Hackbarth on the way bookstores cope with a changing economy, and why some industries (or segments thereof) are more resistant to the effects of a recession than others.

In late 2001/early 2002 I was working at The Food Magazine, and one of the insights its editor had was that when times get tough (a terrorist attack, the beginnings of a recession) it was good to be in an industry that was considered an affordable luxury. "People still have to eat," I was told. "And if they can't afford to go clubbing or go out to fancy restaurants, they'll entertain at home, or have dinner at home."

We started running a lot of "comfort food" on the covers of the magazines and cookbooks, and emphasizing a "back to basics" approach. Simple elegance. Less caviar, more chicken pot pies. Fewer celebrity chefs, more on the visceral pleasures of food.

Of course, for the upper crust (yeah; I meant that) cooking is an affordable hobby.

So what's that thing the you can do at a level that is perceived by those around you to be a special value? What is, to put it in Hackbarthian terms, the equivalent to stocking up on Young Adult paperbacks, and relying less on YA hardcover sales?

How do we survive? How do we thrive?

What in your life—emotionally, financially, temporally—is the equivalent of a blue-chip stock?

I have some ideas, but it's taken me a while because I happen to be a bit dimwitted.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 253 words, total size 2 kb.