The right one

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

Last weekend we dressed the kids up like monsters, wild animals and anime characters whose names I don’t even know how to pronounce, and dragged them out to a few Halloween events.

Friday night, we took Clifford, my 13-year-old, along to see Let the Right One In, a vampire thriller performed onstage at Good Luck Macbeth Theatre. I’m a fan of the novel and the 2008 film, but Clifford didn’t know what he was getting into: Lots of cussing, “adult themes,” and gruesome deaths—just the kind of stuff a 13-year-old will love. I was impressed with GLM’s production, which deftly covered quite few different locations. And this was the first time I’d been in to check out their new space—which really isn’t that new anymore, but I don’t get out to see theater nearly as much as I’d like—and it’s fantastic.

Saturday night, we went to the Holland Project’s Halloween show, which is one of my favorite annual events: local bands playing dress-up as famous acts. We weren’t able to stay too long because the kids got hungry/cold/intimidated by the just-slightly-older-than-them crowd, but what we saw was great.

Sunday morning, we went and checked out Coffee N’ Comics, the new coffee shop-slash-comic book store on Moana Lane (see Fifteen minutes, page 27). Fun concept for a business, and it got me thinking of other hybrid businesses that could pair a niche business with a more sustainable, low-overhead business like making coffee.

For example, I really miss record stores—and there are still a few, like Recycled Records and a couple of others—and video rental places, which are totally gone. Maybe the way to make those businesses sustainable now would be to pair them with coffee. Or tea. Or beer. Or pizza.

So, if you’re just sitting around, wondering, what business should I open in Reno? There’s your idea: A record store that also sells coffee, tea, beer and pizza. And rents out carefully curated selection of DVDs.

Get to work.