Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2007 20:33:45 -0400 To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net> From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com> Subject: [WSFA] Re: Getting the book fix, was Re: Gaylaxicon gets a hotel Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net> At 10/7/2007 05:19 PM, you wrote: >Bookstores close for lots of reasons. > >One of the more common is rent. A wonderful DC art bookstore - Franz >Bader - has closed because of their rent going up. There is a point >where there are no more costs to be cut and it's just time to close. Or move. If there's no place you can afford, it's not the rent...it's the lack of revenue. Lack of revenue in a store generally means lower sales, though it can mean a bad profit margin too. Rent is just a cost of business, like everything else businesses spend money on (stock, labor, utilities, insurance, etc.). Those costs have to be paid for by sales, which means customers. If customers buy enough, the costs are covered and there may be profits. If they don't, the costs aren't covered and then you can't pay rent or other costs. Not being able to pay the rent is likely a sign of fewer customers in most cases where a previously successful business has money problems. -- Mike B. -- If the 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why does it have locks on the door?