Hunley: Business resorts to 'save our store' sale

I'd like to write that Trakside, the NASCAR collectibles store at Prince William Square in Woodbridge, faces a yellow flag of sorts -- the flag, of course, meaning caution.

But cutesy metaphors aren't appropriate for the situation in which co-owners John and Jeff Fisher find themselves.

Father and son are weathering an economic climate in which business is down between 60 percent and 70 percent.

In better times, the Fishers hauled in gross sales of upward of $35,000 a month at the shop they've owned since August 2003.

But that figure has dropped to between $8,000 and $10,000. Some customers who used to spend several hundred dollars a month have stopped shelling out entirely.

On particularly bad days, the Fishers may sell only a hundred bucks' worth of replica cars or race team apparel. And that's not enough to cover expenses.

So they've adopted an advertising campaign that's as ingenious as it is honest.

For the past few weeks, Trakside has been holding a "Save Our Store (or going out of business)" sale.

That's right: The Fishers offer no illusions about how the recession is affecting their niche market operation. Signs promoting the sale are right there on their front windows.

And the effort has been successful "to a small degree," John Fisher told me.

"We've had some positive results," he said.

Certain patrons have bought items they otherwise might have passed by, and the sale has piqued the interest of bargain-hunters.

But the Fishers aren't sure what they'll do when Trakside's lease at the strip mall on Smoketown Road is up in September.

John Fisher will be OK no matter what. He's retired from the Department of Defense and doesn't really need income from the store.

His son, however, has to work. He's only 38, and he doesn't want to return to the Postal Service, where he concentrated on letters and mail routes instead of on cars and drivers.

Trakside could try to stock merchandise from other sports -- or add another product line, such as model trains.

But John Fisher can't see that. He's really just interested in racing, though the sport isn't offer-ing much help much right now.

Attendance at NASCAR races has been down at most tracks this year, and television ratings have lagged.

So it figures that if folks aren't even watching the left turns on TV, they very well may not be plunking down any scratch for stock-car memorabilia.

It's hard to shed a tear if multimillion-dollar drivers such as Jeff Gordon, or even Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- whom I actually happen to like -- make less money this year.

But when the sports world starts helping to foul up the real world, it does give you pause.

Especially when you're sitting in the back room of a small business, asking the owner if he'll have to shut down in a matter of weeks.

Jonathan Hunley is a staff writer at the News & Messenger. Contact him at 703-369-5738 or at jhunley@insidenova.com.