Yes, some businesses are doomed forever, and they are doomed because of the Covid pandemic. Some are doomed because they were already struggling and Covid was the last nail in the coffin. Others are and were doomed because they couldn’t keep operating through the lock downs. Others are doomed forever simply because people have been scared away from them, or because people have discovered they can live without them. Here are some businesses in trouble that the AtWater village news has come across.
Comic Book Shops
It seems odd that the comic book industry be in trouble given the fact that most of the top-selling movies over the last ten years have been comic book movies. But, as the comic book vendors discovered, movie goers do not buy comic books. Sure, there was some interest in the new characters, and Hollywood movies gave comic book stores a small boost, but the fact is that they only postponed the inevitable. The comic book industry was dying long before Covid, and retailers were struggling to make ends meet. None of them had the sort of money that allowed for long periods of no sales, and so almost all comic book stores have closed.
Movie Theaters
The cinema is done. We were not sure it was done, but the release of movies like Wonder Woman 1984, Mulan, and the Synder Cut on major streaming services was the last nail in the coffin for cinemas. That is why there was so much controversy when those movies were released since publishers were supposed to wait for cinemas to reopen. If those movies (and the Trolls movies) had failed to make money, then perhaps cinemas would have a future. But the Trolls movie made millions, the Synder Cut made billions, and a fair number of people watched Wonder Woman 1984 (Mulan bombed).
As we and the AtWater village news will attest, cinemas still exist, but they are no longer economically viable. Unless something changes in the future, such as a new form of cinema 3D, you should expect cinemas to die out next to newsstands and vaping shops.
Book Shops
Wait a minute you cry, there are still book shops in the world. Yes, there are, but what you are seeing are the last lingering vestments of a dying breed. Books were already in trouble because of the Internet and e-books, and because no matter what you found in a book shop, you could always find it cheaper online. Big book sales like Fifty Shades of Gray, Dan Brown books, Stephen King books, and JK Rowling were the only things keeping the lights on in book stores. Even the promised game of Thrones books are not enough to keep book stores open.
Vaping Shops
Why would vaping shops be over? Isn’t vaping still popular. Yes, vaping has lasted longer than all other cigarette replacement products, but Vaping was in more trouble than it first appeared. Despite being heavily marketed towards children, the fact is that younger people quickly grew tired of having raspberry flavored air in their lungs. Plus, Vaping was becoming associated with, as the slang goes, “Douchey” behavior. Plus, the notion that it was a Millennial thing seemed to turn opinion against it. Then, just before the Covid pandemic, there was the CDC news that Vaping damages the lungs, as noted by the AtWater village news. Turns out that filling your lungs with chemicals isn’t that good for your lungs.
The Covid Pandemic dealt a final two blows to vaping. The first is that vaping is infinitely more difficult when you are walking around with a mask on. People had to hide away to vape, a bit like smokers do, and people started to learn to live without vaping. Finally, the act of vaping causes a cough. It isn’t a smokers cough, but it is a phlegmy irritable cough, and being caught coughing in public during a global pandemic is a big no no.
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