Well... ain't that a kick to the nuts

My repair shop is closing soon.

Back story:

I own an automotive repair shop in Central San Diego, CA. I'm renting a building along a main thoroughfare that was placed under eminent domain while my business was operating. A property development company bought the entire block, counting on the new zoning. Then eminent domain was rescinded, leaving the development company with an old building they can't tear down till the zoning changes. January 2010, the zoning was eventually changed, but being an existing business, my license and zoning have grandfathered in. Since about June 2009, the block I'm on has been losing tenants. Currently only 3 businesses occupy the block compared to 8 businesses prior to June 2009.

/backstory

The lease I signed with the previous landlord, which thankfully was honored by the development company, is up for renewal next week. My current landlord (development company) was just here about an hour ago. They informed me that they will not renew my lease and served me with a 60 day notice to vacate.

I'm actually glad they picked a Friday to do this instead of mid week. At least I have tonight to drink the numbness away and the rest of the weekend to figure out my next step.

With me having to send $10k+ to Philippines to help pay for my uncle's burial and medical bills, compounded with the fact that business has been epic slow for month's and I've all but cleared out my savings keeping it going; this might be a blessing in disguise. Had business not picked up, I'd eventually have to close anyways. If it didn't pick up, I'd only be able to keep it running till about June.

Gonna break the bad news to my employees tomorrow morning. I can employ them for the full 60 days to finish jobs on hand + a few more coming in, clean up, and move equipment to storage. I hope they can find work if I can't open up somewhere else soon.

I'm gonna start looking for new diggs come Monday, but finding something that's half of what I have (ahem.. had) for the same price is gonna be near impossible. Hopefully I find something. The prospect of having to look for a job, after being self employed for 10 years, scares the buhgeebus outta me.

Good thing I keep a flask of scotch in my desk..... cheers.

gonefirefightin said:

you should go drink with dirtymike

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If he's at the races next weekend, I'd be happy to crack a sixer with him.

johnbryanpeters said:

Good luck!

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Thanks... gonna need as much as I can get

Thanks for that Jonesy. May have to head out there in 61 days to blow off some steam. Give my best to the family.

sanjuro said:

your landlord sucks.

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agreed.... but it's a fairly big company so I'm not surprised.

Mixed feelings about their timing though. At least they didn't give me this news a few months ago. Don't know how I would have been able to handle my uncle passing away and losing the business at the same time.

You'd be good and passed out by the time I got my ass over there. Thanks for the offer though. Enjoy the last weekend of anti-sobriety.... at least until after Moab.

spam16v said:

I know what they're doing is a dick move all together, but are they at least being civil about the ordeal?

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I'd say so. The owner of the devCo and the guy in charge of the block spoke to me in person. It's not like I was served with papers or got notice in the mail or something. I know it's just a money game to them and I'm just a pawn in the grand scheme.

I'm not sore, just numb.

Wayyy ahead of ya

Thanks guys. Had a rough night. Thankful I got about 4 hours or so of sleep mostly in part to the 3 boiler makers while watching the series finale of Chuck. Somehow I feel a bit worse this morning. Kinda feels surreal. Been at work since 5am typing up a letter for my employees and working on what I'm gonna tell them. Gonna be a rough day.

SloMoJo said:

fwiw
You are biz owner and you employed others.
You are the best and what makes this country good.
A bright light in gloomy times.

A well placed kick to the ballz will bring any man to the knees.
You will eventually get back to your feet and feel strong again.
Work thru this chit deal ..then think about your next best move.

You will make it man!
Best wishes dude.
-Slo

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Thank you! That made my morning.

Strangely enough, my next door neighbor didn't open shop today. He's got a half full lot of cars to fix and worked normal hours yesterday. When he doesn't open up, one of his employees always opens up unless it's a major holiday. Wondering if he got the same news I did. He's been here longer than I have and should have a better lease than me. Hope the vacate hammer hasn't hit him too.

dan-o said:

Once sobriety returns my advice, as a business owner, would be to evaluate the biz objectively before planning your next move.
These types of problems often open up a chance to make changes that are otherwise 'too big' when focusing on the day-to-day.

Relocating is an opportunity to move to a market with a better source of customers (location, income etc) as well as tweak the biz to make it more enjoyable and profitable. Cut out the work you hated (but maybe kept to maintain staff levels/fill schedule), get rid of marginal employees/hire more specialized talent etc.

The construction bust required me to go through a similar process and our company emerged stronger, leaner and much more successful. Use your 10yrs of experience to rebuild the biz exactly as you want it versus trying the same formula in a different location.

Best of luck.

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very sound advice. I've often thought... "damn, I hate doing this <specific> job" or "<employee> performance is too slow/sub-par" but not enough to terminate legally in CA.

Thankfully, I have a database of over 8000 customers, over a thousand of those are regulars that I see 3-4 times a year. Most of my regulars have multiple cars so I may see them 5-8x a year.

I've already spoken to a few of my closest customers and they all vow to follow me wherever I go. My outermost customers (60-150miles away) will most likely follow me as well. Once I set new roots, I should be fine since I have a pretty solid customer base.

Chugging along. I've looked at over 10 properties already. None are a perfect fit. There's one that would be perfect as far as size and location, but the property manager isn't returning calls. Hope to secure new diggs by the end of the week.

jimmydean said:

Best of luck!

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grassy ass!!!