What kind of storefront do you keep?
I found myself having to go to that store this weekend.
You know the kind of store I’m talking about – the rundown shop in the decrepit plaza which last saw its glory days when Duran Duran was gracing the covers of teen magazines.
I usually avoid places like this, but I was hoping to find discontinued diaper doublers for my son. (For those unfamiliar with the product, it is an absorbent pad which you place in diapers at night to keep the diaper from soaking through – one of the best products ever, and it has been discontinued! No nearby stores have any similar product.)
So, I found myself forced to go to that store.
The shop has an air of despair which greets you at the door and presses on your shoulders during your entire visit. Bad music from an outdated sound system plays in the background, music which is both royalty and quality free. Music made by and for mindless drones.
The floor consists of dirty, stained, cracked and mismatched tiles. Merchandise is on the floor, but nobody seems to notice or care.
The shelves, of which there are too many, are chaotically crammed with as much junk as can possibly fit. Crap you can’t imagine ANYBODY buying.
Lining several shelves are toys which no child wants. Among those toys, robots that look like Transformers but have some other name and likely contain enough lead paint to kill you on contact. On other shelves, outdated food and all the plastic crap you can fit into a tiny shopping cart.
Sad, unhealthy-looking people shuffle their way through the narrow aisles, filling their carts with plastic and filling their empty lives with more crap. Or so it would seem to the casual, jaded observer.
How many NASCAR doodads can one person collect?
The only thing that can help a store like this, I thought, is a well placed wrecking ball.
And I wondered, what kind of person shops here?
The prices aren’t much cheaper than other places, yet the quality is vastly inferior. You’d have to really not care about yourself or what you’re buying to regularly shop in a place like this. It’s almost like… junk food.
And then in a moment of clarity, something clicked.
The way I see this place, and the people who frequent it, represents everything I loathe not only in society, but in myself. It’s the same way I’ve treated my body for years.
I don’t have the body of someone who has chosen quality over crap. I have been filling my gut with the food equivalent of plastic for years, no decades!
And while I might not look like it yet, it’s only a matter of time before I look just like this store – rundown and slovenly. Without any self respect.
Waiting for the wrecking ball.
Which is just the kick in the ass I needed to start 2009 off with a bang!
In that we sell ourselves every day, we have storefronts to keep up.
My storefront should be as fresh, beautiful, unique and orderly as the inner me is – or at least as the ideal inner me is.
So, what kind of storefront do you keep? Is it time to grab the wrecking ball and create the kind of store you can be proud of?
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22 Responses to “What kind of storefront do you keep?”
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Lawks! If you hadn’t kept talking about the store, I’d have sworn you were talking about my house.
You WERE talking about the store, right?
Dave this is pretty hard hitting. It’s a kick in the ass for all of us.
Dave Fowler’s last blog post..Nigella Lawson Is Gorgeous
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David Wright Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 3:36 am
Wait, you have sad, unhealthy-looking people shuffling their way through the narrow aisles of your home?
Thanks!
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Dave Fowler Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 3:38 am
Well, there’s me, and then there’s plastic crap all over the place, along with doodads and transformers.
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I’m with you there BD.
I went through a real crisis of, well everything, over the New Year.
I felt a failure, I felt like the greed monster had set up camp in my gut and my self esteem went through the floor.
I dread to think what my shop front would have looked like.
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David Wright Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Probably like Fowler’s house, but that’s okay. We’re all in good company. Time to refurbish!
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(nodding) Great way to think of it! I’ve gotten away with putting alot of inferior stuff into my body over the years. (Fruit or ice cream? It was always ice cream.) Now I magically gain weight if I have 1 tablespoon of ice cream. Trying to improve my “storefront”, but also my children’s. Today is the first day I’m starting to pack particularly healthy lunches for my son. He’ll only get to eat school lunches a couple times a month. I think it will help our bodies and attitudes. (We’ve all been so darn tired and cranky.)
Avlor’s last blog post..Dropcloth for Legos
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David Wright Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I hope your healthy lunches aren’t met with an angry boy! Good luck!
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Avlor Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
He’s helping me pick what goes into his lunches. So I think we’ll do ok. I may still need the luck – we’ll see what he’s eaten in his lunch today.
Avlor’s last blog post..“New Look” and Tagged
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Just yesterday, as I huffed down the driveway, the thought occurred to me that my body has been under fire in a war zone for years. …that each day I pack in more than it can easily handle and now all the workings are overburdened and overworked. I shouldn’t huff or puff walking my driveway! I look at my niece and remember what it felt like to be agile and limber as she is. When I was her age, I ate well, I ate less, and I moved more. If that system worked well then, it’ll work well now. Now that the holiday diversions are behind me, now that it’s a brand new day, I intend—one day at time—to reshape my thinking, to befriend my body and quit stoking it so much that the fires are being snuffed.
Julie’s last blog post..This is the Day!
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David Wright Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
One night my son was being all goofy, bouncing around the house, dancing, etc… Amazed at his energy, I decided to join him and mimic his every move. Well, I lasted about four minutes before collapsing to the ground, tired.
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Julie Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
LOL, I know what that feels like. So, that means we just need to keep doing it! That way, our lungs won’t pant so much and our hearts won’t thump out of our chests.
Julie’s last blog post..This is the Day!
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This is my favorite thing you’ve written for Blog to Fit, Dave. Fantastic parallel and one we can all understand. I’ve eaten almost nothing but crap for the last forty days and I’m definitely feeling it. My aisles are starting to get cluttered.
Writer Dad’s last blog post..Blogopolis Broadcast
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David Wright Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Thank you. Got some junk in those trunks?
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Well said American Dave. That store front is really important, especially in the workplace. I may have a job interview in the next week and I know I would feel better about it if that store front was more looking like Nordstrom’s and less like Mervyn’s
turfdad’s last blog post..My “White Christmas”
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David Wright Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Thank you and good luck with the job interview!
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Oooooo … well, isn’t this well timed! My tomorrow’s post is a rant against my storefront. And on Wednesday I am officially joining the Wednesday Weigh-in crowd with my first Weigh-In post. And the Urbane Lion has agreed to post his weight loss progress as well.
Yesterday, I went crazy, tore apart my clothes closet, throwing out ‘run down storefront’ stuff, and organized the good stuff. Today, for the first time in awhile, I went to work all prettied up. I figure while the inside of my store is being overhauled, at least the window dressing can look good!
Urban Panther’s last blog post..Making a bigger contribution
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David Wright Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Yay! Congrats on joining the gang! We welcome our new recruits! I look forward to your post.
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Tara Cain Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
That’s great Panther.
Be just brilliant to have you on board.
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Haha @ Dave Fowler’s comment.
It’s great that you decided to take care of yourself.
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I went to the airport today and then then train station, paid bills, and worked on the blog. I am exhausted and tired and worn out and next week I have another fasting blood test….My store front matches the confusion and exhaustion of my insides today…I am nearly irrational because I know I need to just go to bed and take a day off, but I have all these have to s and I want to be successful here and with my blog…I feel like worn out…When I get so tired it is hard to balance any part of my life…from food to work to self thoughts.
I am going to adjust my schedule and get me back on it….right now…
Very good post David….
Our local grocery store just did a 1.6 Million Dollar face lift It is truly a work of art and they paid for it in full so did not raise prices or cheat on the details…I’m worth it…and more…
I think I am going to take a day off tomorrow…and go to bed in a few minutes tonight…
Patricia’s last blog post..Book Review: Transitions ~William Bridges
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Oh this is good a great post and I want to answer because it is something I have to deal with. My storefront is not acceptable to me because I need to sell my wares and for that I need to be far more presentable than I am. I feel like a HAZCHEM warehouse that has stored so many hazardous materials without anyone qualified enough to supervise incomings and outgoings and now Occupational Health and Safety is about to shut me down. You know when shops get to that point where you think you might just be better off burning it down for insurance? Well, I am there. So unfit and only 43. Can a store front be revived when it is almost over that threshold of being a health hazard? I look forward to following you guys to see how you are doing. My goal is to one day run. Not for exercise. Just to say I can.
cheers
melanie’s last blog post..Trash Talk Tuesday
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