Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
Did you gradually close your business or did you disappear overnight?
When You Closed Your Business
- Thread starter Zee09
- Start date
I have not, but if I did, I would have a "last day" to say goodbye to my loyal customers, then disappear.
It would probably be too obvious, but I would have to turn down "future business", and I could not leave anybody "high and dry"...so I guess technically that leans more toward the gradual close.
It would probably be too obvious, but I would have to turn down "future business", and I could not leave anybody "high and dry"...so I guess technically that leans more toward the gradual close.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
Well said...I am too easy but I would like to move on and forward. Some things aren't worth remembering although some good people are... Those I would take care of afterwards.
I think this decision would be in part based on the type of business and the potential issues a sudden closure can cause customers.
In my business the only practices that close usually do so because something tragic happened to the owner leaving a spouse with no idea what to do and a couple thousand patients wondering what they should do. This sudden closure can be really difficult to deal with since people still have emergencies and dental needs. If you own a hotdog stand it's probably ok to just close suddenly.
In my business the only practices that close usually do so because something tragic happened to the owner leaving a spouse with no idea what to do and a couple thousand patients wondering what they should do. This sudden closure can be really difficult to deal with since people still have emergencies and dental needs. If you own a hotdog stand it's probably ok to just close suddenly.
It depends on the business. Some businesses cost money just to keep open, while others can dribble on forever with no problems. My business is the latter. It is just me and what I do personally. There is no inventory, no shop, no nothing that costs me money to keep open, so I don't need to close. If there is any hassle, cost, or bad memories involved in keeping the business open just close it and move on!
Depends on the business - if you have customer work in house like we did the boat shop we just stopped taking new work and closed it down when the last customer project left. We told everyone it was happening.
If its a retail business with inventory Id' have a going out of business sales. Then turn out the lights.
If it's a business with neither, I'd just shut it down overnight.
Good luck with whatever the next thing is sir!
If its a retail business with inventory Id' have a going out of business sales. Then turn out the lights.
If it's a business with neither, I'd just shut it down overnight.
Good luck with whatever the next thing is sir!
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I think this depends wildly on what type of business.
I grew up in a family run business, and my dad wound it down over a period of literally years, telling everyone he would be retiring in the future, etc. But it was B2B mostly - not a storefront.
I grew up in a family run business, and my dad wound it down over a period of literally years, telling everyone he would be retiring in the future, etc. But it was B2B mostly - not a storefront.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
When my dad closed his hot sauce and hot spice shop in about 2005 or so he gradually done it. Clearanced out products beginning about 10% and moved it up as it got closer to the lease for the building running out. He never did sell everything we actually come across a rack of the old spices in our basement a couple years ago and threw them out lol. They expired in 2007. It would be kind of strange to disappear without notice. I’m sure you’d have several wondering about you if you did.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
The dream of many who have been in the trenches for 40 to 50 years and have grown tired is to get lost quickly and just live a life they were never allowed to live. Usually it is just a pipe dream and many can't financially or die dreaming..
I see it often and the dream of a better tomorrow keeps people going. Sadly it is a reality...
I had my online business 17 years. The last few years I started pulling all advertising links, cutting sales options (like killing phone in and mail in orders) and streamlining inventory. The very last year I quit re-stocking entirely and let inventory dwindle to near nothing before pulling the plug on the website and eBay store on 12/31.
It seemed to work well.
It seemed to work well.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
When I closed my Radio Shack Franchise I was gone in a week. GOOB sale lasted 4.5 days. $900 worth of stuff left on Friday afternoon. 60% left the first day. By Friday morning everything left was on 2- 8 ft tables. Worked well. Only got 2 angry phone calls at home about closing. One wanted a refund on a CB antenna he bought more than a year earlier. One wanted to know If there were any 8-track players left. See, the world was nutty 30 years ago.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
Oh yeah....
There is always a run of last minuters. I have a late 70s Radio Shack receiver... It looks new. Can I return it??? Please
Radio Shack was my Dad's, and subsequently my, go to for electronics when I was growing up. I had a nice Realistic handheld walkie/talkie CB that I used for years in the Boy Scouts. That was so long ago the Boy Scouts were still boys.
I had a business maintaining websites and charged people by the job/hourly. Things were on and off and just when client called for changes and problems.
I asked for a monthly fee from all the 40 businesses of $100/month to retain me and use it as credit back into my hourly work. Not a single one replied.
I closed shop and emailed them all.
Took on work somewhere else and sold them off as leads for $2k/each as each one inquired/begged for fixes.
My career went further ahead without these tiny business I supported. Now I deal in million and billion dollar companies.
I asked for a monthly fee from all the 40 businesses of $100/month to retain me and use it as credit back into my hourly work. Not a single one replied.
I closed shop and emailed them all.
Took on work somewhere else and sold them off as leads for $2k/each as each one inquired/begged for fixes.
My career went further ahead without these tiny business I supported. Now I deal in million and billion dollar companies.
My father was an independent mechanic in the same location for 41 years. He sold the business to a mechanic that worked at a VW shop across the street. That shop owner was a real shady dude (a crook - I used to think he was an escaped Nazi).
Dad kept his tools, let me keep a few things and pitched the rest that was deemed trash. He left the scope, test equipment, manuals, etc for Bela. Bela was a good guy and a great mechanic from Czech Republic. The City of Mountain View eventually re-zoned that block of Moffett Blvd. and Bella eventually moved to a place off of Rengstroff Ave.
I guess my father drew a circle around a date on the calendar and that was the day he left.
Dad kept his tools, let me keep a few things and pitched the rest that was deemed trash. He left the scope, test equipment, manuals, etc for Bela. Bela was a good guy and a great mechanic from Czech Republic. The City of Mountain View eventually re-zoned that block of Moffett Blvd. and Bella eventually moved to a place off of Rengstroff Ave.
I guess my father drew a circle around a date on the calendar and that was the day he left.
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Thats funny. We must have had one of the last radio shack's open on earth. When it "closed" it just re-opened under a different name, and they focus mostly on boat electronics now. They have one isle in the back where they sort of stuck all the old radio shack stuff. If your looking for a resistor or connector you can go rummage through some old drawers or bins. They still have the little tape price tag on them - and thats still the price you pay
One of the last things I got from Radio Shack. I saw them at the RS store but they only had one pair; so I mail ordered them. They're still in the Legend. They don't sound like $18 speakers. Used with the OEM stereo, they sound very good. Especially at "11". I occasionally buy RS stuff that sold on ebay.
We started announcing it nearly a year before Dec 31, 2022. We shut down our site, FB, everything on that date. We sold a lot of our inventory in 2022, with no new purchases.
So now we just have this, which only is a SPAM magnet: https://www.sickbikeparts.com/
I think we received maybe 3 serious emails doing this. I think it's stupid at this point. Partner's idea. He still needs to come get his half of the assets and a fat check.
So now we just have this, which only is a SPAM magnet: https://www.sickbikeparts.com/
I think we received maybe 3 serious emails doing this. I think it's stupid at this point. Partner's idea. He still needs to come get his half of the assets and a fat check.
