This article was written is the wake of several
major downtown businesses announcing their closing within
a short
period of time of each other. Fueled by gossip and newspaper
headlines, something akin to mass hysteria was beginning
to rear its ugly head as everyone proclaimed the central
city “dead”. While intended for the Richmond,
VA, business community, the article is applicable to any
city where the inner core is appearing to “die”.]
Alas!
... Woe is me! ... The heavens are falling! ... Cannons
to the right, cannons to the left! ... Somebody grab the
colors! ... That last shot damn near took my ear off!
Hold
on just one darn minute. Rein in, holster your Colt, put
your wristbreaker
back in it’s scabbard and take a deep breath. Now, an awful lot has happened
lately and a lot of people are running around like Chicken Little.
Well, hell!
Stop, look up, and tell me what you see? IS the sky falling? No.
It didn’t fall when Henricus failed or when Cornwallis, Tarleton or Benedict
Arnold came through. Not even when Little Mac was within five miles of Richmond.
It didn’t fall when Dalghren’s men made their foolish ride down Brooke
Road or when the warehouses were fired in ‘65 (though it sure looked like
all Hell had broken loose).
Having heard of all this talk about abandoning the
city I wonder what root stock
(that’s pronounced “ruut” stock) has taken over in our fair
city. Richmonders are Virginians. And Virginians are a breed apart. Let me give
y’all a little remembering:
When Mother England wanted to get rid of excess
stock that was more trouble than it was worth, she sent it to Virginia, South
Carolina and Georgia. Now we Virginians
were among the first to arrive, so it comes as no surprise that we downplay
the fact that ours was a penal colony - or at least an “indentured” colony.
Probably because of our nascent genetic makeup, Virginians were involved in a
handful of wars and rebellions before 1776, more because of our nature rather
than “the cause”. In other words, a Virginian never really needed
anything more than a good excuse to get his dander up and start raising the devil.
We are contrary and stubborn, we are fighters and survivors.
Now is the time
to show a little gumption. Plant your feet, roll up your sleeves, and get just
a little angry about all this mess and do something constructive
about it instead of complaining. Miller & Rhodes and Thalhimer’s downtown
stores had sales in the millions each year. They’re gone.
Now who’s going to get all the business that they
used to have? Who’s going to pickup the slack and
accommodate all those tens of thousands of people who work
downtown for the things they don’t have time to shop
for after work or in the evenings?
A good retailer wouldn’t
cry about losing a little competition, especially from
some carpetbaggers who came
here looking for a fast buck - we’ve seen it all
before and we’ve always come back stronger. No, a
good retailer would look at the opportunity and figure
out how to capitalize on it. We’ll start on how you
can do that the next time.
You see, I’m going to
be here... even if you’re
not.
