Skipper Bill's Out Of Business

[Marc Martyn]

A friend of mine told me today that Skipper Bill's in Spokane closed this week. I tried going to their website and it was unavailable.

[hewesfisher]

It's official Marc, Rick Henderson (salesman at Skipper Bill's) stopped by the shop I work at Thursday morning to tell me that Bill closed the store that day. Really sad day for me, Rick sold us both our Hewescrafts and I was always welcomed there with what seemed more than just a customer. I'll really miss the personal service.

[rjn cajun]

I hate hearing about good people closing there doors. It`s hard to find a good buisness that actually care`s about the customer. Not to mention the time it takes to trust a buisness. Sorry to hear that guy`s.

[hewesfisher]

Here's the local news story - http://www.kxly.com/news/24136045/detail.html

[reelman]

What a loss. Just looking at Bill on the news story, I thought "I bet he'd be a great fishing buddy." The world dies a little when someone can't do what they love any more.

[basspro]

This is a sad day indeed when you see a business like this fail. This economy has got to get back on its feet if we are going to put good people back to work again.

Although we are on the west side if we can be of any help to anyone please dont hesitate to call.

Russ

[Marc Martyn]

What is really sad, is that Bill didn't really fail. He is a highly respected businessman and successfully operated an honest and profitable business for over 3 decades. He himself stated that he had weathered out many recessions before, but just couldn't continue any longer. I'm sure he gave it considerable thought and made, what was to him, the right decision.
The public is cutting back on many unnecessary purchases and recreational boating is one. I'm in the kitchen and remodeling business and have seen a huge drop in my business because people are holding on to their money because the future looks so uncertain. Millions of successful long standing businesses are closing across the nation. There comes a point when it is not feasible to continue on.
It is called a "recession". I hate that word. I call it a depression. When people are losing their jobs, their homes and their life long dreams and ambitions, don't sugar coat it. It is a depression. Plain and simple.

[reelman]

What is really sad, is that Bill didn't really fail. He is a highly respected businessman and successfully operated an honest and profitable business for over 3 decades. He himself stated that he had weathered out many recessions before, but just couldn't continue any longer. I'm sure he gave it considerable thought and made, what was to him, the right decision.
The public is cutting back on many unnecessary purchases and recreational boating is one. I'm in the kitchen and remodeling business and have seen a huge drop in my business because people are holding on to their money because the future looks so uncertain. Millions of successful long standing businesses are closing across the nation. There comes a point when it is not feasible to continue on.
It is called a "recession". I hate that word. I call it a depression. When people are losing their jobs, their homes and their life long dreams and ambitions, don't sugar coat it. It is a depression. Plain and simple.

I'll avoid being political and just say amen. I'm not "recessed", I'm "depressed" just like nearly 30 million other Americans. Oh heck, I'll throw in; when government thinks it knows better than you do how to spend your money, people like Bill suffer.

[Anglinarcher]

Reelman, for those of us old enough, we remember the Carter years when we tried to spend our way out of a recession. It did not work then, so why will it work now. We had massive inflation late in the Carter years as well, so I fear what MAY be ahead for us now. Einstein is said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. Carter tried it, Europe tried it, now we are trying it - are we insane?

I hope that Skipper Bill's and Sportsman's Warehouse and Joe's are the only three that will be hit. OK, if Bill's is gone, that hope may not be worth spit.

[bionic_one]

[quote="reelman"] Oh heck, I'll throw in]

You can't really blame the current "bailout" for the problems. The problems started when greedy, irresponsible, consumers (you can read that as Americans) started thinking they could buy anything and everything they wanted. A LACK of government oversight and a COMPLETE lack of responsible business decisions by loan companies, resulted in Americans being approved for loans that should have never taken. So, the ARMS expired and people couldn't afford their mortgages, then they defaulted on their loans, then that cycled right on down to a big spiral of economic downturn. Add in some insane revolving credit card debts and tons of other people filing for bankruptcy, and you get recession/depression.

Tell me, how is an ARM even LEGAL???

Tell me, how does someone working at McDonalds think they can afford a house? Better yet, why do all these people have a mentality of "I DESERVE to be a homeowner"???

They don't DESERVE anything. I hate our country's entitlement attitude. I hate corporate greed. I hate inept government.

You wanna know the worst part?

This is still the best country in the world.

[FishTank]

I hear election time is coming again. Here's what I think everyone should do... Don't vote for any Republicans. Don't vote for any Democrats.

Maybe that would get Washington D.C.'s attention. Maybe.

[Marc Martyn]

This will not be fixed soon, no matter who controls Congress or who is in the White House. This economic melt down has been brewing for many years. When banks started telling people that they could buy a house for little or no down, or get into a legal loan shark program called an "Adjustable Rate Mortgage", I saw red flags popping up all over the place. The banks were counting on people paying more on the increased interest rates of the ARM's. They were counting on people missing a credit card payments due dates by one hour over due so they could jack up the interest rates. It is all about getting the penalties that the fine print hides. The late fees and increased interest rates were the banks bread and butter.
Retail stores have to take out loans constantly to stay in business. They need it for inventory, payroll and corporate maintenance. With the banks now not "floating a loan", they have no choice but to close. I expect to see many RV dealers going out of business this year. Driving by R&R RV in the Spokane Valley makes my head spin. How can a business have that many RV's on the lot with people not buying them?
Every individual in this nation is connected economically like links in a chain. We all depend on each other to survive. If people don't spend, the next link in the chain suffers. In my situation, people are buying tile from the retail stores but many of them are installing it themselves. Why? Because they don't want to dip too deep into their savings to pay for having it installed, or they don't know if they will have a job in a couple of months. This in turn reduces my income. Without that additional income, I too, will think twice about buying a new tile saw from Spokane Power Tool because I'm not sure what the future holds for me. In turn, Spokane Power Tool with lacking sales has to lay someone off. Then the vicious cycle starts all over again.
We are coming up on an election this fall and every one of the talking heads on the stump has the answer to the whole problem...... it's the other guys fault! Elect ME, and I'll fix it all......sure.
The fear of the economic unknown spreading across this country has a strangle hold on the nation. Recovery from this will not come instantly from the ballot box. Basically, to recover from this, government, corporations and consumers have to take a chance and spend.
Which brings me back to the Skipper. How many of you were thinking seriously about buying a new boat or outboard in the last couple of years. Did those plans get put on hold because you were unsure of the future? Did the bank loan officer tell you that, your credit rating is 750 and they are NOW only giving boat loans to people with a 760 credit rating?
This last spring, I leaned into the economic wind and bought a new computer. I paid half down and took out the balance in a small loan from my credit union. I at least like to think that in doing so, I may have helped to save a job of one of the employees at Best Buy....... hopefully I did. Perhaps he would like to have his master bathroom shower tiled.

[reelman]

OK, this is why I didn't want to get political. This is a fishing website. I feel the same as all of you. Amen to the last four comments. I worry that Bill's is just the canary in the coal mine. I really feel that it's going to get worse before it gets better.
This is why fishing is so great. When it's fishing time, it's me vs fish and nothing else matters. I'd probably have ulcers if not for fishing.

[Marc Martyn]

Then go out and buy a new rod[thumbup]