Fireworks

One of the common fallacies that continue to get on my nerves is that just because you have been to a place you understand what life there is like. A visit to another city can tell you a lot about life there; if your business model depends on cold outdoor temperatures you should really visit a new market in the summer time before you start operations there, for example. But the fact is, spending a few days in any far-away place does not make you an expert on that place; it just makes you another tourist...

Case in point, consider the retail channels for fireworks that you will see as you make your way across the country. As noted in my post for Independence Day, fireworks are not legal in most of Los Angeles at any time, and are not usually for sale even in areas where they are legal except for the two weeks before the 4th of July. Get out on the road, however, and things start changing...

On our recent drive from LA to East Lansing we started off with billboards about how fireworks are illegal in California, but there were small (temporary) fireworks stands all over Arizona, and permanent stands along the road in New Mexico. By the time we got to Oklahoma they weren't just stands anymore; they were permanent building the size of a supermarket, and on the way to St. Louis there were two stores the size of warehouses...

Now, I don't mean to suggest that fireworks or their retail outlets are any significant part of the national economy, or any basis for a business model. What I am suggesting is that people from New Mexico through upper Indiana are accustomed to being able to purchase a consumer product that people in parts of California never see as often as they like. Something that we consider a once-a-year special is a common part of their lives. It makes you wonder how many other products we could say that about...

The bottom line is, it's not the big differences in market conditions that can slip past you; it's the minor differences in the way life is lived somewhere beyond your home turf that can make you realize that being a tourist just isn't enough...