Thursday, December 11, 2008

Snowed Under...


I've worked part-time at Stuart Collection in Westport, CT for a number of years now. The first owners, Steve and Stu, were wonderful folks who grew the store well and after 14 years got tired of the retail business and decided to sell. In stepped Nancy and Chris. The times were high - our economy was better than ever and the new owners had about a year of tremendous growth...then the economy of our dear old US of A went to hell in the proverbial hand-basket. Nancy and Chris held on as long as they possibly could, then last Saturday called all of us in and told us it was over. Stuart Collection in Westport, CT would be no more. 

I feel just terrible for these two good people who happened to get into something that should have been very prosperous at exactly the wrong time. As my compatriot Doro said - "it was the perfect storm...everything that could possibly have gone wrong did".  In spades. 

Good times will come again! 
Won't they??? 

xoabb
expect anything!

14 comments:

  1. it is sad to see what is happening and wondering where we all are going to end up...

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  2. I'm so sorry to hear about the closing, but glad that not all branches will close. The snow photo is pretty anyway.

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  3. So sad. Wishing your friends all the best in what remains of their venture.

    If I had extra $, I would stop in but alas, the economy has taken what I did have away. :'(

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  4. It's heartbreaking to see individually-owned businesses losing out like that. I guess that means you're out of work now too. I'm sorry to hear that. Times will indeed get better. They always do.

    Lovely photo.

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  5. I'm beginning to hear so many stories like this...layoffs, jobs lost, no work coming in. It's hard to watch it happen to people you know. Sorry.

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  6. Oh, that's too bad. Their items are so beautiful!

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  7. I am so sorry to hear this; I just detest what is happening with this economy right now. But I think it is wonderful that you speak so highly of it, and still give them a plug. When my job goes away--and it will pretty soon--I'm not sure I'm going to be that generous. In fact, I know I won't.

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  8. Good times will surely come again ...

    :-Daryl

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  9. It's very sad to hear that another wonderful business must close. You were right in choosing the phrase "Perfect Storm" as it applies to so many small business owners. My husband and I fall into this catagory as well. We invested everything into our business and alas, the walls came tumbling down.
    Like Daryl says...good times will surely come again...they always do.

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  10. That's a lot of snow!

    I wonder if I was ever in that store. My cousin used to live near Westport, and I visited her once. We shopped in a bunch of good stores, but I don't remember the names, except for Gordon Fraser where she worked for a while. Hmmmm.... now I'm curious. And it's sad they must close. I had to close a store once myself. Never a good thing. (With me everything that could have happened bad did as well.)

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  11. That's so sad. I hate to see beautiful places like that close... This economy is so scary... I think that may be why so many of us are just not feeling the Christmas mood this year...

    xoxo,
    Mary

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  12. What a bummer, I hope things turn around everywhere soon.

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a thought. It's appreciated! xoabb