Looking on the Bright Side

Where did they all go?
That’s an ending line from the movie ‘The Rose,’ as the female star looks skyward wondering where everyone in her life has gone.
In Lake Geneva the phrase is becoming about businesses.
Where did the Cannery go? It was there on Broad Street between Speedo’s and Bob’s and then it was gone. Gone to Delavan in this case. Keefe wanted twenty-four hundred dollars a month, triple net, which comes out to be about thirty-two hundred a month for that very small fronting space. Great location, but just how much can a merchant be expected to gross, in any month but a mid-summer month, when selling canned and jarred goods? Evidently, not that much.
The Root Beer Revelry on Main, that was going to open on Memorial Day, didn’t. A bit later this month.
How about the old Boathouse Bagel on Main? A mini-distillery was going in there, like a similar beer one was going in next to Popeye’s. Nada. Nothing happening there.
The little nail shop across from Amy’s Shipping Emporium is gone too. Overnight. Nobody seems to know where it went, if anywhere.
The property owners up and down Lake Geneva streets have to make money, too, but at what cost? How long will the old Cannery space remain closed, generating nothing but utility expenses until someone else comes along?
Not everyone is leaving town, of course. Fox River Bank has just moved into the vacant office space near Lake Geneva’s only FM radio station (so far, the only one) and the Knight Barry Title Company has moved in next door, hopefully to give some head to head competition to Chicago Title sitting there like the Humpty-Dumpty of title companies on Center Street.

But Here is a Bright Person

Ron Geman Cowboy Lake Geneva

Ron Geman a true cowboy and a neat guy. When he’s not tending to his horses, working at Dawson’s Creek Ranch or hosting rodeos, he’s building quality homes right here in Lake Geneva with Gardner Luxury Homes. Some might say he’s right up there with the Most Interesting Man in the World.

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