End of an era

After 23 years of being continuously occupied the store is empty but for a few fixtures. We have been blessed to have it leased that long. I have been painting for the better part of two weeks and have the interior repainted. It looks good. Mom has been there the last few days cleaning with me. The inside is about done except for perhaps shampooing the carpets some time in the future. Getting the building back in shape has had some unexpected twists. For the last years the staff seems to have been robbing light bulbs from one area to replace burned out bulbs in an area of the store getting higher traffic. I counted 47 bulbs and fluorescent tubes burned out! This business environment is not the best for trying to find a new tenant. I counted eight vacancies in buildings with similar locations, all within two miles of our location. (And that was five months ago.) I suspect the number to be higher today. Finding a new tenant is going to be interesting. Especially with the stock market giving the stimulus plan a HUGE vote of no confidence.