Santa Fe as Compared to Other U.S. Places

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by The Mule

The galleries are a different animal, and even among them there are a lot of differences. My wife works at one of them, and there is almost no relationship between general foot traffic and sales for them. Their numbers are not based on the number of tourists, but the numbers of a specific subset of visitors (those that visit Santa Fe for a particular purpose, which is to spend discretionary dollars on artwork). Many of the galleries also have a decent online presence, so they continued to generate some sales and revenue during the lockdown. Not enough to continue in that model, particularly in a high-priced storefront, but enough to keep them afloat.

From what I am being told, her gallery and several others are having record sales since they were allowed to reopen their doors. My guess is it was pent-up demand during the lockdown that emerged once people could get out. That wasn't generally the family of five from Hays, Kansas, but rather people who regularly visit the area and may well already be on the customer list.

So, I would expect some to continue on in that respect. The business model has evolved over the last 20 or so years. What may be the great equalizer is the economic outlook. Any business dependent on discretionary dollars will suffer during a recession. Even if you are appealing to a fairly well-off customer base, they don't stay well-off by not adjusting to what you believe is coming.

Aside from galleries, the current economic climate is not exactly great for small businesses, and actually businesses in general. Start with the financial impact of the lockdown, add inflation (impacts more things than people realize), supply chain issues and costs, and a bad economic outlook. Many businesses barely survived the lockdown (some didn't at all) and either depleted what reserves they had for the proverbial "rainy day," or greatly diminished them. Some took on debt to survive it. They are not in a position to survive a prolonged downturn. And the government loans, even when forgiven, did not cover the impact.

Restaurants are particularly vulnerable. That is a tough business in good times.

The other part people don't factor in with small businesses is opportunity cost. Whether they are able to stay in the black or not is really not the question. The question is whether or not they can stay enough in the black to make it worth the owner's time, effort, risk, and headaches. Back to galleries, a lot of the owners are not young, and punching out in favor of retirement, if they can afford that, gets pretty appealing after a few years of struggling and sleepless nights.

The bad times and fallout should put a downward pressure on rents. But, it never quite seems to work out that way. That is particularly true when the commercial space is owned by a small handful of people.

Who knows where this ball finally comes to rest? But, if all of those negative factors persist, we won't have T-shirt and tchotchke shops, either. There are places where that has happened before, too.


BTW, my observation on some of the NYC transplants is the same as yours. But then again, when I lived in North Carolina, this was the same migration group that gave us the saying "that's not the way we did it in Florida." I was pretty sure that when they lived in Florida, they were saying "that's not the way we did it in New York."

My comments about galleries were in response to someone posting about Taos. The situation in Santa Fe for art galleries is dire. Even before Covid, owners/managers were desperate for sales. I'd never experienced that kind of desperation, and I'd been visiting SF annually from the early 90's before I moved there in the 'aughts. The rents on or near the Plaza are so high, they're incomprehensible. Nobody can make the level of sales required to pay those rents monthly.

Some of the galleries are funded by people looking for a tax write-off, so steady losses are in their favor. There was already some turnover in ownership there on the Plaza pre-Covid, and now post-Covid, there's probably been more, though I haven't looked.

I think, that rents (speaking of commercial rents around the Plaza) will eventually start coming down, due to the economy no longer supporting the level of luxury item sales required to meet what have been over-inflated rents for decades. Tourism has fallen off and IMO is unlikely to recover. The decrease in tourism, especially in international visitors, has been going on since 9/11, and various other economic setbacks during the 'aughts for US consumers. Fine art sales nation-wide have fallen off since a series of stock-market crises 1998 and 2008, resulting in gallery closures.

[SunGrins]

I generally avoid the (Fru-Fru) plaza area galleries so I have no idea how they manage. I was on Canyon Road on Veterans Day (3-day weekend) and it seemed a bit quiet and subdued compared to other visits. Fewer people. The economy is holding things down -- maybe Covid, too. I have a limited art budget and there were a few things in my budget, if I was buying. My Garde is not as Avant as some of it. I have been in a gallery there and offered a 50% price reduction. It costs something to have gallery space showing art that will not sell.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by SunGrins

I generally avoid the (Fru-Fru) plaza area galleries so I have no idea how they manage. I was on Canyon Road on Veterans Day (3-day weekend) and it seemed a bit quiet and subdued compared to other visits. Fewer people. The economy is holding things down -- maybe Covid, too. I have a limited art budget and there were a few things in my budget, if I was buying. My Garde is not as Avant as some of it. I have been in a gallery there and offered a 50% price reduction. It costs something to have gallery space showing art that will not sell.

Well, Canyon Road is almost as expensive as the Plaza, commercial-rent-wise. The "new" (no longer so new) commercial area that's more affordable is the Railyard area. I've known small gallery owners who gave up on Canyon Rd, and moved to the Railyard area. Part of that area used to be artist studios, just like Canyon Rd, too. It became unaffordable to artists as it went through a major upgrade sometime in the early or mid-2000's or so. Artists weren't happy about getting pushed out of SF altogether. That was the last bastion of affordable studios.

[Lizap]

Originally Posted by pathrunner

I can understand your point of view. I used to live in places that were considered "culturally creative" and "liberal" - small areas where certain types congregated and probably still do congregate. I now call those places "woo-woo." I'm still open to creativity, but healthy creativity. Those woo-woo places are full of charlatans, people on trust funds, people dealing illegal drugs, and people participating in orgies and raves and high level prostitution. That is a scene I find very off-putting. People with stones in their eyes unless you have something to offer them, or you are really good at a certain performance art or hawking yet another "workshop" where people go from workshop to workshop and never apply what they've "learned." Those people think they are so high and mighty with their fake "spirituality" when they are actually some of the most self-absorbed, self-centered people on the planet. Nah to the no on that scene. Had enough. I prefer to live amongst "normal" people who are just living life and not out for the hedonistic scene, or to impress others. I would be concerned that Asheville would be like that - or at least somewhat like that. However, I could be way off base and I'm open to being corrected - with regard to Asheville. The other places? Nope.

What you describe could really be true of many places..

[pathrunner]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

This sounds like Sedona, AZ. There are also elements of this in Santa Fe, but they're easy to be oblivious to. They're not as concentrated as in Sedona. No high-level prostitution, AFAIK, either. Instead, there's the high-level art scene, which even before Covid was starting to struggle. Not as many high spenders rolling through town, as before. The 2000's haven't been good for art sales nation-wide.

There is actually high-level prostitution everywhere, especially in moneyed areas. A lot of the prostitutes in Marin County lived part time in Paradise Valley, AZ. Every metro has its upscale area. Hard given that there is a whole industry behind the scenes. It's something I only learned about after becoming a massage therapist and hearing people talk about giving up massage and going full sex worker. It's far more prevalent than people think.

[Rogarven]

Originally Posted by pathrunner

I can understand your point of view. I used to live in places that were considered "culturally creative" and "liberal" - small areas where certain types congregated and probably still do congregate. I now call those places "woo-woo." I'm still open to creativity, but healthy creativity. Those woo-woo places are full of charlatans, people on trust funds, people dealing illegal drugs, and people participating in orgies and raves and high level prostitution. That is a scene I find very off-putting. People with stones in their eyes unless you have something to offer them, or you are really good at a certain performance art or hawking yet another "workshop" where people go from workshop to workshop and never apply what they've "learned." Those people think they are so high and mighty with their fake "spirituality" when they are actually some of the most self-absorbed, self-centered people on the planet. Nah to the no on that scene. Had enough. I prefer to live amongst "normal" people who are just living life and not out for the hedonistic scene, or to impress others. I would be concerned that Asheville would be like that - or at least somewhat like that. However, I could be way off base and I'm open to being corrected - with regard to Asheville. The other places? Nope.

After going to SF since the early 70's, I can mostly agree with your points. I found Taos had more of what we enjoyed about SF in years past. The last couple times, we just gas up at a station off of St. Francis Exit and then keep going on I-25. Rather stay in ABQ. Too expensive and "woo-woo". LOL