No parking at Costco? That may be good news
To measure the pulse of the economy you can watch swings in the stock market, analyze retail sales, and crunch the numbers in the housing market.
Or, there is the Costco parking lot meter.
Michael Parks is the editor and publisher of the Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter and longtime observer of the local economy. He's also a longtime Costco customer.
And he realized when parking at Coscto is bad, the economy is gang busters.
"It's a sign to me that the economy is strong locally," he said after pacing past 30 cars to get to the door. "People have a lot of money and they don't mind spending it."
The Puget Sound Business Journal went looking for unconventional but accurate ways to measure the economy, and one of the best methods they found was at novelty shop Archie McPhee's.
"This is St. Joseph and he's the patron saint of real estate," store manager Shana Iverson told us, pulling her last plastic figurine from a display.
As sellers have a tougher time unloading their houses, they are more likely to turn to the humorous St. Joseph that comes with a prayer about finding a buyer.
"Preferably one who will pay full price and waive inspection. Amen," read Iverson.
Sales of the saint are up 20 percent.
"We've had real estate agents and people selling their houses," Iverson said. "Real estate agents buy them by the dozen, really."
Parks says the economy is stronger than anyone predicted, calling our area, "the sweet spot."
That's the economy. Not his parking place at Costco.
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On the net:
http://www.marples.com/
http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/
Or, there is the Costco parking lot meter.
Michael Parks is the editor and publisher of the Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter and longtime observer of the local economy. He's also a longtime Costco customer.
And he realized when parking at Coscto is bad, the economy is gang busters.
"It's a sign to me that the economy is strong locally," he said after pacing past 30 cars to get to the door. "People have a lot of money and they don't mind spending it."
The Puget Sound Business Journal went looking for unconventional but accurate ways to measure the economy, and one of the best methods they found was at novelty shop Archie McPhee's.
"This is St. Joseph and he's the patron saint of real estate," store manager Shana Iverson told us, pulling her last plastic figurine from a display.
As sellers have a tougher time unloading their houses, they are more likely to turn to the humorous St. Joseph that comes with a prayer about finding a buyer.
"Preferably one who will pay full price and waive inspection. Amen," read Iverson.
Sales of the saint are up 20 percent.
"We've had real estate agents and people selling their houses," Iverson said. "Real estate agents buy them by the dozen, really."
Parks says the economy is stronger than anyone predicted, calling our area, "the sweet spot."
That's the economy. Not his parking place at Costco.
---
On the net:
http://www.marples.com/
http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/