Fallout from the housing bust

I haven't seen so many going out of business signs in some little time. But there's a focus: furniture, home accessories -- those goodies that people treat themselves to when they've just bought a new house. Let's start at the small plaza out Iron Springs Road, where Marler's, a 62-year local fixture, has called it quits. Problem: the down housing market with a big plus -- the down traffic, thanks to road widening that has taking forever and a day. The firm will continue to operate its other store over in the Verde Valley, says the Courier.

However, Marler's isn't the only store in that plaza to go under. Moe Tavassoli Oriental Rugs is also closing shop. Curious -- I checked for spelling in the Yellow Pages and the only address given was in Scottsdale.

Big sale signs are also posted over on Montezuma for Prescott Home Furnishings, a successor to Seitz office products which succumbed to competition from Staples...

...just as this new Big Box chain store has added to the woes of our local merchants. I wonder how well it's doing these days -- apparently furniture store sales were off over 8% nationwide in 2007 and this year looks to be far worse. What will happen to those vacated premises? Rumor says that 1) the Oak Tree will grow once more, this time on Montezuma and that 2) Goodwill Industries will plant a big thrift shop over on Iron Springs, a suitable replacement in the current not-quite-a-recession economy.

The Double Wide Problem

What is it about double wides? For a time, there was a campaign to banish the word trailer (as in trailer trash) and replace it with the more respectable, hi-tech- sounding manufactured home. Lord knows such a house can serve as a good home for a young couple just starting out. In fact, I'm always surprised at the amenities that are included in the modern product, even though the materials are sometimes a bit tacky.

But, except in rural areas, there remains a stigma attached to the manufactured home. My personal opinion for one reason: the dealers (obviously close cousins to auto dealers) park the pieces of homes somewhat carelessly, mismatched, suggesting to any passer-by a less than optimum finished product.

Fantasy Share Trading: In case you didn't know it, shares in Walking Prescott were trading at B$1.64 last I checked on the exchange at BlogShares. A very cheap "price", tho I made it into the top 100 in the Arizona blog market. Got recommended because my "P/E ratio" was extraordinarily low. And so I came in #1 in the Prescott market, ahead of such local stalwarts as Oddball Observations and Foolsewoode. Go figure -- it doesn't make sense to me. This market is one of several on-line; the best known trade in predictions of one sort and another.