Business Pulse: The Car Lot is not a place for canoes
For folks who want to sell their personal vehicle, there’s no better place than what we at the Standard call The Car Lot. For a small fee of $25, we’ll put a picture of the car or truck in the paper and run the ad for three months – or until your car sells.
How’s that for a great deal. It’s such a great deal, people are beginning to stretch the boundaries of The Car Lot.
It first started with people placing ads in The Car Lot for motorcycles and four-wheelers. That’s not so bad. Then, this section we call The Car Lot started having boats, campers and tractors advertised.
But what took the proverbial cake was when, a few weeks ago, I saw a canoe advertised in The Car Lot. If you ask me, that’s going a little too far.
For those not familiar with a canoe, I can tell you it’s not a car. It doesn’t have wheels or an air conditioner and I only pray no one tries to ride one on the highway. Unless you have a river or a lake, a canoe is pretty much useless. That means it shouldn’t be confused with a car because cars generally sink to the bottom of rivers and lakes.
So what’s my purpose in all this rambling? There’s no purpose really, other than to say I’ve been expecting a chainsaw to appear in The Car Lot any day.
If you want my opinion, I say we’ve gone to far! We at the Standard have stretched the limits of The Car Lot to the max. If we don’t watch out, folks will start advertising toasters and VCRs and then where would we be?
Sure the Standard may be $25 richer, but then we’d be selling household appliances. Folks will start confusing us with Circuit City.
Is this whole Car Lot thing a big deal? I guess it isn’t. Should I make a big deal out of it? Might as well.
Considering the way The Car Lot is digressing, I’ve taken the liberty to look a few months down the road. Using common items I found mostly around the house, I’ve compiled my own personal Car Lot, pictured at right.
Don’t be concerned with the fact none of these items are cars. That doesn’t matter. I say for accuracy’s sake, we change the name of The Car Lot to something like The Everything Lot. If you’ve got $25, we’ll give you the space.
As for this week’s business news, I’m glad you asked. This is, after all, the Business Pulse. With a name like that, I guess I better talk about business.
Kmart says good-bye to McMinnville
Today will be the last day Kmart has a store open in McMinnville and I’m sad to see the store leaving town. I shopped at Kmart as much as any store in town and will now have to resort to Plan B when it comes to my consumer needs.
When I stopped by to check out the Kmart store Friday, it had been about two weeks since my last visit. I didn’t even get a chance to make it inside Three Star Mall before one lady spotted me with my trusty camera and came over to talk.
“There’s not a thing in there worth taking home,” said Robbie Jones. “And I’m a loyal Kmart shopper. I loved this Kmart.”
Jones was telling the truth. When I walked inside Kmart, virtually every shelf was empty. There was even a sign indicating the store fixtures were for sale. Before it’s over, they’ll probably sell the light bulbs out of that place.
Everyone I talked with Friday said they were sorry to see Kmart go. Charlie Bouldin, an avid mall walker, said he will miss the Kmart carts because he uses them for support when he makes his way around the mall.
“I guess I might have to see about a walker now,” said Bouldin.
As for what’s going to replace Kmart, I still don’t have any clues. I understand the mall owners were in town Wednesday and they didn’t have any answers. The mall owners apparently have some conference in Las Vegas this week and they are hopeful they can find a store to fill the vacancy during that trip.
As for Kmart, the doors will close for good today. I understand a few employees will be working next week to perform clean-up duties but that’s about it. When I hear about a new store coming to take Kmart’s place, you’ll hear about it too.
What’s up on the industrial front?
Industrial recruiter Jim Gray gave me the lowdown about what’s happening on the business front. It appears McMinnville is still very much in the running to land a company which makes corrugated boxes and would bring about 150 new jobs to the area.
Gray said the main hang-up is that Warren County may be located a bit too far away from Nashville. Some company officials don’t like that fact.
“You can’t do anything about where you’re located,” said Gray. “We’re putting the best deal together that’s possible and submitting it to them.”
Gray said the company has been interested in McMinnville since August. The process was delayed because the company vice president had significant health problems in November and is just now getting back on his feet.
If McMinnville is selected, the box company would build a $33 million facility here. The boxes would actually be made in Warren County, although I’m not quite sure how you make a corrugated box.
“Right now suburban Nashville appears to be our biggest competitor,” said Gray. “The company does appear reluctant to be so far away from Nashville.”
In a bit of disappointing news, Gray said he was recently notified that McMinnville lost its chance to have an automotive hose assembly plant located here. The Japanese company instead decided to locate in Lewisburg. The company had expressed interest in locating in the county’s spec building – the first major nibble the spec building has received.
“We were competitive on the price of the building, but I understand Lewisburg may have thrown in some machines too,” said Gray.
Watlington ready to help area kids
Little did Deborah Watlington know she would be swamped by calls when she put up her sign outside her new business on Donnell Street.
“I’m not ready to do this full-time,” said Watlington, who will send her last child, Alex, off to kindergarten this fall and will then concentrate on her business. “So maybe the sign was a bad idea right now.”
Watlington is a licensed psychologist with a PhD to boot. Her specialty is child therapy and she appears to have a great facility to work with.
Watlington has fixed up a charming, old house and made it into something to admire. She says when people see the house, they often ask why she doesn’t live there.
She has one room filled entirely with toys because she says children do a large part of communicating by the way they play. The play therapy, as she call it, is the best way to work with kids.
“I have toys that are meant to allow expression,” she said. “These aren’t toys that are played with just one way. Sometimes I have them draw specific things and sometimes they like to play with puppets.”
In her line of work, Watlington hears about all different situations. Some of them aren’t pleasant, such as abuse or the death of a parent, while others aren’t so severe.
Watlington didn’t plan to start her practice so soon. But she said once people discovered she was available, there was no way to turn down children in need of therapy.
“Sometimes there are situations that occur and it helps having someone who is not a family member to listen,” she said. “Kids are real resilient. They can heal, bounce back, and be productive members of society. They solve their problems in a sense. I just listen.”
While Watlington is currently handling a limited case load, she said she will be accepting new patients once school starts in August.
Hall joins Nashville company
McMinnville native Michael Hall has joined the firm of Moody Nolan as a project assistant. He has 10 years experience in architectural design and on-site construction.
Among the firm’s Nashville-area projects are the North Nashville Police Precinct, the airport operations center at Nashville International Airport and several renovations at Fisk University.
That’s all folks
I didn’t get any business tips this week so I’ll be hitting the streets trying to dig up more information for next week’s column.
If you know something I don’t know, you won’t be the first. If you know business news I don’t know, give me a call at 473-2191.