Friday, September 22, 2017

Local Opportunities

Owner hopes to make Florida Theatre ‘beautiful thriving venue’
                The Florida Theatre has been a staple in the Gainesville area for decades and the new owner is worried that the cities changes could affect the venue.  The owner, William Bryson believes that in his hands, he can reform the theatre and bring it up to date. He acknowledges the fact that the venue has deteriorated in the past 13 years, but is willing to put in the love that it needs.
                The problem here is that the building was constructed in the 1920’s, making it a landmark in the town. With it being a landmark, changes cannot be made easily and with the cities continuously changing policies, any changes he is planning on making will take require work.
                Besides the owners’ problems regarding raising the building back up to par, concert promoters, performers, and Gainesville citizens need another venue. There are not many theatres in Gainesville to begin with that are not on a campus, leaving these people with a need for a state of the art venue that the Florida Theatre could become.

To survive and thrive in the era of e-commerce, retailers must be willing to adapt
                Amazon and other onine retailers seem to be taking over physical retail stores, but that’s not technically the case according to this article. According to studies, physical stores need to keep up with the constantly changing markets, as they did before e-commerce. This article argues that since Amazon and others became a strong force, physical stores have stopped adapting on the same level. For instance, the article uses the example of how boring clothing stores have become and that there is nothing in store that creates the need to physically go there.
                The problem is that these physical stores are closing, which not only affects the employees, but the community as well. These physical stores that need to adapt and become more mobile and convienient usually have their focus in the wrong direction. As retail expert Anjee Solanki states, “its not sales per square foot that matters, its experience per square foot” which I believe is a strong point on why people shop at aphysical store.
                The people who have this issue are the consumers that enjoy shopping, and the owners of these shops. In this day anyone can get pretty much anything online, and if your item isn’t available on that platform then much of the market is missed. The owners of businesses that cant fix this problem instead need to create a better shopping experience to make up for and persuade people to want to shop there.

Farmers digging out from Irma’s impacts
                Florida farmers took a huge hit this past week due to hurricane Irma’s destruction across the state. As many Florida residents evacuated or sought shelter, farmers in the region took every second they could to save their crops. The timing of the storm lined up with the peak fall growing period of broccoli, cabbage and Brussel sprouts, causing farmers to delay planting. For Florida citrus growers, the strong winds uprooted trees and damaged equipment.
                The problem being faced here is common to many farmers, and the results of the problem affect the Florida economy and fruit distribution throughout the country. Farmers affected by Irma could produce only a fraction of the amount of produce as usual, and many do not qualify for hurricane insurance since the storm hit many northern farms with a tropical storm.
                The people facing this problem is mainly the farmers who are losing income and will have to work harder to get any at all. Although this is something a farmer must deal with, it doesn’t make the problem any easier. Another group affected is produce distributers who cannot get their hands-on s much product to reach the same demand. This then reaches to the consumer who will have less access to fresh, Florida grown produce.

27 holes at Bobby Jones is enough
                Sarasota County-owned Bobby Jones golf complex is having trouble competing with the nicer, private clubs who are becoming more welcoming to the public. Bobby Jones complex includes 2 full size 18 hole courses, and 1 18 hole executive course across the street. With many of its usual players finding a better kept private course with competing rates, Bobby Jones is having trouble keeping up.
                The problem here is that Sarasota golfers have realized that the nicer courses in the area have rates to compete with the run down, county owned complex. As of now, the management is having trouble finding the money to support the maintenance of 54 holes, and with the number of people playing at a time it is not necessary to have that many courses. With less to take care of, the complex could focus on making 27 pristine golf holes while selling the other land that they have been using for years. This would allow for lower rates as well.
                The people facing the problem here is the management of Bobby Jones, and avid golfers in Sarasota. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that it would take half the time, half the resources, and half the price to maintain 27 holes instead of 54. Being owned by the county, taxpayers pay for much of the course, which affects all Sarasota residents. The problem at Bobby Jones is simply having too much, when in this case people would rather have half of the offering, at double the quality which would not be haard to accomplish with the opportunity Bobby Jones has.

Swimmers told to avoid beaches – Palm Beach County
                Due to effects from hurricane Irma, such as high winds, heavy rainfall, and high tides have worked together to create a concentration of a bacteria called enterococci. Reaching from Boynton Beach to Jupiter Beach, these instances have caused these beaches to ban swimming.
                The problem is the fact that this can happen. With proper waste disposal and pesticide application this process could be slowed down or stopped. These tourist spots now have the the reputation of having dirty water which is usually not true.

                The economy of these places could suffer big time if the problem lingers. For a busy tourist destination, the counties and surrounding areas could suffer if the problem persists.

3 comments:

  1. I can see how the theatre deterioration incident would be a dilemma. They have to decide whether they want to keep it preserved as a historic landmark or if they are willing to lose that important status in order to renovate it to keep up with the times and function for its intended purpose rather than serve as a monument. Maybe an alternative would be to leave this one as it is to preserve the rich legacy it held and to let it serve as a monument and just construct a new venue altogether considering this one would need so much work put into it to get fixed, so they might as well use those resources for a new one.

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  2. Hi Davidathon,

    The thing I find most interesting about your articles is that three of them relate to businesses being outstripped by competitors that can offer lower rates due to having less overhead. I know that this will be a big trend in the coming years, especially as internet marketplaces begin to dominate against brick and mortar stores. It seems as though businesses that can afford to cut costs and offer the lowest price will be the ones that float to the top in the next few years.

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  3. Hi David!

    I've heard of dangerous, brain-eating bacteria in lakes during the summer, but I've only ever watched out for red tide in Florida. I hate to hear that it's partially preventable due to the pesticides making their way into the ocean.

    I used to live in Sarasota, and I remember there being a LOT of gated golf course communities. The Bobby Jones situation vaguely reminds me of what Dr. Pryor was saying about Blockbuster screwing itself over by refusing to adapt to change, in this case change being a change in supply.

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