In the past two years, I've seen restaurants, exercise clubs, food stores, clothing shops, and furniture outlets come and go. Shops rarely go bankrupt. According to Dun and Bradstreet, all of Montana had fewer than 200 bankruptcies in 1985. But businesses change hands frequently and for little cash. Statistics show that at any one time, about one in seven of all the businesses in our county is less than a year old or has changed hands within the year.
New optimists take the place of old ones, renting out empty storefronts as others close their doors.
An economist recently observed that we get more goods and services in Bozeman than we deserve. Instead, the providers pay in the form of lost profits and lost fortunes. We, the consumers, are the beneficiaries. I haven't been able to determine whether the turnover in Bozeman is greater than in other places or just more visible. While Montana's bankruptcy rate is lower than that of the majority of states, bankruptcies are a relatively rare phenomenon everywhere, and bankruptcy figures don't begin to reflect the change of ownership that is so noticeable here.