Tales from the 20th Century: “Going Out of Business”

Before The Merrill Anderson Company moved to Connecticut almost 30 years ago, headquarters was in midtown New York City, a short stroll from the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

In the 1960s, a number of small stores around that intersection sold dubious cameras, fake Oriental rugs, strange exotic gifts and the latest electronics (transistor radios!). Competition appeared to be fierce: two or three stores always seemed to have "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS" banners stretched across the tops of their display windows.

Funny, though. When you walked by Henry's Electronics months after his sale, Henry was still there. And next time you passed, there was the "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS" banner again.

Eventually, New York City decided to stop such nonsense. A new ordnance required retailers who claimed to go out of business to actually stay out of business a year or two.

Fat chance.

Henry probably hated the bother of reincorporating annually: Alma's Electronics, Burt and Hank's Electronics, H&B Electronics, etc. But a man's got to do what a man's got to do to . . . stay in business.

And the moral is . . .

In 1973-4, the stock market held a “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS” sale so convincing that many an affluent trust or investment client swore he would never own stocks again.

Much more recently, when the tech bubble burst, Nasdaq held its own GOOB sale. It was a killer.

Yet the DJIA starts this potentially exciting Wednesday over 12,000. And lots of tech stocks aren't exactly languishing.

Are we about to see another "everything must go" sale in the stock market? Dunno. But if we do, remember Henry.

Previous Tales from the 20th Century:
Borrowing Trouble.