About a year after Craig Kasten launched his vintage clothing store Mobocracy in Port Washington, the business owner was forced to close his doors for good.
"It was kind of a combination (of reasons)," he said. "It was so seasonal out there, and that kind of hit a little bit harder than we anticipated … there was definitely a lack of foot traffic."
The , at 307 N. Franklin St., and officially closed again mid-December. Kasten said sorting through the remaining products is an ongoing task.
"We are in the process of selling out of our home, I still have the website set up (but) don't really have the full inventory right now," Kasten said, adding that they are working to settle in before the online store will be completely up and running.
Kasten said he did have some "ups" while managing the storefront in the city's downtown, though the business scene proved mostly to be a struggle in Port.
During the summer, Kasten had been hopeful festivals would drive customers — but he said most people seemed to stay in the marina area during that time, a trend not helpful to businesses in downtown. Kasten said in talking to other business owners, he's not the only one that felt this was a struggle.
And while city officials and business owners alike were hopeful that the addition of Duluth Trading would boost business — Kasten said it didn't seem to help: people seemed instead to visit Duluth Trading and then leave the city.
"I'm sure it will help the economy (in Port), but as far as small business (it didn't)," he said, adding that he'd be hopeful Duluth's presence may have a larger impact in the longterm.
Customers interested in knowing more about Mobocracy's online stock can follow the store on Facebook or visit the company's website.
I haven't seen the actual rent prices in Port, but what I hear from various people is they tend to be high, with some very optimistic statements from the landlords about foot traffic, festival traffic, big burst revenue etc when the prices are clearly explained (the two pizza places that opened in the old dairy queen location seemed to fall victim to this, with their rent being much higher than they'd ever make in an average month). Obviously its on the buyers to do a little better job of realizing that's just not how it works when they agree to their leases. I'd wager that's where some of the sour grapes come from in the above article. The thing to note is, a similar type of store has been running in Saukville for several years now, it rarely seems to be open, but I'm guessing the rent is much lower, and there's not a lot of wandering shopping traffic on the Saukville triangle.
The other, relatively short leap of logic might be that any foot traffic that is generated by visitors to Duluth Trading company .... well, just a guess that they're not as likely to be in the market for "vintage clothing".
Good job - Mobracracy for hanging in there for a whole year!
Until you invest tens of thousands of dollars in a community by opening a small retail shop, you will never know the amount of work it takes to keep doors open. You pay rent, utilities, vendors and employees before you pay yourself. I will bet ALL of the shop owners that are doing well are not taking any income home for themselves - and yet, they are employing community members who need jobs. Some of these may be your teenagers. Once again, overhead and a strong business association who is committed to driving traffic to local businesses is EVERYTHING to a small business owner. Again, please thank those small business owners who have invested in your community and patronize them when you can - knowing that 68 cents of every dollar spent in a local business stays in that local community. They are there for you.
I am unsure about the statement of downtown at one time supporting 8 or 9 butcher shops. Even if the town did support that many butcher shops at one time, my point was that doing business today is very different then it was even a decade ago. As you pointed out, people started buying meat from grocery stores instead of the butcher shops. Why? Price and convienence a grocery store would offer are two possible reasons. Bernies ability to stay in business could have been for many reasons like; customer loyalty, product quality & choice, location, unique services IE; fresh cut T-bone to order. Also, marketing and advertising where much different critters then today. Word of mouth was and still the most strongest way to drive business. Today though we are flooded with advertising messages through many sources. A business today must have a strong marketing plan. As the the old marketing saying goes, a customer is thinking about a new business; "I don't know who you are, I don't know your product, who you are or what you stand for. Now what where you trying to sell me?" A business today has to send clear, concise and consistent marketing messages via advertising methods to gain traffic to it's doors. As I stated earlier, a business had to identify it's niche and then know how to reach it. As to the shop in article. taking out random ads in local paper was it's first bullet. The local paper may boast 22,000 readership, was their target buyer a reader? Doubt it.
You stated "When Bernie's opened the doors in the 1940s there were 8 or 9 butcher shops in town" You got that info from Obit posted on the city website, whom obtained thier info from the Milwaukee Urinal (Journal) hee hee There were 10 butcher shops in Ports business history. I highly doubt all ten (or even 8 or 9) were in business at anytime all at once between 1941 and present. I checked the historical society page for info. Never trust the Milwaukee urinal for "facts" Port cannot support more then 3 or four pizza places for goodness sakes. The Historical Societies web page did not list dates of Butcher shops, for a waltz down memory lane here are the Meat Market / Butcher Shops listed: Bernies Conrads Meat Market Henry Dankert - Butcher Frank Hoff Meat Market Independent Meat Market Johl and Stark Meat Market Kuhn Bro's Meats Port Home Meat Market Les Sheer Meat Market Sturm Meat Market I do not have the time to hit the historical society to check on actual dates of operation. Perhaps we can agree on this statement; "Bernies outlasted 8 or 9 different butcher shops since 1941" :0) ~Cheers~