POV

Could be: with established location and current lease.

Business for sale:

Well established family restaurant for sale: $395,000

Located in a great destination town.  This deli bakery has been an icon in the small mountain town for three generations.  Serving gourmet coffees, teas, and old-fashioned candies to visitors and locals year around since before there ever was a coffee craze, serving iconic cappuccinos and jelly bellies before they were household names or before you could find coffee shops on every other corner.  The award-winning soups and deserts are world famous.  Serving classic recipes that remind you of a simpler time and provide options for many specialized diets including GF, VG, Vegan, etc. This business continues to grow and thrive, growing even through the rough times of the worldwide pandemic.  This is a great opportunity for you to be a part of a legendary business staple in the lost sierras lakes basin area.

Vs. Reality:  No lease and no location to move to.

Rummage sale:

Going out of business.  Come buy my shit because I have no where to put it or take it.  How much do you think these old coffee cups are going to sell for?  Ok.  I think I have 100 of them.  .50 each.  Oh, nobody needs 100 coffee cups.  Ok, I’ll sell you a couple of them…. That will be 2.00.  You want to buy that 600.00 coffee maker, make me an offer, $50?  Ok than.  I’m at $52.  How long do you think it will take me to get to the Fair market value of $395,00?  How about that $7000 bakery oven?  Oh, you want to give me $1500 for it?….   $1552.00  only have $393,448 to go.  What is the point?

I feel like I must speak in code.

The “official” letter finally came. It came a week ago. Hand delivered because I didn’t pick it up at the mailbox. (an effect of having anxiety because I was told 2.5 half years ago that I would be receiving a certified letter. I just stopped checking the mail all together. I know emotionally it was because I thought that if I didn’t check the mail, I wouldn’t get the letter.)

I haven’t opened it. He told me what it said, I have until October 1st. Even though I knew it was coming, it didn’t make it any less emotional for me. It appears it was just one more event to squish my motivation. To squelch my drive.

When he was there, it was almost like he was gaslighting me. He kept telling me that I needed to take care of it. He told me that I didn’t have a lease, like I didn’t know. Like I haven’t been living in a nightmare for the last two plus years, because he told me he wouldn’t renew my lease! The conversation continued. He made it sound like he would entertain the option of creating a lease, and that the month-to-month rental would not work. The construction would still have to take place and that it could take up to a year.

Through our conversation, he actually made it sound like there was hope. He never denied that the conversation had happened, when I addressed the event directly, he said something along the lines of “I was in a bad mood”.

I’m stuck in between a rock and a hard spot. Him bringing the letter, and the words that he spoke, I believe, was designed to give me hope. I also believe that his tone has changed slightly because of the public has spoken to him, and he has realized how much the community values my business. (all speculation)

I am supposed to start liquidating on Friday. So many emotions.

I almost think that it is to little, to late. Im broken. My business is now broken. I don’t know that I can recover enough emotionally to fix what I have been fighting the last two years.

I’ve been working on a different business. Have only been open a couple days a week so that I could transition to something new. Going broke in the process. Wondering how I am supposed to pay bills and keep the debt to a minimum. Wondering what to sell and what to keep. Having an emotional attachment to silly things like the iconic candy jars that have lined the walls for 50 years.

Praying that the bear will leave the building alone. I don’t have the emotional strength or the financial means to repair the building. More importantly, I want to figure out how to deter the bear, before I invest to more to properly make the repairs.  This is a completely different struggle.  I don’t want to get sidetracked.  However, The bear hasn’t done any damage inside.  He has ripped holes in three sides of the building.  Continues to be a pain in my ass, and hasn’t caused any damage inside.  Yes, you heard me right.  He/she spends all this time ripping holes in the wall to do NOTHING!!! When I contacted my insurance company, they said that any damage inside of the building is covered, but because I don’t “own” the building any damage to the building is not covered.  Since there is no damage inside, no coverage.

Ok.  Back on track.  Maybe.

Since day one, the day 2 and a half years ago, when he told me that he would be kicking me out, my thoughts were always about how I would support myself.  He keeps telling me that he is trying to run a business and that is why he is doing what he is doing.  I also am trying to run a business. It is my only source of income.  Before I can find another way to support myself I have to vacate a space that we have occupied for 50 years.

How and what do I do with 50 years of restaurant miscellany?  Despite looking for the past two years, I have no where to move, and no where to store it.  I have to pay for either option.  If the business is not open, I don’t have an income to pay for the storage.  If I sell all of the equipment, I will get pennies of what it is actually worth.  I would never be able to afford to replace the equipment if I do find a new location.  Do I have the strength to rebuild?