Every night I climb in bed, turn on the news, and watch another story about how bad the economy is: The stock market is down, unemployment is up, bank capital is down, government money chasing bad debt is up; it’s a vicious cycle and every night the news never changes. The top news of the day in the first ten minutes, then the weather, more news, the sports, and every night they show tomorrow’s Fish and Game Report.
I don’t know if you have ever seen the Fish and Game Report on your local news but it’s a wavy graph that looks like a rollercoaster. The 
chart is broken up in to three segments along the left, Poor; Average and Excellent with the different times of the day along the bottom. The curve is up at 3 am because the fish are out and biting; back down at 5:30; excellent again at 2 pm; but back down at 8. It’s a nightly part of the news that I’ve been watching for ten years or more and for ten years or more I turn to my wife every night at the same time of the broadcast and ask her, “Why the heck do they show a graph at 11:30 at night telling me when it’s a good time to go fishing tomorrow when I have to go to work?”
Do they really think that many people are watching the news to find out when the best time is to cast your line and catch a wiggling, scaly, smelly fish? I’ve got a conference call at 7:30 followed by a budget meeting at 10:30, lunch with a local broker at 1:30 to talk about why my sight is fifth on a retailer’s list of preferred sites for a particular market. When I ask what the other four are, she says, “I can’t tell you the first three, but I’ll tell you the fourth is not coming to the
market, then there’s your location.”
Instead of some graph on fish, I’d rather they roll out a nightly report that tells me when it’s the best time to talk with my 10 year old. Talk about moody and a wild emotional roller coaster. That’s what I’d like to see them graph so I can better understand what parts of the day are my best chance not to have her roll her eyes around and around and
around, but instead she actually sits there and listens. It’ll never happen.
I’m really not watching the news every night waiting for the fishing report to see what time of night is the best time to try to catch a fish. But I do and it always seems as if the 2 am slot is the best one. How do they know that? How do they figure out each night when it is the best time or worst time to go catch fish anyway? Do they have someone living at the lake counting fish as they jump in the water?
Then it dawned on me, they say it’s the Fish and Game Report but really it’s just another way to report about the economy and deal making. They are talking directly to me and silly me, I haven’t picked up on this until last night. I’ve missed it for ten years or more and there it was right in front of me the whole time.
The high curves in the graph, the time marked EXCELLENT for catching fish are really referring to the best time to contact new leads, to reach out to new tenants. It’s directly assessing what we had been experiencing in the country, a great economy, great growth times, fish everywhere to be caught. The lake is loaded with fishing boats and it doesn’t matter if you are anchored in the best fishing hole or out in the middle of the pond there are fish everywhere and deals to be made. Everyone is happy and there was lots to do, but now the curved line has dropped in to the POOR cycle.
The fish aren’t biting and there are less out there which means less fisher people on the lake casting their lines, less people buying gas for their boats, less tackle being bought, less of everything. The economy is tough, deals are much harder to come by, retailers are reducing store count, not expanding and there are less new concepts to go after. It’s a low point on the curve of a graph that over time goes up and comes down, goes up and comes down.
But the key factor, the one undeniable consistency of the graph no matter whether we were at the top of the chart or the bottom is, there are always fish in the water. The cyclical chart never gets to zero, it only waivers up and down between excellent and poor. Maybe there’s not as many fish to catch at 11 pm this evening as there are at 5 am in the morning, but there are still fish in the water. As wavy as the line gets, as high and low as it goes, it never hits zero.
Yeah, sure, we are on the down cycle of the economy, the nightly fishing graph shows we are heading toward the lowest part of the opportunity curve for the day or the year or the decade, whatever period you wish to judge and things could get worse, not something you wanted to read in a weekly football recap report, but keep in mind, there are still fish to be caught, deals to be done, retail stores to open. Talbots is down, Dress Barn is up; Ann Taylor is reducing store count; The Avenue is expanding (No pun intended about their sizing. Okay, pun completely intended.)
You might have to adjust your lure, try a different spot on the lake, cast your line a few more times than usual and pull up more rocks or a few boots with seaweed in them before you actually catch that catfish, definitely a throw back, but there will always be fish in the water swimming under your boat. That nightly report was right, there are excellent times of the day and there are poor, I just have to keep throwing in my hook and bait, real it in and then throw it back in the
water again. No, it’s not a glass bottom boat like all of these economist say they’re using and no, they really can’t see the fish, where they are swimming or how many there are, but they know those little devils are there, swimming around and you can catch them, you just have try a little bit harder.
In today’s lake , you might find a fellow fisherperson who has been cast out of their boat, tipped over or got pulled under water. Maybe they were a competitor fisherperson who often cast their line over yours or made a loud noise in a great fishing spot that prevented you from landing the really big one. No matter, it’s important for those of us still fishing to slow down, reach out and help that capsized person climb back in a new boat, get them a towel and some dry clothes, buy some new tackle and bait and get them fishing all over again. When the graph cycles through the poor part, it’s imperative we help each other find the fish.
So, as we all go through these troubled times, always remember, the graph never gets to zero, there are always fish in the lake, we just have to be more creative, more aggressive and more determined. We have to be sneaky, we have to learn new tricks, we have to invent new lures, but if you keep throwing your hook in the water, you keep fishing, eventually you’re going to catch a fish and as you keep fishing, the curve starts to swing back up the graph to excellent and you will catch fish after fish after fish.
Stay positive and keep fishing. Now, if someone could just explain to me about how to communicate with a ten year old, I’d really appreciate it.
about the author — Steven Silverstein
As Regional Vice President of Leasing, Steven is responsible for the merchandising and leasing direction for several of Cousins’ Avenue projects. Steven is also responsible for developing and maintaining strong retailer relationships. Steven has strong knowledge of property management, operations and marketing to better assist clients with overall asset goals through the implementation of a strategic development, merchandising and leasing plan.
Steven joined Cousins Properties Incorporated in February 2005 and has more than 17 years experience in the shopping center industry. Prior to joining Cousins Properties, Steven was Vice President of Development Services at Jones Lang LaSalle where he worked for ten years and where he was responsible for managing development and construction projects from mall renovations to anchor expansions and where he served as a Regional Vice President of Leasing responsible for a portfolio of properties throughout the Midwest. He successfully reestablished Southdale Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the nations’ first mall, as an upscale fashion forward center in addition to positioning Southdale as the city’s premier dining and entertainment center. Steven also formerly served as President of Retail Store Operations for Accessory Stop, Inc. a fashion outlet chain that he developed and sold to Claire’s Boutique.
Education: B.B.A., Marketing, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; J.D. The University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Memberships, Awards & Civic Involvement: Steven is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and has been an instructor and guest lecturer at several ICSC classes and seminars. Steven is also a MAXI Merit winner in Leasing Support.
