SPECIALTY STORE CLOSING DOORS AFTER DISMAL OPENING WEEK

BANGUS BUSINESS - COBALT—After less time than it took for God to create the earth, or so the story goes, young and ambitious local entrepreneur, Amy Singleton is out of business.

“I really thought it was going to take off,” she told Bangus of Just Fiona, her specialty shop operating out of one of the many commercial storefronts in the bustle of downtown Cobalt. From 9–5, Monday through to the mid-part of that Friday morning, Amy waited patiently for the customers to come, thusly ensuring that her dream of being a successful businesswoman would become a reality.

Amy sat on a office chair behind a battered second hand desk listening to her Fiona Apple cd that she had purchased last year for three dollars from a pawn shop in Toronto. “My sister was mugged so I went down to comfort her and while I was there I bought Fiona’s first compact disc and from the first time I played it, she really, truly changed my life. It was somewhat of an epiphany, which I know sounds dramatic but that’s the truth. She changed my life. With the confidence of Shadowboxer and Sleep to Dream her whole cd, for me, is one powerful message to women not only in Cobalt but the rest of the Tri-Towns as well. Maybe even Smoothrock Falls. She (Apple) has empowered me to go back to school and take a business course so I could open my own business. For me, it was all about taking control of my own life and charting my own destiny. I would now make all the decisions that would affect me.”

Amy told Angus that she suspected something was wrong by early Wednesday morning.“I suspected something was wrong by early Wednesday morning, but I guess I was in a state of denial. I was sitting in the store and listening to Fiona Apple. There had yet to be one single customer. Not even the mayor came out to cut the ribbon on Monday morning when I first opened. There was a cake and I was going to give away a door prize. But, I realize now that sitting and listening to a cd that you really enjoy is not as lucrative as one would assume. It takes more than a storefront and a cd player to make a business a business. I mean, not one person came other than this one man who did come in to see if I could do his income tax return for him. I think the storefront I rented was once an H&R Block a few years ago. I did tell him I could do it right away for eight hundred dollars. I know it was a cash-grab but I was desperate. I was even getting sick of that Fiona Apple cd.”

After investing all her savings into Just Fiona, Amy is now facing the sobering statistic that one-in-four new business fail within the first year. As to the number of business that fail within the first week, no statistics were available. “It really does look good on paper,” she still insists, skimming over the half page business plan that she partially completed with the help of an online government web page. But don’t count her out just yet. Says Amy: “Don’t count me out just yet. I just heard the new Best of the Eagles at my friend’s house last night and there was something inspirational in there that has given me a good idea for a business. I just need some start-up funds, an accordion and a hobo.