Posted on 11/22/2008 2:44:34 PM PST by matt1234
SEATTLE – A shop that lets you pay what want [sic] is becoming another casualty of the sagging economy.
Come Thanksgiving, the OpShOp on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill will close its doors.
"I ask people when they pay to pay with their head or their heart,” said OpShOp owner Jane Horowitz.
From whimsical holiday plates to obscure albums to hundreds of other items, the customer determines the price for everything.
"I also like telling the person who left it where it's going. I think making that connection is vital to every community,” said Horowitz.
"It's an act of human generosity and kindness in a time when we need that,” said customer Judy Endejan.
A bit chunk of Horowitz’s profits go to funding special programs in public schools, but what’s left over just isn’t enough to keep the business going.
“I can't pay my rent,” said Horowitz. She is two months late on the rent and has a week to move out.
The landlord, Robert Burkheimer, says his hands are tied. He has to pay his mortgage and he’s already struggling to find tenants to fill up a once thriving retail strip.
Horowitz is at peace with her fate and she promises this isn’t the last of the OpShOp
"I've always said this place is magical, so maybe something magical will come of it,” said Horowitz.
She plans to donate all of the items she can’t sell within the next week.
There’s a restaurant in Kaliphornia that does the same thing ... pay what you think the meal was worth ...
My head hurts.
About a week ago, Rush mentioned a similar restaurant in Salt Lake. It is having a similar problem.
Yeah, thought it was in CA ... my mistake ... I remember that particular show ...
No biggie, the store was probably subsidized by the local government.
The basic precept seems to be “You steal it, you own it.”
Talk about lack of incentive.
Wait...you mean to tell me that human nature is inherently selfish? Liberals everywhere are shocked; conservatives shrug and say ‘Told you so.’
If only such stores could actually work, that would be amazing. Wish I could buy guns that way...
Maybe he could just coax his lender into accepting whatever he can pay from his heart. Sheesh. I recall "Free stores" in the hippie part of town and "honor system" refreshment stands at certain movie theaters in the seventies. They never lasted, either.
What? Communism doesn’t work? She’ll have a bailout from the taxpayers within 2 months........apparently it does work if the correct person is elected.
How is that socialism?
I wish we had a store like that around here.
Me: “I think that 50-inch plasma is worth $10.00. Here ya go. Nice doing business with you.”
Of course, around here, those are known as yard sales. ;)
It’s not capitalism and it doesn’t work... it has to be socialism. ;o)
She gave away profit and didn’t pay her rent...sorry sister profit is whats left over after you pay your debts. Idiot.
“Socialism doesn’t work, even in Seattle”
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What, you mean her fellow sophisticated progressives aren’t so with-it and cool after all? Just self-serving and money-concious like the greedy, knuckle-dragging barbarians on the right.
Oh well, at least she is “hip” and groovy and inclusive. After all, what the hell could possibly be more important than that?
“From whimsical holiday plates to obscure albums to hundreds of other items, the customer determines the price for everything.”
Just one little problem, a list of things like overhead, cost of goods sold, variable costs and a concept called ‘profit’ which lets you go buy stuff elsewhere instead of doing it all at a net breakeven.
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