Now it's Frugal Muse

Frugal Muse announced last week they're closing their Northgate location, confirming six months' rumors of their demise. I can't say I was surprised -- the store has been in more and more disarray over my last few trips, no doubt a result of cutting staff costs to the bone. I'm sorry to see them go, despite how active they've been in the "No TWLTL" campaign.

When asked about the closure, co-owner Andrew Gaylor had a familiar story:

Gaylor said recent improvements to Northgate, while welcome, didn’t seem to increase customer traffic, which started falling noticeably for Frugal Muse about five years ago, he noted, and accelerated in the last year or two.

“We’re not blaming anybody,” Gaylor said. “We understand the market. We’re in a troublesome business. We’re competing with Kindle and Amazon.”

Tom Dorn gave the same timeframe in May. There's no question the recession hit these stores hard, and our jobless recovery hasn't pumped much money into the neighborhood economy.

I can understand how hard it's been trying to bounce back these past five years, but when you can't beat Amazon on price or selection, service is all you have left. I fear that once the recession pushed Frugal Muse to cut staff, the writing was on the wall.

This has gotten me thinking about the broader economic challenges we face on the Northside. More on that in my next post.

Update 9/25: Maybe Amazon isn't the bogeyman it's assumed to be, at least with independent bookstores. The ones that build themselves into a destination seem to be thriving. Unfortunately for Frugal Muse, they were too far behind the trend.

Crime on Ruskin Street

Monday night's neighborhood association meeting had a full agenda and a packed house. I was glad to see so much interest in what's going on! There are a few things to talk about, but I wanted to start off with this since it hits close to home...

Over the past couple of weeks there have been some concerning incidents in our neighborhood. First, my kitty-corner neighbor observed a large sedan park in front of his house. Four young men with flashlights got out of the car and began casing Manley Street; two of them spent quite a bit of time in the backyard across the way. The observer watched them for about four hours before they left. Now, I know what you're thinking: Why didn't he call the police? Apparently, he called the North District public reception desk, which is only open during business hours. When he got the recording he hung up and waited until the next morning.

A few nights later, my next-door neighbors had their street side kitchen window screen cut. Fortunately, no one broke in, but they didn't find out until the next morning when the perpetrators were long gone. This is a nice couple with a young baby and the mother was naturally quite upset.

Since then my neighbors and I have been "on alert" and there haven't been any more incidents. Monday evening, folks from other parts of the neighborhood shared similar stories from the past year or two.

Over the long term, this is one of those issues where Madison's policy isn't keeping up with Madison's reality. Existing police districts do not reflect the situation on the ground. Residents and alders on the southwest side are demanding a new station in next year's budget. The long-discussed northeast station should move forward as well.

For now, the best thing we can do as neighbors is watch out for each other. If you observe this kind of suspicious or dangerous behavior, don't wait for morning and don't just sit and watch. Take down as many useful details as you can (descriptions, car make/model and license plate) and call the police:

• Emergency -- especially intruders into a yard or house: 911
  
• Non-emergency -- such as suspicious persons: 266-4948