Is all press good press?

Gosh, is it any wonder that newspapers are going the way of dinosaurs?

Thanks to our friends at The Oregonian, we've already received several phone calls asking if we're still in business.

Settled down at home with a double latte this morning, I was looking forward to skimming the Sunday Oregonian. When I saw a pair of articles under the headline "Landlords take their lumps" in the business section I was immediately interested in reading the fine print. 

One of the articles had the heading "Recession spares no place, not trendy Northwest 23rd, not suburban Kruse Way".  I was really intrigued because, hey, I'm a retailer and I used to have a store near NW 23rd.

Imagine my surprise when in the fourth paragraph, French Quarter on NW 23rd is reported as "Gone" as a victim of the recession. Later in the article French Quarter is mentioned as having papered over windows.

Note to the fact checkers at The Oregonian: French Quarter on NW Westover (one block off NW 23rd) had its last day of business on February 28, 2006. 

Yes, 2006. More than three years ago! And the windows have been papered over ever since.

Oh yeah, fact checkers: it has been documented that the current recession began in November 2007.

I closed the NW store at the end of the lease knowing that my store at Bridgeport Village store was going to be opening a few months later. (That's another story!)

From my perspective, it's another example of what The Oregonian considers journalism: time-pressured, lazy and hollow reporting; any hints of something that works for a story is latched onto and made part of the pedestrian coverage.

We're alive and well in the Pearl District. The current economic times are challenging, but we're working on all sorts of new projects and ideas.

With friends like The Oregonian, who needs enemies?