8) Some little known realities

In Los Alamos if you don't carry what is wanted then people go to SF or Abq to get what you don't have. Keep this in mind.

I have a music store, Hannemann Music, which retails musical instruments and supplies. Think of what you "expect" from a music store.

Reality Check: The popular brands of guitar are Gibson, Yamaha, Martin, and Taylor. In order to carry these brands each manufacturer has certain minimum requirements. You have to purchase between 50 - 100 units as a minimimum "buy-in" and then you have to continually purchase at least half as many per year in order to continue to carry the brand. You cannot return unsold items to the manufacturer simply because you didn't sell them. In order to meet the expectational demand of some Los Alamos consumers -- you know, the squeaky wheels mentioned in the previous -- I would have to purchase approximately 350 guitars up-front and then continue to purchase another 150 ish per year. Does anyone in their right mind actually believe I could sell that many?

It was suggested that over time I eventually begin to sell Yamaha instruments as well as Selmer. This will never happen. There is already a Yamaha dealer in Santa Fe. Yamaha doesn't care about the distance between Los Alamos and Santa Fe -- they care about market size. As far as Yamaha is concerned, a dealer in Los Alamos would be no different than a competing dealer across the street from the current dealer in SF. They would be competing for the same consumers in the same market with the same product and the total market -- which is pretty much all of Northern New Mexico, can't support 2 dealers. One would have to close.

Bottom Line: Manufacturers and distributors want dealers and outlets to succeed and so they are careful not to over saturate the market. Starbuck's is learning this lesson the hard way. They aren't closing stores because of the economy -- they started closing stores before the economy went south because they over-extended and over-saturated the market.

Los Alamos is not, nor can it ever be, Urban. The wannbe urbanization of Los Alamos will only result in Los Alamos as an Urban Wannabe Failure.