Disney closing ESPN Zones nationwide

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by firstdown

All I know if I go by our local mall area with all the restaurants the parking lots are full. I know the economy hurts some but you could never tell by their parking lots. I'm talking chain rest. and localy owned places. Last Thursday night we went out to a restaurant and the place was packed from the time we entered to the time we left. I'm talking about a rest. that you cannot get out of for anything less then $100 and we dropped $200 that night. It would be intresting to hear what SS33 can add sense he is in the business.

I have a hard time feeling sorry for the mouse and love Disney-bashing as much as the next guy, but this is hardly a case of incompetent or poor management. The economy is rough out there for any disposable income related business. What you see in the restaurants and malls is still activity, but the overall spend is less. The average debt of families in the U.S. has also dropped. So not only are folks not incurring new debt, they're working to pay off old debt, hence not spending as much.

Our restaurant is down significantly from where we were even a year ago (remember unemployment is a lagging indicator). We're still keeping our heads above water, but that's due to reduced hours for our employees and increased hours for my wife and I. Our food distributors and other folks we know in the restaurant business are confirming what we see in our numbers. Also, two major local suppliers (one for bread, one for produce) that have been in business in Hampton Roads for over twenty years went out of business in the last 3-4 months. Our major supplier has cut its prices to push out our secondary supplier.

When you see Pizza Hut, Papa John's, etc. $ 10 pizza deals go away, then the economy is getting better.