Posted by Just weeks after first announcing their financial problems, Cubespace has announced that they will be voluntarily shutting their doors for good on June 12th. Word comes after weeks of negotiations with the building land lord and private contemplation by it’s owners.
On May 22nd, Cubespace used their blog to let customers and supporters know that they were months behind on rent and facing court action from their land lord, US Bank. The blog post was simply informational but Cubespace supporters ran with it. Within minutes, word was circulating on Twitter and blog posts were being written. After just an hour, a web site was built by loyal supporters and donations to save Cubespace were ready to be received. Local television news ran spots and the Oregonian reported both the business troubles and the incredible outpouring of support. But would people open their wallets? Yes they would and they did so in a big way. By the end of the day, supporters had pledged $2,000 almost entirely through Twitter. As of today, the donation pledges have topped $5,000.
It wasn’t enough to turn things around. US Bank agreed to come to the negotiating table and the Cubespace owners went quiet, on advice of their legal council. They had more than just back rent to figure out. Could they turn the business into a sustainably profitable one, even in this economy? Eva and David, owners of Cubespace, made the decision to walk away. Friday June 12th, 2009 will be their last day of operation.
Cubespace is a 3 year old company that provides cubicles, offices and meeting space to local business people as an alternative to renting dedicated office space. Cubespace and it’s owners are strong supporters of the community, especially to small businesses and startups. They frequently donated their space and personal time to local events.
That's not good…
CubeSpace has been phenomenally supportive of the local tech and Web 2.0 communities. I’ve been to countless events there – most of which were free or very inexpensive to attend. In retrospect, I'm guessing that Eva and David should have probably charged more for the use of their space. I'm sure they looked at those events as marketing for their collaborative work space (which it was), plus they are just really nice people.
But many don’t realize the cost of free. Portlanders can be rather chintzy when it comes to paying for events. I count myself in that group. But we often don’t think about what the cost of free might be. Sometimes it means an event goes into the red and won’t be there for us next year – no matter how educational or inspiring it was. Sometimes it means a venue we cherish will fall off the map.
People in bigger cities don’t expect everything to be free – even when they have sponsors to offset costs (and those are hard to come by at the moment). Maybe it’s time for Portlanders to reset their expectations and plan to pay real money for events we value. I know this won’t be a popular opinion given the state of the economy, but what affects us personally affects businesses and venues as well. We don’t deserve free stuff just because we want it. And in retrospect, I wish I had paid a little bit (or a little more) every time I went to CubeSpace so Eva and David could have maintained a great gathering spot.
@CarriBugbee
http://www.bigdealpr.com
I couldn't agree more.
Business is business; philanthropy is philanthropy; like water and oil they don't mix well and here is case study for someone's MBA.
US Bank will now enjoy the loss of the rent they were getting. I guess they figure $0 each month for the next few years the place will sit empty was better than getting $12 grand a month, minus an intelligent negotiation to reduce rent in a bad economy. They must be making do with the TARP/bailout funds they got instead.
@mklprc Loss of rent? That's the whole point, Cubespace wasn't paying rent!