Friday, July 10, 2009

A Sad Tale from the Publishing World

This item appeared in an industry newsletter called Shelf Awareness the other day:

When Twenty-third Avenue Books, Portland, Ore., closed suddenly last January, Stephanie Griffin lost more than her business. Willamette Week reported that the owner "became homeless after the store closed. Startled neighbors discovered this in June . . . Griffin had started panhandling outside her old store, which was still empty at the time."

"Most people would ignore me and then say 'Oh, the bookstore used to be there,'" she said. "I would say, 'I used to own that store,' and they would keep walking."

The Willamette Week article included the photo below:


It's scary to see how easy it can be for someone's financial life to fall apart: business owner one day, homeless beggar the next. This person may not have been the most astute business owner, and blaming George Bush certainly oversimplifies the many factors that must have contributed to her store's demise, but it's still rather sobering news.

11 comments:

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com said...

Blaming Bush is definitely oversimplifying.

What a sad situation.

Before bleeding a heart I'd like to know why she had to close so suddenly and the history behind her life and finances...

We can't always take these things at face value, unfortunately..... and I cannot see how begging is related to proactively looking for a job, ANY JOB to try and make ends meet rather than resorting to what (I see) as the lazy way out.

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com said...

Ah. I see.

For Griffin, there was no single “oh shit” moment, no terrible epiphany when she realized she would have to close the store. It was more like a series of “oh shit” moments. She continued to get behind on rent.

She was also couchsurfing which I'd be fine with. If a friend lost their job, I'd take them in, let them sleep in my home, and feed them until they could find some way to make money to get back on their feet.

All I'm saying is that there are options. And it sounds like she tried to make some sort of statement by begging rather than searching for creative alternatives.

If she was an accountant before, she has skills other than working in accounting. Such as with numbers. Organizing. Bookkeeping.

Going door to door and canvassing for jobs works better than you think. I did that as a kid to get webdesigning jobs and more often than not, I got a lot of business that way.

I still feel bad for her situation, but she's still surviving (food stamps) and there may not always be a way out (if you're disabled, sick in some way, or crushed by another type of disease both mental or health-related)... but in this case, I can't muster up much sympathy because she saw the signs coming with all of her "oh shit" moments.

Gord said...

The business world during a recession really is like the wild kingdom. Survivial of the fittest. It's a brutally honest world. When everything is booming, it's relatively easy to open a business and make a reasonable profit; all boats rising on the tide. But when times get tough, you have to be smart enough to have seen it coming and prepare well in advance. We don't know anything about this particular business, but I suspect she wasn't ready for a downturn. And to blame anyone but yourself, simply removes yourself from being part of the solution.

Time for her to pick herself up, and avoid turning her homelessness into a fulltime job.

Anonymous said...

Blaming Bush? What a liberal loser. I have no sympathy for people like her. None!

There is only one person who she can blame and that is herself. She ran the business and she made the decisions that ultimately drove her to failure.

There is no excuse today to not doing something that you absolutely love and make a lot of money doing it. Everyone has an equal chance at success, especially in this global, internet-driven economy.

Maybe if she would get off her fat butt and actually apply some of the remaining business skills she may still have left, she could bounce back. Meanwhile, she chooses to sit there, being lazy, crying the blues, pointing the blame at everyone but herself, and trying to make a liberal political situation out of it. That is sad.

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's precious. Instead of "thanking" Bush, she should "thank" the internet for her misfortune.

Anonymous said...

I don't have a lot of sympathy for her. It seems to me that the whole "panhandling outside her old store" thing was a complete bid for publicity. Which she received. The time she spent sitting out there, she could have spent looking for work. Even if you're couchsurfing, you can still look for work on foot and by using library computers.

I also think that the publicity bid, while good for getting charity, is not going to do her job search any favors. Would you hire an accountant who was an accountant before she took over a business, ran the business into the ground, and then became homeless? It doesn't say much about her ability to manage her business accounting OR her personal accounting.

Dawn said...

I think the response to this post is most interesting....
I will leave it at that.

SavingDiva said...

I feel bad about her situation, but I don't think I'd give her money on the street. I think she sounds like a very capable woman...if she was a friend, I would definitely help her out...but I do get a little annoyed when people blame their mistakes and misfortune on others.

Anonymous said...

Yes a publicity stunt, but panhandling in Portland has been very popular and trendy since the early 90s.

Anonymous said...

"There is no excuse today to not doing something that you absolutely love and make a lot of money doing it. Everyone has an equal chance at success, especially in this global, internet-driven economy."

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Ha. Ahhhh...

Anonymous said...

I wonder: if she were more conventionally attractive, would she receive the same type of comments here?