More musical chairs. I noted back in March that the former Mountain View Pool Hall had reincarnated into a 'trendy' lounge.  Seven months later, they're gone. Well, not entirely - it's no longer the 'Buddha Lounge' - catering to the predominantly Asian community downtown. Today it became 'Treasure Island', catering to uhm, I'm not sure. Haven't seen any pirate flags around here since they flew one over the building at Apple where the Macintosh was developed. The Mountain View florist also reincarnated as yet another used furniture store, right next door to yet another used furniture store. At least they aren't Asian restaurants....

I'm open to ideas on how to reincarnate the local music store into anything that might pay the rent... At least both of the places mentioned have businesses that aren't dominated by anti-competitive predators. Meanwhile, a third of my store is mostly vacant - the lesson studios in the rear. Lost most of my teachers, and the three or four remaining could fit into one room (out of six) for the three or four hours a week that each of them teaches. That leaves five rooms each roughly the size of an office cubicle. I've thought about moving my personal recording studio downtown - however it's a poor layout that won't quite work for that purpose. There also isn't any way of making it quiet enough for that purpose without razing the whole building and starting over. And there's no money in the recording business unless you've got a ton of equipment and vast open spaces to record in. There's likewise no market for cubicle space downtown at the moment. Still it seems that the most promising path to survival for my business is to find a way to produce income off of this space.

Seems like every other person who walked in the store today was showering me with compliments. I really like your store. This is a great store. Love what you've done with the place. That kind of thing. Right before they walk out empty handed. 'Scuse me, but if you like my store that much, how's about if you could buy something? Compliments are wonderful, but they don't pay the bills.