The All NEW, All DIFFERENT . . .

I'm not even sure if Blogs are a thing anymore? 

This blog has certainly taken a back seat for me, but I'm surprised it's been 5  full years since my last post. I suppose Facebook has taken it's place? Captain Cosmos Collectibles has gone through a LOT of changes since then. While Captain Cosmos itself is still primarily a toy dealer, it is now just a part of something much bigger: Atomic Age Artifacts: Antique & Collectible Mall in Central Florida. So much has changed, I don't know where to begin? 

For context, lets begin where the last story ended. 

Captain Cosmos Collectibles

in Winchester, Ky.

Closed 12-31-11

Captain Cosmos Collectibles was once located in beautiful downtown Winchester, Kentucky. We owned the building and lived upstairs. That was the only reason it was open as long as it was. It turned out to be a terrible location. After several years of barely hanging on, we closed up shop on December 31st, 2011, and filed for bankruptcy. For MANY reasons, not the least of which was the distaste for shoveling snow that Kentucky had instilled in me, we moved to Florida to start over.

So we moved to Florida, and I really wasn't sure what I would be doing. The move took months and several round trips from Florida to Kentucky and back again. I thought I might continue to operate as Captain Cosmos Collectibles, just as a supplemental income in addition to a "real job." But I had no place to do it from, and our new house was quite a bit smaller than the home and shop we just left. I considered a booth in a local antique mall. There were 3 such locations within about 20 miles of the house. I didn't like any of them. The fit was just wrong. 2 where just too high end. My toys just wouldn't work next to Edwardian furniture. The 3rd was the original Wildwood Antique Mall, in the sleepy little town of Wildwood Florida just outside of the Villages . . . and I hated it. The town was unimpressive. There was no obvious tourism. The store was only about 2 years old. The strip mall it was in was rundown. The manager at the time didn't seem to know anything about the business. And perhaps most importantly, the Villages were still pretty far away. 
It looked as though Captain Cosmos Collectible was finished for good. 

Wildwood Antique Mall in Ocala.

(Don't go here,
it closed a few years ago)

I was making 1 LAST trip to Kentucky. There was still a lot of inventory back in Kentucky that we would be loosing in the bankruptcy if it wasn't out by a certain date, and I had no place to put it, or sell it. The decision had to be made, would this last trip be just for the final household items we could still use? Or would the trip be for inventory? On the last day before the trip, I found out that Wildwood Antique Mall was getting ready to open a new location in Ocala, Florida, about 35 miles away. This would have been their 3rd or 4th location at the time. They were growing fast. And this location, was magnificent. Right in the middle of a really nice strip mall, on a major intersection, in a fairly large city. I signed a contract on the spot.
Captain Cosmos found it's lifeline.

Business was good. Out of just 90 square feet, I was selling almost as much as I had out of the entire store in Kentucky. After a year in Ocala, I needed to expand, and the original

Wildwood Antique Mall in Wildwood

(You can still go here, in fact you

should, but you wont find

Captain Cosmos Collectibles

there)

Wildwood location had improved quite a bit. I opened a 2nd larger booth there. While it wasn't doing as well as Ocala, it was a lot closer to home, so it was easier to handle, and I had a way to rotate stock now. There were plenty of Toy and Comic shows in Florida, so that kept me busy as well. The job market was still very soft. I had found a job, but it certainly wasn't a career. It wasn't even full time. After about 6 months in the Wildwood, Wildwood Antique Mall, they asked me if I'd like a job. It was intended to be 1 or 2 days a week, it quickly became 5 days a week. 2 years later I was managing the place. It wasn't official, and I wasn't getting paid for it, but I was by all rights, the manager. I learned  lot. I learned how to run a large antique store. I learned what was selling locally. I got to know a lot of people.

After almost 2 years of being the unofficial manager, I saw no change on the horizon. Then the owner started bringing in family members to fill key positions. Positions that I trained them for. Suddenly the horizon grew darker. Any chance of upward mobility had ended. 

I thought "why should I not get paid for this job working for someone else, when I can not get paid for this job working for myself." 

Our short lived Lake Pan location.

I started looking for a location, and put in my resignation. Not long after I opened "Atomic Age Artifacts: Antique & Collectible Mall" in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida. I know, I know, you're thinking "where?" That's because you've never heard of it, and no one can pronounce it, let alone spell it. Even though it seemed like a really good idea at the time, Lake Pan just didn't work out, and we had to move after just 1 year.  We are now, ironically just 2 blocks North of Wildwood Antique Mall, the very location I originally passed on 6 years earlier. But things had changed. The Villages, one of the worlds largest, and fastest growing retirement communities had nearly doubled in size and all but engulfed Wildwood in that time. And while things are still changing, there has been a massive amount of development in the area. Wildwood isn't the sleepy little town it was just half a decade ago.

Atomic Age Artifacts, and Captain Cosmos Collectibles

The current home of

Atomic Age Artifacts: Antique & Collectible Mall

with

Captain Cosmos Collectibles inside. 

still have a long road ahead, but we are poised to be a real force in the Florida Collectible market. Atomic Age Artifacts: Antique & Collectible Mall is located at 104 E. Wonders St. Wildwood, Florida. It's a relatively small store for an antique mall, but that just means we are more focused than most. We currently have 11 vendors, and are getting ready to expand. We should have room for about 20 vendors total after the expansion. Most antique malls are just antiques in general, with no particular focus. Atomic Age specializes in Mid Century and Pop Culture collectibles. Captain Cosmos Collectibles still focuses on toys from the 1960's through today, but it's now inside of Atomic Age Artifacts. You can also find us set up at toy shows throughout the South Eastern states. 

The dark and murky origins of the Captain Cosmos robot.

If you've ever picked up Captain Cosmos Collectibles business card, then you've probably seen the the Captain Cosmos robot. He's never quite had a name, though I sometimes call him 3C.

 

The Captain Cosmos Collectibles business card,
front and back.





A slight family resemblance.

I have a fondness for robots. Especially the likes of R2-D2, and Robbie the Robot. Your basic domed robots. So you might notice some (fairly obvious) similarities between 3C and some of his contemporaries. To date 3C has made 3 distinct public appearances on various pieces of art that I've created to advertise Captain Cosmos Collectibles.


 

3C started life as a business promotion in the summer of 2009. The local downtown business association for Winchester, Ky. found some money to make advertising banners for the business district. It was decided that one side would have a pre-printed image promoting shopping in downtown, while the reverse side would be painted by (or sponsored by) the individual businesses. Each image could relate to the specific store, but could not directly advertise the store on the image itself. So a book store could have a stack of books, but it could not say "the Cozy Nook Book Store." The coffee shop could show a steaming pot of coffee, but could not be emblazoned with the Starbucks logo. The names of the businesses themselves would be printed on a smaller banner below the main banner. For Captain Cosmos Collectibles, it was pretty clear that the image needed to be a tiny toy robot destroying downtown Winchester. And the robot had to be the smallest, most recognizable, yet still ambiguous, of my favorite childhood toys: Tomy's wind-up Rascal Robot.

I started with LOT'S of photo reference. I took several photo's of downtown. I took several photo's of the Tomy robot at various angles. I even took photo's of chrome Christmas ornaments on the street to see how the downtown buildings would look in it's reflection.

3C's first baby picture.



Photo reference, and sketches
of the Tomy Rascal Robot

That all lead to a preliminary painting that I was just never quite happy with. Translating that tiny robot into a massive scale just wasn't working. The prelim image did teach me 1 very important thing about the final image; the banner was simply too narrow to effectively convey a background with the robot. So I decided to simply use the robot on it's own, and scrapped the idea of using the actual city. Next came some computer editing of the robot pictures, and several sketches. I was finaly ready to paint the real banner.

 



Early stages of the banner 'bot,
from sketch to under painting

The finall image.
 

Due to the scale of the banner, I elongated the robot, and made the character more animated. Of course I started with a sketch directly on the banner. Then I worked in the under-painting including refection's of the robot's own arms. The robot was finished off with a metallic look taking great care to make the reflections apparent, without being obvious. Finally, the background needed something, so I finished it off purple mist to add depth, and contrast.

 





The back of the banner.



The banner goes up.
 

But I wasn't done there. The obverse side of the banner featured a black and white image of the courthouse clock tower. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to have my giant robot climbing a building just like any good giant monster should.
 

 
 
 


There he is peaking out of the window of the
Captain Cosmos Cruiser.

 
 
 
3C's next appearance was a much smaller one. He's peeking out of the window of the Captain Cosmos Cruiser bicycle for another downtown promotion just months later. But that has its own blog entry, no need to cover that again here.
 
 
 
 


Forbidden Planet seemed like a
good place to start.

 
 
 
 
 
 

That brings us back to the business card. I decided I wanted a business card that had the look of a 1950's sci-fi movie poster. I wanted to keep the theme of the robot going, but I also wanted to move away from a specific existing toy. It was time that I make him more of my own character, while still keeping some of the classic element's.



The background.
 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This time I started with the background. I wanted to really invoke the plantescapes seen on Mid-Century tin litho space toys. Next I blocked out the robot. Finally, 3C came to life.

 

 



Blocking him out.



 





3C comes to life.

 
 
 
 
 




 

 



 







The Adventures of Pat Pat Rocket & the Collectors Market

This is the Little Einsteins Pat Pat Rocket.
And it is a perfect example of how quickly a collectible market can change.

Pat Pat Rocket from Disney's Little Einsteins

As I write this it is the end of September 2013, I picked up the Pat Pat Rocket about a month ago. The day I bought it, I didn't know what it was? I thought it was a good toy I could sell in one of my Antique Mall booths, or put on eBay. I even thought it was neat enough that I might just add it to my personal collection. There was even some consideration put into repainting it as the Captain Cosmos Cruiser.

How would it look with Lighting Bolts and a Gun???

As with all the toys and collectibles I deal with, I put in the research. A toy is a lot harder to sell when you don't know what it is. With the manufacturing information printed on it's underbelly it didn't take long to find out what it was, and what it was going for. It did however prove to be an interesting example of what results the correct search terms could yield. In this case, in late August of 2013 The search "Little Einsteins Spaceship" yielded about 30 completed auctions that ended between $10 and $40. While the search "Little Einsteins Pat Pat Rocket" found about 150 listings, and brought the price up to the $30 to $150 range. And THAT was just for the loose ship with nothing else. If you wanted it complete with the 4 figures, you could pay up to $250.

That was a month ago . . . Times have changed.

Today, the same search finds over 1000 completed listings. Now they are not all for the same toy of course. The ship was made as a few different toys, and even appeared as a hat and a backpack. Never-the-less, a good portion of those 1000 plus listings were indeed this version of the Pat Pat Rocket in various degrees of completeness and condition. Considerably more than the 150 or so I was finding just one month ago.

So what happened? Why the change? Why did the market peak and flood in so short a time. For that matter why did it happen 4 years after the cartoon's original run ended?

One factor may have been a DVD release in June of 2013, the first in 3 years for the series. But what effect did it have on the market? Did seeing the DVD prompt parents to dig it out of their garage as something they simply wanted gone? Or was it the other way around? Did the DVD spark new interest and kids started screaming for toys again? Was it simply a coincidental rise in interest? Is it just the natural ebb and flow of the collectors market based on the age of the properties fans?

 

Could this have done it?
 

My gut tells me it was the DVD release. The DVD hit the market. That sparked interest from the kids. Parents set out to fill that demand. What little product was on the market suddenly shot up in value. Other Parents with older kids saw the prices skyrocket, and put their old toys up for sale. The market saturated. Demand fell back to normal levels. That seem's like the most likely explanation.

But is it the only explanation? Could age be a factor in toddler toys the same way it is in the action figure market? Though on a far more condensed scale? Could a 9 year old feel nostalgia for toys he played with at 4 the way a 27 year old yearns for the toys of his early teens? That doesn't seem likely, but that doesn't eliminate age as a factor does it? The other end of the age factor is that point when we discard the toys of our youth. Most toy collectors focus on the toys they had from about 12 to 16 years old. Somewhere in the 18 to 22 range we often purge those trappings of childhood, only to find we miss them by our late twenties. Perhaps that same cycle applies to a 4 year old? By age 8 they have moved on to more advanced toys, and those toddler toys are relegated to the next garage sale. Does that mean the 8 year old would want those toys back at 10? I don't think so, but the parents might? And that wave to purging would provide the opportunity for younger parents to buy those slightly out of date toys for their children. 

Hmmmm . . .
The cool Rocket Ship, or another Teddy Bear?
 

I suppose the idea I'm trying to get across is that there is always a point somewhere between the initial popularity of a toy, and it's nostalgic popularity years later where people are selling it, but no one is there to buy it. With most toy lines the nostalgia usually kicks in around 15 to 20 years after the original release, then begins to dwindled around 25 to 30 years. Which means that those first 10 years after a toy line ends, there's probably not going to be a lot of interest in it. But, as I mentioned above, the scale for toddler toys may be quite a bit shorter, simply because the parent's are more directly involved in the decision. Obviously the child influences a toy purchase at 4 years old, but how often do parent's simply buy the toy they like themselves, or the toy they thought they would like at that age. If that were not the case then the number of little girls that own a baseball glove would be far smaller. 

So what's the lesson we should take from this? The way I see it, there are 2 major lessons here. First, the collectible market is a volatile place. Factors that go into the value of an item can be wildly unpredictable, or remarkably steady. Recognizing those factors can be the key to success. Second, and more importantly, in today market one can no longer assume the research you've done in the past, is still valid. Doing 1 day of research is like looking into 1 window of a house and seeing a kitchen, and then assuming that every room of the house is a kitchen. Who know's? Maybe it IS a house full of kitchens, but that's unlikely. The point is that we only look once, we can't know if the market we see today is a steady one, or if it's currently trending up or down.

Sometimes information is only good for a few days. Other times you can rely on it for years to come.

Captain Cosmos update

To say the least, I've been busy.

In the last few months Captain Cosmos Collectibles has opened a 2nd location, set up at several comic and toy shows, and gotten a "real job." So time and effort has not been put into the Blog portion of the budding Captain Cosmos Collectibles Empire.

All is not lost however. The blog is still here, I'm still here, there's plenty more to write about, and plenty more to come. Today I'm just checking in, but soon perhaps I'll start blogging in full force once again.

In the mean time here are photo's of the new booth at the Wildwood Antique Mall in Wildwood Florida.

 

Some the show's I've recently done.

 



Ocala Comic Con





The Florida Vintage Travel Collectibles Show

 

And August 4th, 2013 I'll be in Jacksonville Florida for Retr-O-Rama Pop Culture Collectibles Show.

Retr-O-Rama



"It's OK"

No it's Not OK. It just isn't.

At the dawn of the 2012 presidential election, we have a choice. Not much of a choice, but a choice none-the-less. We've arrived at the choice through apathy, lethargy, and misinformation. Many people simply want to ignore the issues and hope they go away. Everything will work out for itself in the end. It's not MY problem . . . right?

I was just out shopping today. Among other things, I needed some spray paint. A teenager was in the paint aisle, shaking a can. Not an uncommon sight. I've shaken plenty of paint can's in the store myself. You need to make sure the little ball is free, it can't mix if the ball is stuck. You're probably planning to use the can right away, that's why your buying it after all. So, not an uncommon sight at all.

While I'm there, he pops off the cap, and sprays the shelf.

I lost it. There was nothing OK about that. There wasn't even any shame in the act, no attempt to hide it, he did it right there in front of me.

He thought, "this is OK. I'm not doing anything wrong. There are other spots of spray paint all over the shelves. I'm not the only one doing it. I just want to make sure the color is the color it's suppose to be. I don't want to take responsibility for bringing home the wrong color paint, so I'll just deface this shelf." Doesn't matter what went through his head, the fact is, he thought it was OK.

I reacted without even a thought. I was speaking without preamble. The words came out completely un-composed . . . "DUDE! Do you really need the check the color? It's RIGHT there on the cap. That's NOT what the shelf is for." He was clearly shocked. No one had ever said anything like that to him in public before, certainly not a stranger, and probably not even his parents. He gave me a weak giggle, and said quietly ". . . what is it to you?" I was already walking past him, pissed off, and said "Because I used to work at places like this, and I had to put up with that shit all the time," and just kept walking.

I don't know what kind of effect I had on him, or even if I had any at all, but he had an effect on me. He pushed me just that little bit, at just the right moment. I didn't want any confrontation. I wasn't out to get the kid in trouble, but it WAS NOT OK.

If this happened in 1950, the kid would have spent an hour in the managers office, his parents would have been called in, and he probably would have been made to clean up the mess. Instead none of that happened, nor would it. Tomorrow he will tell his friends "Some old guy yelled at me for spraying paint in the store. Lame," and for him, that will be the end of it. But maybe, just maybe, next time he does it, there won't be a next time? Maybe he will think back to that moment realize it does effect other people . . . Maybe?
This is the problem with our country now. Our values, have gone soft. So few are willing to stand up, and say, "THIS IS WRONG." Even when they do, the message is lost, or ignored.

This tiny little act so clearly galvanized my frustrations. Everyone seem's to think "it's OK." Everyone seem's to think that it's someone else's problem. Take that little spot of spray paint on 1 little shelf in a store aisle? What's wrong with that? There were already plenty of other spots there, that kid was just 1 more step in the process, he wasn't the beginning or the end. Just 1 little bit of erosion. Just 1 more chip in the veneer. That first spray made so many months ago, or possibly even just days ago, made it OK for the second spray. And the next 1 was just that much easier, and the next and the next, and so on. At some point, and I do speak from experience here, there's going to be more than just some unsightly spots on a few selves in the paint aisle. At some point someone is going to be very unlucky, and they will have the nozzle pop off, and the can will spray paint everywhere. I KNOW, I've had to be the guy dealing with it, more than once did I find such a can. But even if that never happens, eventually the store will have to replace or at the very least repaint those shelves. That means that some manager had to decide, this has gone far enough, this needs to be replaced. Some employee has to take the time to deal with it. And the shelves will have to be dealt with. Again, from experience, more often than not, they are just thrown away.

Bottom line, ALL of THAT costs money, time and materials, and that makes prices go up.

But it's OK, because it's not YOUR problem is it?

The Creation of the Captain Cosmos Cruiser

 

 

The blue bike in the rough



 

 

In recent years, the Captain Cosmos Cruiser has been one of my favorite projects. Something with a lot of meat to it that I could really dig into, and showcase all my skill's.

 

It started with an idea to promoted, and support an event in downtown Winchester, Kentucky. The event was a days long bicycle race through out central Kentucky called "the Tour of the Red River Gorge." It was promoted as being similar to the "Tour De France." As I recall this would have been July of 2009.



 

 

 

 

The Captain Cosmos Cruiser in the window
of Captain Cosmos Collectibles
 



The group putting on the event went to great lengths

to involve each community along the race route: Closing down street's, getting Police escorts, finding volunteers. A fair number of Cyclists were involved, seem's to me the number was something 800 participants. As part of the Downtown Business Association, I attended the meeting between the promoters and representatives of the City of Winchester, and the downtown businesses. To simply say that this was planned to be a major event would be a disservice. Each of the 800 contestants was expected to have at least 4 people with them as family, or support crew's. So we were already talking about 2500 to 4000 people coming into the city before we even mentioned spectators. Everyone seemed to agree that doubling that number seemed reasonable enough. The projected influx of downtown business was well worth accommodating. To say the least, expectations were high.

 

One of the Lexington Horses



More Lexington Horses on display



Beyond that,

the downtown businesses wanted to show their support of the event in the hopes of grabbing that all important Tourist Dollar. Near by Lexington, Kentucky had recently done their life sized, fiberglass painted horses to draw attention to their downtown with great success. As a public art project the idea has worked quite well in cities across the country. That seemed like a good place to start. But this was tiny little Winchester, they couldn't possibly afford a quantity of fiberglass anything. Luckily the subject was bicycles, and those were easy enough to obtain for anyone. Decision made, each downtown business would find a bicycle and decorated it to welcome "the Tour of the Red River Gorge."

 

The blue bike in the begining

I was pretty excited about the project. I had all kinds of ideas cycling through my head. I really wanted to start with a child's tri-cycle, but it was surprisingly hard to find one in the time we had. If I couldn't go tri-cycle, then I wanted to go as vintage as possible to fit the theme of Captain Cosmos Collectibles. After all there was no reason to pass up a perfectly good advertising opportunity. I happened to have some rather beat up bikes on hand, but none had the sexy vintage curves I was hoping to find. The standard 10 speed design was just too stiff to fit the theme I wanted to go with. As luck would have it, I found the almost perfect blue bike at a garage sale just before I really had to start on the project.

I'm actually rather glad it was "almost" perfect, because the limitations really made me think outside the box, and come up with a much stronger design. The beat up blue bike was a well made 1950's, girls bike. Solid frame, whitewalled balloon tires, smooth curves, just the kind of elements I wanted to play with.

First things first, I completely disassembled the bike. Took it down to the carwash, and got it as clean as I possibly could. The sanded every square inch of it, and took it back to the carwash for another round of cleaning. Next came a nice smooth layer of primer. It was now blank pallet for what ever I could come up with.



Some of the Ray Gun's that inspired me



 

I poured though books and web sites looking for any vintage Science Fiction images I could. I was looking for colors, designs and styles that would lend themselves well to the project. The main issue I had to solve was where exactly could I paint. I wanted some kind of surface beyond the piping of the bike. Some thing to covey an image, and not simply a graphic. Something that would really reflect that 1950's era I was looking for. Sketches followed. Some perhaps a bit too ambitious.

 

 

 

 

 



Close up of the center panel



 Once the basic idea was drawn out, it was time to customize the bike. I had to start with measurements, LOT'S of measurements. I needed to ad the main panel which would change this from a girl's bike to a boy's, and in the process give me that critical surface area to paint on. I considered metal, and plastic, but wood was the best option here. Getting that curve perfect was a must, any gap and the illusion would have been lost. But disguising how the panel was attached, that was the hard part. I think I'll keep that secret for now.

 

The front fender was next. Plastic proved to be the material of choice here. Thin, sturdy, and easily cut. The wings of the ship were made of high density pressboard. The plastic was bolted to the fender.



Since I couldn't disguise the bolts, I made them part of the design which added a nice riveted retro look in the process.



Detail of the front fender rocket ship





The panel mimic's the view from
the ships windows



At this point I still wasn't sure what to put on that center panel. But I had cut windows out of the space ship fender, and bolted panting's of the cockpit inside them. The similar shapes of the window's and the panel gave me an idea. I added fake bolts to the corners of the panels to mimic the real bolt's on the windows then painted the view of each window.

 

Left side of the Captain Cosmos Cruiser

The remainder of the bike was spray painted bright yellow in several light coats. The lightening lots where masked off with tape, and the rest was finished off in red. Everything was assembled and given a final coat of high gloss clear coat. The results speak for themselves.

 

However, the expected fanfare was somewhat of a disappointment. The event this bike was so carefully crafted for was a total bust. The dozens of bikes intended to be on display ended up as a total of 4. One was an un-altered bike that simply hung in a window. Another had a quick spray of silver, and a bouquet of flowers and ribbons in the basket. The final one, put out by the local art guild no less, was just an unpainted kids bike with a selection of art supplies in the basket.

 

. . . and the right side

If support was disappointing, participation was even worse. The bicyclists were due downtown around noon. I waited in my shop expectant of the doves of race fans. The streets were empty of even regular traffic since they where blocked off. Almost no one had shown up to the even. I watched from my counter for the first contestant to pass by my shop. When that happened I went to the door to watch the race. By the time I got to the door the entire race had passed by. I couldn't have seen more than 20 bikes total. In under a minute the racers had traveled the entire length of downtown Winchester, and disappeared into the countryside. Minutes later the streets were open again, and the even planned for months, with high expectations was over in under 20 minutes with out so much as a flag waving fan.

 

 

The bike in the window
 

But at least I got one sweet bike out of it.

 

 

Detail of the logo

It Begins

Thu, 14th October, 2010

 

. . And so I shall blog. This might be deleted before our "grand opening" but I have to start somewhere, so I'll start here. At this stage our site is just barely under construction. I know what I need it to do in the end, but really have no clue how to get it there. Web sites just are not in my skill set. Once it is there we still have the problem of driving traffic to the site. How exactly do we get the word out about "Captain Cosmos Collectibles." There seems to be this myth that merely having a web-site will bring you success. Well I can certainly attest to the falsehood of that idea. No a web-site alone will not bring success. Nor will advertising, or the right product, or the ever so helpful location, location, location. All those things help, but don't do much good without the others.

The Internet almost negates the need for location. Now our store is right there in your home, or on the train, in your office, or even in your car. Though I beg you, please don't shop with us while your driving, that's not a good idea. We have what at one time would have been a fantastic location. We're downtown. Before the urban landscape changed with mall's, and Big Box stores, and bypasses, downtown was were the action was. There are photo's of regular days for downtown Winchester spanning decades, everyone of them shows a crowd of thousands. Every parking spot full, every shop teaming with customers, the sidewalks overflowing with life. Those days are gone. At least they are gone in small town America. Larger cities might not feel the same impact, Lexington, Kentucky, our closest, and largest neighbor has a thriving downtown. Perhaps not as thriving as it was in the 1950's, but business is good there. Here in downtown Winchester, Kentucky, just a half hours drive from downtown Lexington, things are more of a struggle. Businesses here worry about being open next month. Businesses here have to choose between the phone bill, or new stock.

Why?

Why has the traditional downtown been so thoroughly forgotten? Downtown's offer things that the Big Box stores just can't. First on that list is the personal touch. Most downtown businesses are family owned, and operated. They will get to know you over time. They will get to know what you need. Can the same be said at the Big Box where the check out girl rings up 2000 faces in a shift? Just yesterday I was talking with the owner of another business just down the street. Downtown Winchester recently did a promotion involving international flags, so a lot of businesses were suddenly in need of a flag pole. Well she got her's right across the street at the downtown hardware store, Bridges and Lane. Did it cost a little more than the Big Box stores? Yes, but the Big Box store's would never have installed it for free, or taken the time to make sure it worked for her. That's the sort of thing you get downtown.