Baker Creek

[LoreD]

I'm a little confused about the building project at Baker Creek. Jere Gettle is building this frontier town for tourists at his store. Other companies are having problems and going belly up and he's building a tourist site, staging monthly musical festivals, etc. I don't understand where all the money is coming from, his seed packs are a little high, but not exorbitant.

I can't figure it out.

LoreD

[downinmyback]

Maybe Jere is planting seeds that make a lot of money for him and i donut mean the legal ones. I have always heard that it is easier to hide something illegal in plain sight LOL. JK I so not know or imply that he is doing anything illegal but only joking.

[johno]

I wondered about that at one point, too. But Jere does a LOT of volume.

I've been to his store within the last year, and it is mind-boggling how many of those seed packs he sells. Being in the Ozarks, my guess is that his employees make peanuts (and that is ONLY A GUESS based on the fact that practically everybody else in the Ozarks makes peanuts. I can reasonably assume they're not making Union wages.) So his operating costs can't be too high, comparatively speaking.

It's a simple matter of volume. What's the old saying, "Sell to the masses and live with the classes." Something like that... If you make a dollar a widget and sell a million widgets, you make a hell of a lot more than if you make a half a million dollars a widget but only sell one.

But the little village is a weird thing in my mind, too. It made more sense when he started having monthly festivals throughout most of the year. What I'm curious about is why he doesn't seem to have enough influence in the county to have a better road to his place? He must be one of, if not THE, biggest tax bases in his county; yet the road is often impassable if it has been raining much. And you sure wouldn't want to drive a luxury vehicle down it even when it's dry.

[bluelacedredhead]

I'm assuming that Jere modeled his new town after Silver Dollar City?
Why not? If he can bring income to another part of southern Missouri. In some respects, I dislike that kind of tourism, but in many parts, that's all Missouri has as a source of income. It 'resembles' the area more so than say, a Six Flags Park would.

And speaking of Six Flags, mebbe London Road and B/C road are Jere's answer to the SF roller coaster rides ;D

[Jim]

I'm just in awe of all the festivals/gatherings he's having. He's building quite the empire.

[flowerpower]

My friend is a professional artist and she has done hundreds of craft shows. I asked her about the vendor fees. She said she always paid a flat rate on space. She never had to give a 10% commision.

[canadamike]

He sells a lot in Europe too. You've got to give credit to his marketing abilities. He is a good businessman.

[winter unfazed]

The shows and festivals make a lot of the dough. $3 for a show doesn't sound like much. but when you add it up... 5,000 (number of attendees at Spring festival) multiplies by $3.00 to bring 15 grand. And that's a pretty penny, not even counting the smaller shows throughout the year.

Not to mention the books they sell, and the herb store that Jere's wife operates, and the subscriptions to the Heirloom Gardener magazine, and the sheer volume of seeds that are moved by Baker Creek every year. The Baker Creek folks are making a fine buck indeed; they just don't go tripping about it.

[winter unfazed]

johno said:

What I'm curious about is why he doesn't seem to have enough influence in the county to have a better road to his place? He must be one of, if not THE, biggest tax bases in his county; yet the road is often impassable if it has been raining much. And you sure wouldn't want to drive a luxury vehicle down it even when it's dry.

He doesn't WANT a new road! In fact, last fall he campaigned AGAINST a bill that would have paved his road and several others! I think they like the rustic effect; unpaved is how most roads were in America a century ago.

I've often wondered (and quite out loud), if Sasha's birth was expedited by the bumpy nature of that road! They say that expectant mothers driving on gravel roads can induce labor, so you can't help but wonder if the little gal would have come a few days later if the road was paved.

[MawkHawk]

Uuuuh, is this some kind of sick joke??!!

[winter unfazed]

No, some doctors actually claim that to be true. In fact, I myself was born late and my parents tried to make be come quicker by driving on bumpy lanes.

[MawkHawk]

Heh, thanks. But that's not what I meant...

[plantsnobin]

Mawk, if you meant what I THINK you meant, I have to say I thought the same thing. Like a Seinfeld episode of Bizzaro World.

[winter unfazed]

What is Bizarro World?

[bunkie]

winterunfazed said:

What is Bizarro World?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizarro_World