Atomictumor

As I drove by, thinking about stopping and getting a copy of Radiohead’s Kid A to replace the one that broke a few months ago, I noticed that Cat’s Music on Illinois Avenue had closed.  Without fanfare, or discussion, or even a ripple in the water, the last (and only) music store in Oak Ridge that doesn’t have a “mart” after it had closed down.

I heard talk from LissaKay a while back that the sowing section of Walmart had shut down, and a week or two ago I saw the barren barrenness of the closed down section.   Once again, folks in this town of 25,000+ have to drive to Knoxville to get something.

The decent pawn shop in town closed a year or two ago, Atomic Pawn.  Yeah, theres the one next to that neon sign on the Turnpike, but that place is pretty small, and probably not much longer for the world.

I watch the car dealership, Paul Benton motors, that used to be one of the Fox joints switch from selling whichever of the domestic brands it used to sell, to selling Suzuki’s.  I see this as a struggling move, a gasp of air, but since the inventory of the lot has damn near disappeared (and not because they’re selling like hotcakes, I’d imagine) it would seem that the dealership is still in hot water.

A few shops in Jackson Square, mainstays of the place, closed last month.  Never went to em, myself.

And therein lies the problem.  Nobody’s going to these shops.  Sure, a CD at Cat’s was more expensive than Walmart, but I don’t know that thats the full reason.  Walmarts selection sucks, so surely people are getting their music elsewhere, what with all the little longhair’d hipster kids running around town.

Oak Ridge business is choking.  Simply put, its more expensive to get stuff here.  Sure, its convenient, but people don’t seem to mind running down to Knoxville to get what they need.  Why?

I ask myself this, not an hour after getting back from Turkey Creek on a trip to Target and Earthfare (good beer, yum).  Thats the problem.  People have gotten themselves used to the drive, the commute down for decent shopping.  Groceries?  Sure, we can get that in town.  Everything else, we buy in Knoxville, with Knox County taxes.

And now, to my absolute amazement, the Target deal in town, which I was sure would be a shoo-in, is standing at 50/50 in the public eye, according to the Oak Ridger.

Let me say this plainly: I am 100% sure, without a doubt, that this deal will be what makes Oak Ridge.  If we turn down this Target, we’re going to be on the ass end of any business development.  If Oak Ridge shoots this thing down, we’re telling every developer out here that its a waste of time to consider Oak Ridge as a lucrative business market.

Don’t have a problem with that?  You say you don’t mind driving to Turkey Creek or West Knoxville for your stuff?

By preventing the city from moving ahead, in every business model out there, the place is moving backwards.  What happens when business closes?  What happens when its more convenient for folks employed here to just live closer to the shopping (and the lower property taxes, natch) in Knoxville?

Man, I don’t have answers.  I wish I did, but seems to me that if we don’t take a deep breath and step out into the unknown on this Target gig, we won’t get much more in the way of chances.

The natural state
of the kids seems to be ‘bored’
Friggin drives me mad