Canthook

That was the name of an actual store. It was located in Yellow Springs, Ohio in the 1970s. When I was driving through YS in the 1980s, I looked for it, and couldn't find it. I think it's out of business

I wonder if it closed when the owner got his baccalaureate degree. They carried LPs from June Appal records. June Appal was mostly mountain music, mostly played by amateurs using instruments like the hammer dulcimer. If you love the theme songs of PBS television shows, you'd probably enjoy June Appal records; otherwise, you'd probably hate them.

But although Yellow Springs is home to Antioch College, there probably aren't enough customers in Yellow Springs and the surrounding rural area to support a niche record shop. Add fresh vegetables, and a low-rent location, and you've got a job where you make sub-minimum wage, but if you spend most of your time studying, that sub-minimum wage is better than studying while earning nothing at all.

Seth Godin posted this morning on a hobby shop. Their awning, according to Seth, says, "Hobbies, Trains, R/C Models, Coffee, Lottery." His point was that it's easy to keep adding one more item, and sooner or later, you're selling everything. You need to focus on something in order to succeed - and maybe it's lottery tickets rather than model trains, but you need that focus.

As a small-town newspaper editor, I observed the same thing. Small towns are, by definition, a distance away from any larger community; otherwise, you'd call them suburbs, instead. Consequently, many small town stores turn into general stores. Walt Love, who had a meat market in Cuba, Indiana, sold disposable diapers, and had a vending machine in the parking lot that sold huge chunks of ice for the iceboxes of nearby Amish farmers. Bruggeman's Lumber in Milan Center sold bait. Betty's Yarn Shop sold huge bags of water softener salt.

I chose those businesses because they're all gone. Walt retired, and sold out to a young man. Last time I passed through Cuba, the store was closed, although the ice vending machine was still there. Bruggeman's moved several miles down the road to the highway, and focused on building supplies. Betty? She had a going-out-of-business sale.

I won't agree with Seth that you need to focus on one niche - but you do have to tend to your knitting. A month ago, a neighborhood market opened across the street from me. They're making hot and cold subs in the back room, and selling rice, beans, diapers and such in the front. Their vision is that of a convenience store, so they sell 5-pound bags of potatoes, but not 20-pound bags, and certainly not 50-pound bags. The sandwiches are good, and I predict that they will succeed as long as they don't violate their franchise.

Right now in Pennsylvania, the hottest item on the market is the Democratic presidential nomination. Barack Obama felt stung by criticism in the Ohio primary, and he's going to start battling back, according to news reports. He's violating the franchise he has established.

The Obama brand isn't about policies. It's about process. He achieved success by arguing that politicians fight too much over extreme positions, and we would be better served by compromise on a central position we can all live with. When Hillary attacks him, yes, he needs to respond, but instead of talking about a profound lack of integrity, as shown by her questionable futures trading and travelgate, he should be saying, "There she goes again" as Reagan did, and pointing out that she's demonstrating the poisonous old-style politics that we need a change from.

But if he gets suckered into attacking her, he's violating his franchise.

When the phone is ringing at 3 AM, do you want to have it answered by a woman in tears? Hillary has tolerated Bill's philandering for decades, and even forgiven months of extreme humiliation in the international news during Monicagate. Do you suppose North Korea considers her someone not to trifle with? That kind of question is important to ask, but it ought not be Barack who's asking those questions; it needs to be someone else.

Hillary has repeatedly had staffers and others say things that she herself didn't want to be seen saying. She would apologize, and then fire the staffer. When she ran out of staffers she was willing to sacrifice, she started having Bill saying the unsayable, until it got too embarassing. She couldn't admit that he was a hitman; and people were looking at him as a loose cannon that would compromise her presidency.

But Obama has plenty of followers who'd be willing to resign for the good of the cause. Barack needs to defend his brand.