Dead Pool: Business Edition


My personal predictions for businesses that might go belly-up in 2009……

1)    K-Mart
2)    Blockbuster Video
3)    Sears
4)    L.A. Weekly
5)    JC Penny
6)    Radio Shack
7)    Krispy Kremes
8)    Sizzler
9)    Big 5 Sporting Goods
10)  Yahoo
11)  Clear Channel

This entry was posted in Analysis, Greater Los Angeles, La Crisis by AlDesmadre. Bookmark the permalink.

About AlDesmadre

Al Guerrero, Artist/Humorist. Los Angeles, CA. Born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in East Los Angeles from the age of two, Al Guerrero grew up just steps from the famous Chicano strip, Whittier Boulevard. His youth experiences include witnessing and participating in the 1970 Chicano Power demonstrations, cruising cars on Whittier Boulevard, and graduating from Garfield High School. After dropping out of UCLA (with honors), he drew upon his lifelong passion for art and cartooning and pursued a career in graphic arts. During this period, he traveled overseas and found artistic inspiration from the masterworks he discovered within the European Art Museums. His career blossomed when he was eventually hired by the Walt Disney Company in 1995, where he worked as a creative artist for a number of years. Although the artistic work was rewarding, he eventually grew weary & disillusioned with the bureaucracy of the entertainment business, and left to work briefly in the educational field. His credits include producing a feature film with actor, Conrad Brooks of Ed Wood fame, founding and performing with the Punk Rock group “The Psychocats” at numerous L.A. & Hollywood venues during the 1990’s, and in 1999 he founded and created a hell-bent puppet cabaret show aptly named: “The Puppets from Hell”. As a long time active member of the Los Angeles Cacophony Society, Al “Quaeda”, as he was known, was involved in countless Cacophony Society pranks and events throughout the city. He also produced the “Incredibly Strange Cinema” cult film series as well as themed events such as the now infamous “Pornothon Movie Nights” and the satirical “Mexican Night: Noche De Tequila & Putas” shows at local nightclub venues. Throughout his art career, he has exhibited his canvas paintings at various local galleries, and has also written & illustrated numerous comic strips and Graphic Novel stories. Today, he lives in Silver Lake, California and works as a freelance artist and writer with numerous multi-media projects under his belt and in the works. His personal hobbies include collecting vintage toys and comic books, cinema history and Los Angeles City history. Contact: alguerrero@earthlink.net Al Guerrero P.O. Box 29697 Los Angeles, CA 90029-0697 www.alguerrero.com Myspace.com/thepuppetsfromhell

25 thoughts on “Dead Pool: Business Edition

  1. They still have Sizzlers? We need to go to Sizzler some kind of a group field trip. Remember the cheese toast? That was yummy.

    You know Kmart and Walmart I always thought was the same place.
    Browne

  2. i wouldn’t be surprised is sears goes (which also owns kmart). their CEO (eddie lambert) only bought the companies as trading collateral and neither company has turned a profit since his purchase.

  3. “Sizzlers is nasty!” Al

    But the cheese toast was good. Cheese can fix just about anything. Tapatio or hot sauce can do the same thing.

    I remember in college I had a friend who used to carry packets of hot sauce with her just in case a meal didn’t taste right, she could fix it.

    Pizza, popcorn, french fries, didn’t matter hot sauce in her mind could fix anything.

    She added hot sauce packets from KFC to ramen. To her hot sauce had no cultural food barrier.

    So if we go to Sizzler Al you will have to order the cheese toast and I’ll remember to bring packets of hot sauce that I stole from Kentucky Fried Chicken, it will be delicious…lol…

  4. I understand that a lot of the more pricey chain restaurants are under pressure and some are going to go belly up due to the economic situation. Applebee’s, Claim Jumper, Landry’s, Red Lobster ect. The cheap junk food outlets like McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Burger King, Taco Bell are predicted to increase their business.

  5. browne- I used to like the Sizzler’s cheese toast actually. And the malibu chicken too. The salad bar?…not so much! I’ll bring some hot sauce from Taco Bell. the black packet!

    thanks! for the input paul b.

    don q-I heard today that Outback steakhouse is going under (down unda!)

    btw- does anbody know what kind of meat is in the Jack in the Box tacos?
    it’s mysterious, but I like it!

  6. I’m glad you copped to liking Jack in the Box tacos Al, I thought I might be the only Chicano falso who likes them, don’t tell anybody please!

  7. Al, I saw that cartoon for the first time last night. The Mexican in me loved it. 🙂

    If I remember correctly, Krispy Kreme has been in dire straits for a while. They expanded rapidly a few years back and have been paying the price ever since. I place my money on Blockbuster. They’re pretty screwed.

    I checked the Jack-in-the-Crack website and they say the tacos are beef. They always tasted weird and I imagined they were really vegetarian.

  8. I’ve looked into the JitB tacos, one of the few items I miss as a vegetarian. They’re made mostly of soy, with a little bit of meat thrown in so they can claim them to have meat. If they made this into an all soy product, I’d think I would eat them. Every once in awhile only, of course!

  9. soledadenmasa,
    That’s Disney’s 1929 “Skeleton Dance”. You can find it on the Silly Symphonies collection and on YouTube. It was named one of the 50 greatest cartoons of all time!

  10. Black Angus- filled for bankruptcy protection last week.

    And Applebee’s is closing 7 locations..thanks to an operator thats filed for bankruptcy.
    Applebee’s in Camarillo, Ventura, Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks were among seven closed in Southern Calilfornia by owner John D. Gantes. The other franchise restaurants are in Santa Clarita, Palmdale and Chatsworth.

    Bakers Square can close too…well except for their pies 🙂
    Blockbuster Video is on deaths door. We had one for less than 3 yrs in Montebello then it closed almost 2 yrs ago.
    Hollywood Video can also say good bye.

    I am glad Circuit City is closing…customer NO service!

  11. We rented a video for my son a few months back at the blockbuster by my house and when we returned it th entire store was closed and the delivery box was sealed shut. My esposa went to 2 close stores and nobody knew what to do, she even called the company number and get no resolution. So we came up on the great pumpkin and merry xmas charlie brown and never looked back.

  12. 2 tacos for 99 cents JnB are the shizzle. I was a little pissed when they got rid of the combo they had… 2 monsters tacos, fries, and drink…that was the gran shizzle. Kept things simple at the drive thru…give me a #whatever. I do find it amusing they’re getting up the twenties with their combos.

    “The cheap junk food outlets like McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Burger King, Taco Bell are predicted to increase their business.”

    Interesting, Univision National News (6:30pm) last week was saying that the country was expected to gain weight this yr. There u go. Save a buck, chow down some Big Macs. Depressed because you lost your job…tear down two!

  13. I’m so glad I’m not the only one with a secret fetish for the weird Jack in the Box Tacos. I wage a one-man war against shitty fast food, but that’s the only item I have no power to resist if a few show up around the house.

  14. If your ever down to your last starving 99 cents, and you’re on the street and you need to eat something, I say your best value bets would be:
    1) 2 Jack in the Box tacos for 99c
    2) The BRC (Beans-Rice-Cheese Burrito) at Pollo Loco
    3) The Red or Green Burritos at Del Taco

  15. Haha, in a pinch, I’ll eat the BRC burritos from Pollo Loco and have a side of steamed vegetables so I don’t feel bad for eating fast food. It’s a full lunch for only $3! Still nothing beats my local burrito place, a vegetarian burro for only $2.50. It used to be $2 but she recently raised the price.

  16. I will miss Sears if they indeed go under. It is the best place to get sewing machines, vacuum cleaners and prescription eye glasses for folks who need bifocals and are very nearside (Like me).
    I would love to see Sizzler go under and maybe Soup Plantation could take there place. We love Soup plantation, they so know how to treat a vegetarian, And they never question when we say our very tall 8 year old child is 5 years old so we can get the cheaper price on her meal.

    Browne, the residents of the homeless shelter I work at also care hot sauce packets with them at all times; it is the only way they can make the crap we feed them edible.

  17. You forgot to put LA Times on that list. Unless someone buys them quick, they won’t be around this time next year. AND they raised their news stand price to 75¢! (Trying to prevent deflation?)

    Maybe I’m becoming more domesticated, but I dig Sears too. Good tools, cheap cloths, and their lifetime warrantees are rediculously generous.

    I like Sizzlers. Unlimited crumbled blue cheese at the salad bar, corn fritters, hot apple cobbler with soft serve ice cream, and iced tea!

    Growing up, our Sizzlers had coin-op TV’s on every table. Does anyone else remember that?

  18. Hey Walt! That’s cool! I never saw that. I do remember the old coin op TVs at the old Greyhound station waiting area on 7th & Los Angeles.

  19. Al, dont forget:
    -dollar chicken sandwiches from carl’s Jr
    -Yumbo Yack
    -anything from wendy’s bomb ass dollar value menue
    -1.79 green chile burrito from Al& Bea’s

    FYI, fried rice is VERY easy to make. cheap and delicious. Its basically soy sauce a dash of butter (or whatever), huevos, peas and onions heated up.

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