Lessons Learned the Hardest Way, by Going Belly Up is a piece that ran in the NY Times on Feb. 24th. It tells the stories of four business owners and the closure of their businesses. Take note of which failures came from factors that could be controlled (one dominant customer leaves) and which failures were beyond control (D.C. sniper shootings keep customers home).
Living in the DC area, I’m going to dispute her claim that the sniper did her in. Leesburg is about 30 miles from the nearest sniper scene. (I live 2 miles from the Micheal’s where there was a shooting, and 5 miles from the gas station that was also targeted) Yes, people were nervous, but we are talking about a 6 week period really.
More to the point, she opened her antiques and artsy store in a small town already completely saturated with antique stores and unique boutiques. I think that was her real problem.