Tapping into a connection and, hopefully, the future
Since partnering with Greg Ohlsen at the Travel Bug, he and I have made a point to sit down every so often and discuss life and business over a beer. I would say we are good friends.
As partners, we see eye to eye on many things. Certainly we have our differences, but sitting over a pint is a great way to reconnect as people. Lately, our meetings have not been tranquil.
It’s not just that retail is dying (all the pundits say so), it’s that uncertainty on every front has made navigating all fronts a tremendous challenge.
Though I speak as a retailer, the truth applies to a wider spectrum of experience also: This pandemic has robbed us all of our sense of control.
We are alone, and have been for hours and days and weeks and months. Nothing is certain. We question what inventory we should buy, if any, and how much of it we can sell. Should we open or close earlier or later? Does any of it even matter?
We sit or pace or rearrange, and we wait for someone or something to break the monotony of empty distance and bad news.
We mostly relish the interaction we have with customers, but at the same time we are necessarily distant and wary; we are on edge, and the initial joy of a little small talk can turn suddenly irritating.
Our personal and professional lives conflate. We have been forced to sit with ourselves, and with all the anxiety that uncertainty brings, for nearly a year now.
Bereft of social distraction, we are irritated with ourselves and in turn with those closest to us. Allies are indistinguishable from enemies, so we treat our friends and family as both at once. What else can we do? They are our only outlet in a world that is unpredictable and tired and impatient and afraid.
We at Travel Bug are not immune to any of this.
And so for weeks and months, Greg and I sit over beer and argue over what, if anything, can or should be done.
The next several months, slow in normal times, promise to be really difficult. Even if we can limp along until things pick back up, what then?
If retail really is dying, then what’s the point? Assuming we survive the immediate future, we won’t give up the books and the travel. But we believe we need something that can’t be bought online, something that brings people together.
And there it is, sitting in a glass in front of us. It’s not just the beer that beckons, but the promise of connection over a pint.
It is a difficult and painful birth. We’re still yelling at each other about how and whether we proceed, but I think we’re still friends. And with luck, by the time we’re all allowed to gather again, you’ll be able to meet a friend at the Travel Bug Brewery and Taproom, buy a novel or a book on Belize, and plan your next adventure.
Making it Through is a weekly column by community members on their experiences since the pandemic began. Eric Mo≠at has been a partner at Travel Bug for 2½ years.