People selling stuff on the SIDE OF THE ROAD

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On EASTER Weekend I was amazed. Not at 1 place but SEVERAL seperate places in Northern California We saw PEOPLE HAWKING THERE HOUSEHOLD GOODS. We were amazed driving between Yuba City & Auburn there were a 1/2 DOZEN places at least where folks were selling stuff ON THE SIDE OF THE ROADS & HIGHWAYS. Also of significance In PARTICULAR WAS LARGE VEHICLES!! SUBURBANS, 1/2 & 3/4 TON TRUCKS are lining every space & intersection. Fuel is $1.80 for the CHEAPEST & these SUV's (STUPID UGLY VEHICLES) are going the way of the DINOSAUR!! Literally there is tons of gas guzzling vehicles FOR SALE BY OWNER!! Also I can't believe what CLASSIC CARS are for sale, hundreds of cars are coming out of the woodwork. Many the owners think will sell fast, but there inflated value of a YEAR ago isn't bringing any buyers.

My friends Harley IS STILL UNSOLD After 2 months on the market. And the PAPER IS FULL OF HARLEY's All of a sudden. The same with CARS In our little town usually there is 1 & 1/2 columes of Cars. All of a sudden there is 4~5 columes of vehicles. MOST NEEDING WORK, MANY WITHOUT ENGINES, AND NO REGISTRATION OR NOT SMOGABLE. This is just the TIP of the ICEBERG> Anyone noticing the same things in there Neighborhood?? BTW did I mention that the ONLY store WITH BUSINESS HERE SEEMS TO BE WALLY WORLD (Walmart). Care to comment. Geno-ca

-- Geno-Ca (headturbo@hotmail.com), April 19, 2001

Answers

I appreciate the local insight. I would also like to hear more grassroots reports from other areas around the country. I can't say that we're much affected here in the Phoenix metro area. We've had a lot of closures of big stores but it seems that some other store is waiting to snatch up the good locations. Home Depot and Lowe's have run just about every other home improvement store out of business. There are some miscellaneous RV lots going out of business but we have dozens and dozens of them anyway. It seems that we didn't get the usual number of Canadian visitors this winter and I'm told its because Canada is cracking down on there medical benefits. If they are out of the country more than six months then they become ineligible for their medical benefits or something like that. I can't find gas any cheaper than $1.51 now. There is either a new Walgreens or Osco going up on every empty corner. Office vacancies are increasing slightly. We haven't been hit much yet on any level.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@altavista.com), April 19, 2001.

As of today, I have not observed panic selling in the Central Iowa area, some panic buying however. With the news about F&M or H&M, many people are stocking up on meat, and dairy products. Will do some serious looking around, and post if anything else is noticed. suzy

-- suzy (Its suzy2@aol.com), April 20, 2001.

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