Smoke Break #727: On The Silver Lining Of Home Foreclosures…

A new mini-doc called Cannonball shows how skateboarders in and around Fresno have been capitalising on the recession by riding all the abandoned pools in the backyards of foreclosed homes. It’s very similar to what the Lords of Dogtown kids did around Venice during the water shortages of the 1970′s and early 80′s.

Once upon a time, Fresno was the California Dream. Own a car. Own a house. Own a pool. Everyone wanted it and the wonderful world of credit made it all possible. But now, with the foreclosure monster running wild, the dream is dry. Thousands of pools are festering in the hot Central Valley sun. For most people this is tragic. But for some, it’s an opportunity.

Proof that every apocalypse has an upside…

Bin 941 Is Still Full And Kicking Ass On Davie

I had a swell time at Bin 941 the other night, test driving a few new menu items. They’re now doing three “pinxos” style dishes for $5 each. These were spice-rubbed albacore with crisped salmon skin and kumquat pickled plum puree; crispy curried cauliflower with watermelon raita and watercress; and grilled beef short ribs marinaded in soy and mustard and dotted with little coconut pearls. We followed these with leg of lamb served with saffron-infused cannellini beans (really); cinnamon and chili-rubbed flank steak with chipotle and maple syrup wash; tons of frites; moules a plenty; baked brie; and a several other bits of awesomeness. Top marks all round, as per usual. Read more

Recession Watch: Emily Carr Studioshop Closing

From the Scout inbox this evening, we bring you some heavy news in the form of a press release from the Emily Carr Studioshop…

We are sad to announce the closure of [the Emily Carr Studioshop] – it has been a great year with many successes, but budgetary constraints alongside the current economic slow-down means that studioshop is not viable at this time. We thank everyone for their support and look forward to the potential of starting it up again at some point in the future.

Major bummer. I loved this place. From a previous Scout post:

Studioshop carries clothing, artwork and crafts produced by the best and brightest that Emily Carr has to offer. Stay ahead of the masses with design sense that won’t hit the mainstream until next Christmas. Not only will anything you buy here be on the cutting edge of hip – your purchase will help out a starving art student as well. Talk about good karma!

The Studioshop website will remain up and running until the store closes (January 9th), after which it will list links to each studioshop artist’s individual website where possible so that interested shoppers can still “check out some of the rad stuff that is coming out of [Emily Carr student] studios”.

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Michelle Sproule grew up in Kitsilano and attended Bond University in Australia and the University of Victoria before receiving her graduate degree in Library Sciences from The University of Toronto. She lives by the beach in Vancouver and enjoys wandering aimlessly through the city’s shops and streets with her best friend – a beat up, sticky, grimy, and uncooperative camera.

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The Economy Hits High Fashion In The Face

From The New York Times today:

In the scope of dismal events unfolding at luxury fashion companies, the news this week that Chanel would cut 200 jobs in Paris calls to mind a certain après moi sentiment of Louis XV.

If Chanel is cutting back, what’s next?

Luxury brands were once thought of — or self-styled — as immune to economic pitfalls, but the precipitous decline in sales at retailers like Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue has shown how serious an impact the global recession has had on all parts of the marketplace. Still, Chanel, with its array of tweedy clothes, quilted handbags and fruitful fragrances that approach $5 billion in annual sales, was considered the paradigm of luxury brands, so its retrenchment is seen as especially ominous.

“Everyone is looking at their business right now,” said Robert Burke, a fashion consultant, who nonetheless said he was surprised to see cutbacks at Chanel.

“What we’re seeing is not necessarily isolated just to the high-end companies or the midprice or mass,” he said. “It’s a time when everyone is re-evaluating.”

Read the whole thing here.

WWD reports on the closing of Los Angeles’ iconic Tracey Ross boutique.

Tracey Ross, the pioneering boutique owner who’s been a fixture here for almost two decades, is closing her namesake store on New Year’s Eve because of fallout from the recession.

Ross first opened her shop, on now-trendy Robertson Boulevard, in 1990 before moving to the Sunset Plaza district in West Hollywood in 1996, where her iconic, 1,600-square-foot boutique has drawn a dedicated following from celebrities such as Kate Hudson and Courtney Love.

“Of course it’s the economy,” Ross said in explaining her decision.

In the UK, it’s fancypants retailer USC that’s in trouble:

The global recession has come home to the United Kingdom clothing industry once again. In a wake of failing chain store companies, the newest victim is the 19 year old retailer USC. The company sells designer clothing ranging from polo shirts to printed t-shirts to dresses and also men’s fashion. The High Street company has announced it is going into administration. This will affect 15 stores in the 58 store chain with the remaining 48 stores being purchased by Dundonald Holdings, Ltd.

And in the US, ABC News goes nuclear on the total bummer front:

The recession and factors like bad weather over the last two weeks contributed to the slowest retail holiday season in 38 years. With such dismal shopping numbers, Strategic Resource Group estimates that 160,000 stores will have gone out of business in 2008 and 200,000 more will shut down in 2009.

“We’re going to close malls, we’re going to close chains, we’re going to close stores,” said Howard Davidowitz, the chairman of retail consulting firm Davidowitz & Associates. “The American standard of living is changing forever.”

Yikes. 2009 is going to suck hard. But whaddya do?

Buy local.

Food Notes From The Apocalypse

Even though forecasters are soothsaying somewhat of an easier time here in Canada, I can’t help but quake for what the next few months will bring. Christmas parties and Dine Out might assuage the pain for a bit but ask around and you’ll hear that what happens after Valentine’s Day is anyone’s guess.

Is a total disaster on the way? I don’t think so. We’ve witnessed unprecedented growth in our restaurant scene over the last decade. The past few years alone have seen Vancouver positively boom on the openings front, and of the 150+ new restaurants almost all are still with us (I mention that only because it makes me feel better). We’ll likely see a few closures in 2009. It’s my hope as a diner that these signal more of a natural adjustment in the marketplace than anything symptomatic of a financial apocalypse. It’s entirely possible that we might just have too many restaurants per capita. Go figure.

If I were to make a prediction, I’d still say things will be very tough from February until the Olympics. One year, after which those who’ve been able to ride out the storm will likely endure thereafter (restaurant Darwinism at its best/worst). Of course, some restaurateurs are looking at their numbers against last year’s right now and feeling particularly nauseous, but it should be remembered that some are weathering just fine. I don’t think the coming doldrums will be a terminal affliction for more than a handful, but that’s the optimist in me, fighting off shadows. Those who are hurting may just have to adapt and bob and weave for a while. Such is business.

For sure, a quick tour of my global bookmarks from the last few days hasn’t left me with much of a warm fuzzy feeling (see below). On the bright side, we’re a different animal up here in Canada. The links might be a tad scary, but fear begets resolve in the best of us and no one ever went broke by reading.

PS. if the egg lady in the video above doesn’t cheer you up, you’re probably doomed already.

A record 100 restaurants open in London just as the crunch bites – The Evening Standard.

The launches of nearly 100 restaurants have been recorded in the past three months, if outlets at the Westfield shopping mall are included. Even if these are stripped out, at least 39 restaurants opened in the run-up to Christmas, according to the Hardens guide to eating out. However, there are growing fears about how many will survive next year and beyond as the recession takes a hold on London’s economy.

More elbow room at tables as business lunches drop off – Chicago Tribune

Restaurant sales, when adjusted for inflation, declined in the first nine months of the year, a first since the recession of 1991, said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president for research at the National Restaurant Association. And October was the fourth consecutive month of restaurant job losses, the longest string of cuts in 45 years.

Recession puts damper on parties for the holidays – Maryland Gazette.

Nationally, fewer employers are planning holiday parties, according to a recent survey by Chicago outplacement consulting company Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Challenger found that 77 percent of companies are planning holiday parties, down from 90 percent in 2007.

Recession White, What Took Them So Long? – Slashfood

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s $3.99, it has a plastic cork, and it’s totally decent. It’s a mild, dry California chardonnay; gentle oak without too much vanilla (why do all the chardonnays I’m tasting lately have so much vanilla?). I would recommend pairing Recession White with bold, stinky cheeses or, you know, ramen noodles if you’re in this for the price tag.

The Restaurant is Dead – Jaunted.

Restaurateurs appear to be doing everything to avoid calling their new openings restaurants. Café, bar, bar and kitchen, bistro, bistrot de luxe, canteen, trattoria, osteria and lounge are now far more common names than “restaurant,” either alone or in some kind of combination associated with a place name or that of a well-known individual. Nobody today, it seems, wants to proclaim that they are opening a restaurant. Various reasons explain this. One is that the word “restaurant” is associated with expense.

Table Stakes – CFO.com.

As the economy slides deeper into recession, casual full-service restaurants, which were among the first businesses to feel the tremors of impending collapse, are hungry for customers. Brinker’s same-store sales, the key metric for the casual-dining industry, declined across its brands in the latest quarter. Practically everyone else’s same-store sales have dropped too, according to Technomic, a Chicago-based restaurant consultancy. Applebee’s, Outback Steakhouse, Ruby Tuesday, P.F. Chang’s Chinese Bistro — these and other chains have seen a dramatic falloff in their “guest counts” during 2008, not to mention their profits and stock prices.

Sector Snap: Restaurant Spending – Forbes.com

Miller said 49 percent of consumers surveyed in November said they were planning to spend less at restaurants over the next 90 days. In addition, 42 percent said they plan on cutting back on future visits to restaurants.

Restaurants offering holiday deals to boost sales – CNN Money.

Restaurants have been hurting for months as consumers have cut back on eating out to save money. Fast-food restaurants have been somewhat insulated from the slower spending because they offer food at far lower prices. But at casual dining chains, where menu prices are higher, consumers’ new spend-wary habits have led to falling sales and profits.

16 Top Chefs Go Retro – Crains New York

Mr. Zagat said that the goal of the series is to “revive some of the grand recipes and theatrical presentations of food,” that have been lost over the past century. It will no doubt also create buzz and excitement in an industry that has been hard hit by recession.

Q&A with Jean Georges Vongericten – Atlanta Journal Constitution

Q: You’ve been opening restaurants at quite a fast clip. Is the recession forcing you slow down your plans?

A: We’re continuing with everything that was in the pipeline through ‘09. As far as 2010 and 2011, we’ll have to wait and see.

The Essential Ingredient for Restaurants Struggling to Survive Crunch – Restaurant Diary

Mike Conyers, Restaurantdiary director, explains: “For restaurants facing bleak trading times, the first instinct can be to offer cut-price menus and to cull any marketing. This may keep the wolf from the door for a while but, like most diets, it’s not sustainable. Taking control of your table booking system – and capturing information about your customers to customise any special offers – is the recipe for riding out the recession.”

London Clubs Look To Ride Out The Recession – City AM

As the glasses chinked and the small-talk flowed, the uninformed observer would not have been able to tell that, outside, the world was bracing itself for a winter of redundancies, high-street closures and penny-pinching. While most people are reigning in their spending, it seems that at least some of London’s bon viveurs show no sign of slowing down.

Restaurants, bars next to suffer credit crunch – Stuff

Even in good times the industry had a fairly high failure rate, although so far it was no higher than normal. “But I think it’s something we’ll see more of next year,” he warned.

Area Residents Spending Less On Alcohol – Herald Tribune

From Russia to Brazil, South Africa to Denmark, in Germany, Poland and the U.K., budget beers are the only ones to see a surge of sales in recent months, according to Information Resources Inc.

and lastly, for my friend Jamie Maw…

Heineken to shut Cork brewery – Miami Herald

Heineken gained control of the Beamish brewery only in October after a six-month investigation by Ireland’s Competition Authority ruled — to the disgust and disbelief of many Irishmen — that it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest for Heineken to produce both stouts. Business and political leaders warned that the takeover would mean the death knell of the 210-year-old brewery. Few expected the announcement so soon.

So sorry.

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