Seattle isn't "dying" because of homelessness or crime; it's because the "adults" don't want to go back to the office, and there isn't any place to go when they do show up

 

The local television station KOMO is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which likes to “promote conservative political positions.” Thus when they aired a “documentary” four years ago entitled “Seattle is Dying,” you knew you were in for over-the-top culture war doomsaying. I mean we could say the planet is “dying” and that would be a more relevant issue. But why is Seattle dying? Look at all these homeless encampments! See that there mentally-disturbed man falling down and he can’t get up!

Well, yes those are problems that need money and commitment to solve, but every city has such issues and it doesn’t mean the city is “dying.” Maybe the fact that Seattle “looks” like its dying right now is because only a fraction of the office workforce is actually back in the office; if you think kids are reluctant to return to the classroom after the pandemic, the “adults” are not all that enthused to return either, feeling much more “at home” at home (so much for setting a "good example" for the kids). People are not avoiding downtown Seattle because of “crime” and “homelessness”; they are “avoiding” it because they are not being told to be there, and there isn’t really anything to "see" once they are there anyways.

Yeah sure, you have the tourist trade on the piers plying useless knick-knacks, and unless you are looking for fresh seafood, more of the same at Pike Place Market; for permanent residents, it’s been there, done that a long time ago. No more Bon Marche and Macy’s. No more Sharper Image, Borders Books, B. Dalton, Crown Books, Barnes & Noble or Waldenbooks. 

No more Tower Records, Wherehouse Music, Sam Goody, Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, Egghead Software. Even Elliot Bay Books moved out of Pioneer Square. Nothing for the roving culture seeker to see what’s new without the cost of shipping (which negates any “savings” from on-line purchases), or dealing with the head-banging vagaries of AMZL delivery service.

And of course there is no Fry’s Electronics, Circuit City, Computer City or CompUSA to investigate if you don’t trust on-line retailers to handle your expensive computer purchase properly. Best Buy is supposed to be closing stores this year, maybe the one near the Southcenter Mall. If that closes, there will no other place for me to go purchase a new laptop—except bleeping Amazon.

So what’s the problem with people? No doubt one reason is that people just don’t have the time to read books anymore, with the possible exception of readers of romance novels, which according to NPR remain a very popular genre of books (probably to the chagrin of feminists). People now have their cell phones to occupy them during “slow” times. I like books, and I’ve purchased a lot of books—that I never seem to have time to read anymore, unless there is something I can use in my blog. 

But what about music and videos? That doesn’t require any “work,” just sit back and take in. For people like me who appreciate great films and music, I want to have “hard copies”; but the for some of the newer generation these things are “disposable” just like the "culture."  I always get the feeling I’m getting too old when I go to Big Lots with its bins of video discs that are full of “new” films that I simply am not interested in, but it is still worth a look to find a season of an old TV show selling for $1.50. 

Damn, and  I remember when going to computer software stores was not necessarily to find anything "useful," but  to find stuff that was "cool" to look at. When people say you only needed screensavers to prevent screen burnout, that was only half true; screensavers, particularly those created by Berkeley Systems, were just fascinating to watch, especially those based on television or film franchises (like Star Trek or Loony Toons). But those were the days before the Internet, and after that you didn't have time for "childish" things, and so went those software stores (Egghead was purchased by Amazon, and took over its online business).

I certainly miss my trips to Tower Records in the “good old days” too.  To my chagrin there were many catalogue titles that I appreciate now and wish I would have purchased then before they went out of print, but the unfortunate fact was that my funds were limited and I often had to make tough choices in order to avoid using credit cards. Still, I liked the “browsing experience” because it gave me something to do and I was curious to just see what was “new” which isn't really something you can do online. 

I didn’t even start making purchases from Amazon until after the last Tower store closed—and by then the other music stores which also doubled as video stores also closed up. Only Fry’s Electronics continued to be stocked with rows and rows of video titles for a few more years. For a time I went to Fry’s once a week, they always had some “cool” thing worth buying. But then Fry’s fell into the trap of many now deceased retailers: they simply stopped stocking the items I usually went there for—blu-ray drives, USB drives, Blu-ray and DVD discs, DVD recordable discs, and eventually even the laptops I wanted.

Even before the pandemic, there came a when day I went looking for a laptop to buy and I pointed at one model after another only to be told by the sales person that the only one in “stock” was the display model. I wasn’t the only one complaining about this, not just in consumer review websites but employee reviews as well; some of the latter noted that Fry’s was just taking—or stealing—“free” PPP funds while allowing whatever stock they had left to sell out before shutting down permanently.

There are numerous reasons why the so-called “retail apocalypse” occurred, although some “experts”  say this isn’t actually “real” but a “correction” for bad business decisions and incorrect reactions to changing consumer behavior. I was reminded of this sports apparel warehouse I used to work for; the president decided after a “good year” to rent a big new building, and stock every item in the book so that it would be “same day” shipping for everything. But the “good year” turned out to be a mirage, no thanks to the company’s rather generous return policy, as unsold product came back by the truckload. The company eventually downsized considerably and sold out to another apparel company.

Another example is Bed, Bath & Beyond, once one of those “go-to” stores for anything “bed and bath”—but probably should have left the “beyond” to others. I observed that the BBBY location across from the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila is having a closing-for-business sale, which I admit rather shocked me. 

Although BBBY suffered the “Amazon Effect,” its screw-ups were legion. In the quest to stay profitable, they didn’t “listen” to customers, who were not interested in “cheap” private brand products that could be purchased at the local Dollar Store, but “quality” name brands and BBBY’s own branded products, and it took the “beyond” part too seriously, moving into product lines that customers didn’t want and didn’t buy. 

Like Fry’s, the company allowed stock to run out on the products people were buying and were too slow to restock or discontinued altogether. When it finally went “online,” its website was a confusing mishmash that seemed to try to make it “easier” to simply go to the brick-and-mortar location.

In order to “turn things around,” a small group of “activist investors” more interested in getting a quick return on their investment than turning the company around shooed out the “old blood” and brought in some people with “new” ideas, such as investing in stock buybacks that ultimately totaled nearly $12 billion, which along with a “meme” scheme inflated BBBY’s stock prices despite no reality behind it. 

One of the “activist investors,” Ryan Cohen, got his “fans” to pump up the stock just like he did with GameStop, after which he sold out his BBBY stock and departed in what many saw as a “pump and dump” scheme. Cohen was never charged with “insider trading,” but the disastrous effect his bailout had on BBBY’s subsequent stock prices was suspected to be the reason for the apparent suicide of BBBY’s CFO, Gustavo Arnal, who was being investigated for fraud. 

Observers noted that instead of spending money on stock buybacks, the company should have been investing that money in keeping its stores stocked with items people wanted; where once BBBY offered a “treasure hunt” for buyers, it became a “hide and  seek” adventure where you rarely found what you were really looking for. Earlier this year, BBBY declared bankruptcy after suppliers refused to honor the company’s “credit” and stock prices plummeted to under 50 cents a share, leading to the retailer deciding to declare bankruptcy and shutter its doors.

None of this has anything to do with “crime” or “homelessness.” For people who wish downtown was still a shopping mecca day or night, it’s either you give people a reason to believe the shopping “experience” is as “fun” as finding what you want, or you understand who wants what when—or better yet, just having the things people want in stock at all. And of course it helps that the usual "foot traffic" comes back to work.