage of the clearance sales?   What extraordinary bargains did you find?



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Optimal Optimism

            Are you an optimist?  Do you try to look at the positive side to everything?  If so, do you then kick it up a notch a strive for optimism at the highest level?   That's optimal optimism.  

           If you think about it logically it makes sense to be optimistic.  I like to think about the outcomes of our thoughts and actions.  Realism is right thinking, but we can be optimistic even in the most dire circumstances, and for our good and the good of those around us this optimistic thinking is what keeps us going.

          We have control over our own thoughts.  Even if we have had a lifetime of negative programming which inclines us toward negative (unproductive) thinking, we can eventually train ourselves to become productive positive thinkers.  I invite you to try to persuade me otherwise, but my real challenge to you is to become an optimal optimist.  You will be happier and more productive because of it, and you will influence those around you and help make the world a better place for us all.

           There are many books on positive and optimistic thinking.   I encourage you to investigate some of these and read them if you haven't done so already.   If you have any to recommend please tell us about them in the comment section.  One such book that you should read often is the Bible.  This may be controversial to some of you, but it's difficult to deny that there is a lot of advice in this book on how to think more positively.

            Much of the blogging community offers positivity and optimism.   Let me get to the business of recognizing some bloggers that I often find to be a positive inspiration to me.  I highly recommend that you check out these great ladies and try to absorb some of the sun rays of positive thinking that they usually radiate in their posts.

            Vanessa at Optimal Optimist is a young lady with a brilliant outlook on life.  The title of her blog is the inspiration for my blog post today.   She imparts some wonderfully uplifting messages that can help you see things in a better way.

             Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry is someone with whom many of you are already familiar.  Yvonne knows a thing or two about sorrow and troubling times, but she has also made a decision to overcome these negative energies.   She even wrote a book of poetry about it called  Negative V. Positive: Poems of Life's Experiences .   Her poetry reflects her philosophy of life and offers a pleasant boost for your day.
          
            Ruby at  Blabbin' Grammy  is  perhaps older in years than many of us but younger at heart.  In the year that I've been following her she's gone through what some may have seen as a world of hurt and sorrow, but she has chosen to turn it into a new life of opportunity.   She's got stories and advice that will warm your heart and make you smile.   Here's a lady who seems like she'll never let anything get her down and many of us love her for just that.

            If you don't know these bloggers yet, then please go and say hello to them and start checking out their  blogs on a regular basis.   And I know there are many more positive and optimistic blogs that I have missed.  Please feel free to recommend any that you can think of in the comments below.

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       Now a final update on my neighborhood Borders closing.  As I reported in previous posts, the closing sale offered some pretty decent book deals for me.   This past Saturday (4/16/11) I noted that the signs were announcing the last day of the store being open with all books four for five dollars.  I could not pass up checking out to see what was left.  Here was what I took home Saturday:

Ellen Bryson's  The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno
Ace Collins'   Swope's Ridge
Pat Conroy's   My Reading Life
Jonathan Franzen's  Freedom
Susan Froderberg's  Old Border Road
William Gibson's  Zero History
Michael Koryta   So Cold the River
Philip Roth's  Nemesis

All of the books, except for the Collins and Koryta books, were brand new hardback editions--all eight of them for a grand total of ten dollars plus our 10.75% sales tax, part of which is intended to help fund a new state of the art library just a few blocks from my house.  I also picked up a pleasant Sting CD called If On a Winter's Night... for the paltry price of $1.70.  According to my receipt I saved $192.02 which is none too shabby in my opinion.

        Borders is now gone but now I look forward to what will come next.  Will it be a big discount bookstore?  A computer or electronics store?  Perhaps it will stay empty for a while, but in the end it's all good.   We still have Staples, Lowes, Walmart, and a bunch of other stores.

        Life is an adventure and we should do our best to enjoy it.



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Negativity Nuisance

        He was the kind of guy who could find something wrong with everything.  By just walking into a room, he would drain out the energy and siphon it through his aura of negativity leaving a sad empty suck that made everyone present want to skulk away into whatever other place was happier.  Norm was the ultimate party killer.

        "Where'd everyone go?"  Norm looked at me with sullen questioning.  "Do I smell bad or something?"

         What could I tell him that he had never figured out in the past?   It was always the same.  Whether I tried sympathetic apologetics or flat-out telling it like it is, he would always put it off on someone else.  It was always the other guy--nothing that he ever did.

          I would have gone too, but Norm and I had been friends since I could remember.  He could drag me down even in my happiest times, but someone had to stand by him I reasoned.  I tried to think of someone else to keep him company while I recharged myself with a happier crowd.  I could think of no one who would be willing to accept this task.

          "Everyone's looking out for themselves," Norm continued.  "It upsets them when I put the truth out on the table for them."

            Yeah and serve it with a side dish of scorn, I thought to myself.  You lay out a feast and then puke on it.  Then you expect them to eat it.

             I was annoyed, but decided to give it another go at trying to salvage the evening.

             "Let's go over to the Bull Pen and have a beer and shoot some pool."

              Norm pondered the suggestion and then scowled, "I hate that place."

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             So, on the topic of lemons and lemonade, I'm saddened to see the Borders bookstore across the street from where I live going out of business.  It was walking distance and the only bookstore in the town where I live.  There are bookstores in the adjacent towns that are not all that far from me, but it was just kind of cool to have a big bookstore that I could walk to.

            On the plus side, since the store closes it's doors for good this weekend, everything is marked down to 80 to 90%.   Here is my haul on Friday:

Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood

E.L. Doctorow's World's Fair

Jody Hedlund's The Preacher's Bride

John Irving's Last Night in Twisted River

Lee Sandlin's Wicked River: The Mississippi When It Last Ran Wild

 All for a grand total of  $17.79 plus our outrageous 10.75% city sales tax of $1.91.    Not too bad considering the nature of the books purchased.

          Good-bye to another pretty good bookstore.  Hello another empty storefront in a bad economy.  At least I'll have some more books to read when I can't afford to leave the house anymore.  Negativity is a nuisance,  but you can always find some good in anything if you look at it the right way.

          On Monday my topic will be Optimism.          



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