50% Off.................

Now I see a trend. It is clear from the last weeks that a sign in the shop window of 50% off is the first signs of the death knell of the company. Main streets in the centre like Terbatus Iela and K Barona are riddled with these, even Benetton is sporting 50% signs. A few weeks ago this meant the finals stages of clear out of the winter gear but now that is no longer true. We are now talking about massive reductions on the summer stuff. Some shop staff are actually noticing customers now too. Not most sadly, they carry on talking to each other or reading as they have always done.

What I first thought was strange was that many of the shops selling outdated fashions are still there and only showing 25-30% reduction signs. But then I realised that's because they have long term brand loyalty, some even from Soviet times, much cheaper prices overall and fashions that are still OK to wear for the older generation. Benetton and Nike may be flashy and beautiful but the majority of the population could never be seen dead in their stuff. It is simply too bright and garish. And the younger population (those not in Ireland or UK) no longer have the same spending power to waste. Mind some shops amaze me still. The hammock shop (yes I did write hammock) still seems to be going strong depite me never having seen a customer there. the same for the sports bar on K Barona that is nearly always empty. Someone said they do lunches. Not sure when though. Must be at four in the morning! And the eternally empty gaming bars continue their money laundering ways. What is unclear now is where the money to launder is coming from. Not Russia surely?

So the high street is struggling. What next? The rent prices for flats are dropping but are still high, and real estate sales prices are so high they are bizarre. One of the banks selling houses in its window has a picture of a concrete shack about 100km from Riga at 140,000Lvl. That's almost sick in its stupidity. Its not worth 15,000 in any money.

And the news from my friends running small companies continues to depress. Many, if not all have cash flow problems (and when I went to business school and we did wonderful cash flow charts, no-one talked about what to do if the clients simply cannot or do not pay). I know of one company where the staff are working for virtually no money, just to go to work. Ho hum.

But the former transport minister Slessors talks of creating 50,000 jobs in Riga in his highly financed and very public bid to become City Mayor (that's 3000 more than the official and much disbelieved current unemployed figure for Riga). Who is going to employ and pay these people I wonder? Half his old plans have stalled in the crisis and I am sure that more will yet. I wish him luck in his new country of Fairyland.