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Other than comics, what industries are threatened by changing kid demographics?

Started by dekeuk,

46 posts in this topic

rjpb

rjpb

Posted
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I think kids are as in to playing sports and other physical activities as they ever were, but the opportunities are more controlled than thirty years ago when most kids were allowed to roam the neighborhood unsupervised from the age of 7 or 8. Processed food and uncontrolled snacking are likely bigger culprites when it comes to childhood obesity.

 

If my own kids are any indication, time spent online comes at the expense of TV watching, and is often accompanied by telephone /videochat conversation with friends, whereas earlier generations would have just yakked on a landline until they were told to get off the phone. Certainly the inability to just "go out and play" on the weekends leads to less running around, but between structured activities and jumping on the trampoline, they stay fit.

 

On a related note, it's pretty safe to say that baseball is no longer America's Pastime. I'm sure somebody will always play or care, but it does seem that whenever I hear someone talk about baseball before September, they're usually close to 50 or older.

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the blob

the blob

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i don't buy into the notion that kids play less sports, at least among upper middle and middle class kids. it is just more structured than before, with kids being in little leagues, etc. this may actually result in more spending on sports "stuff" than the old days, where kids would be more prone to going out with friends and playing some touch football in the park. it probably does result in less sports "playing" though. the lives of friends of mine who are parents in the suburbs is literally dominated by the weekend sports activities of their kids. one guy i know literally had to schlep his 3 sons to three different youth hockey league games last weekend.

 

poorer kids, yes, maybe i buy into that. particularly in areas where it is dangerous to go outside i can see more kids just being forced to sit at home as parents (or often just "the" parent) don't have the money (or the inclination) to sign them up for kids' leagues and what not. these are the kids who would go out and play football or basketball in the past without the need for a league, but nowadays i can see their parents being worried about them getting hit by a stray bullet. some of the violence i read/see about is just totally bizarre and random and is now taking place in what were once middle class suburban areas, but that now have new demographics. i see a lot of childhood obesity among recent mexican american arrivals and not a lot of children participating in sports. (i wonder if this is actually confirmed in any studies?) soccer on the weekends, on the other hand, is practically mandatory for yuppie kids in my area.

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the blob

the blob

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Baseball cards. Can't think of another industry that has taken a bigger hit.

 

with that said, i witnessed two sets of two kids yesterday who were actually looking for baseball cards. one set at one of my LCSes (which carries cards) and another set at a sporting goods store.

 

but yeah, i agree. personally, i think they're good for building math skills, all those numbers and statistics and such.

 

my 4 year old likes cards, particularly super heroes. he has a case of marvel and DC packs from like 1992 we open up for him (I bought them cheap) as a treat. he gets really excited when he gets a hologram card.

 

should i be saving those hologram cards, especially green lantern, or are they generally worthless?

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mica

mica

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the two that are immediately in danger by changing kid interests

 

Arcades (may all ready be dead)

Fun Parks (arcade, go kart, mini golf, all in ones)

There's a place called Incredible Pizza. It does well, and my son loves it.

 

But you were speaking of a basic Arcade and I'd agree with you. Attaching Pizza to things seems to help the money to continue to flow.

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hockey&comicsguy

hockey&comicsguy

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It has been discussed to death here, but kids don't buy or read comics anymore.

 

Most likely because video games now provide that "imagination world" for kids.

 

So the business of publishing paper comic books is threatened with extinction one day.

 

It got me thinking about what other businesses will be threatened by these changing kid demographics.

 

I think in the long term, the golf course business will suffer for several reasons. The fact most kids don't play real sports anymore, but rather video game versions of sports, means that they are less likely to pick up a golf club and hit the golf course all of a sudden. Also, they might rather play Tiger Woods video golf than real golf. Golf is also an expensive sport to play, and average incomes are shrinking. Plus they take up a lot of land that developers will want to use to build housing.

 

I think many golf courses in the USA might have to close one day due to the changing demographics.

 

 

 

 

Golf courses are already starting to close. Well, at least the krappy ones.

 

I golf all the time. I see no shortage of kids. My last 3 trips out, including a cross country trip to Palm Springs to play Silver Rock (Bob Hope Classic tour stop), I saw tons of kids on every course, both boys and girls. Granted they were older and likely high school teams. But they all started somewhere and they're still showing up.

 

There's probably data to back this up but if I had to take a stab at it, I would say that we're already in the decline, but as courses close, things will eventually taper off to a stable level and that level will maintain itself. In other words there may not be alot of growth.

 

Golf is expensive but from my experience, those who are brought up in a certain demographic that are probably more likely to golf or are more likely to get exposure to golf, are going to continue to golf. Video games won't change that. They already have all the video game consoles and bells and whistles and they still golf anyway.

 

You want to talk about expensive, try putting your kid in hockey. It's can get crazy expensive yet every year new kids show up to the same rink I showed up to 20+ years ago.

 

Golf will maintain, it just may not grow a whole lot in the foreseeable future.

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the blob

the blob

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Golf courses are already starting to close. Well, at least the krappy ones.

 

I golf all the time. I see no shortage of kids. My last 3 trips out, including a cross country trip to Palm Springs to play Silver Rock (Bob Hope Classic tour stop), I saw tons of kids on every course, both boys and girls. Granted they were older and likely high school teams. But they all started somewhere and they're still showing up.

 

There's probably data to back this up but if I had to take a stab at it, I would say that we're already in the decline, but as courses close, things will eventually taper off to a stable level and that level will maintain itself. In other words there may not be alot of growth.

 

Golf is expensive but from my experience, those who are brought up in a certain demographic that are probably more likely to golf or are more likely to get exposure to golf, are going to continue to golf. Video games won't change that. They already have all the video game consoles and bells and whistles and they still golf anyway.

 

You want to talk about expensive, try putting your kid in hockey. It's can get crazy expensive yet every year new kids show up to the same rink I showed up to 20+ years ago.

 

Golf will maintain, it just may not grow a whole lot in the foreseeable future.

*************************

 

I don't think kids of the future won't necessarily be playing golf. Afterall, they've grown up idolizing Tiger Woods. Do you think I gave a rat's rear end about Jack N. or Greg Norman growing up? Sure, in 20 years there might not be as many 55 year olds in general than there are now (I don't know this for a fact, but it wouldn't surprise me) and I suppose that is a prime golf demographic.

 

Golf is expensive, but the overbuilding of courses has made it less so.

 

Golf courses might close because they simply built too many of them without the understanding that with more supply comes prive lowering pressures. At $40 a round some of these courses may have difficulty when they assumed $55 (I'm just tossing those numbers out there, I have no idea what this costs nowadays, last time I played golf was about 4 years ago and I think it was $40-45 for a non-public course in Suffolk County, NY).

 

Golf is actually not that expensive once you take out the biggie --- course fees! In some places public courses may only be $10-$15 a round. A set of clubs is not that expensive, I got a pretty decent one -- customized knockoffs of a more establish brand, plus a driver and I'm pretty sure I spent less than $250 all together. Sure, that's $250, but you might use those clubs for 10, 15 years and then pass them down to your kid. Getting my tennis racket restrung once or twice a year cost a lot more.

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hockey&comicsguy

hockey&comicsguy

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I don't think kids of the future won't necessarily be playing golf. Afterall, they've grown up idolizing Tiger Woods. Do you think I gave a rat's rear end about Jack N. or Greg Norman growing up? Sure, in 20 years there might not be as many 55 year olds in general than there are now (I don't know this for a fact, but it wouldn't surprise me) and I suppose that is a prime golf demographic.

 

Golf is expensive, but the overbuilding of courses has made it less so.

 

Golf courses might close because they simply built too many of them without the understanding that with more supply comes prive lowering pressures. At $40 a round some of these courses may have difficulty when they assumed $55 (I'm just tossing those numbers out there, I have no idea what this costs nowadays, last time I played golf was about 4 years ago and I think it was $40-45 for a non-public course in Suffolk County, NY).

 

Golf is actually not that expensive once you take out the biggie --- course fees! In some places public courses may only be $10-$15 a round. A set of clubs is not that expensive, I got a pretty decent one -- customized knockoffs of a more establish brand, plus a driver and I'm pretty sure I spent less than $250 all together. Sure, that's $250, but you might use those clubs for 10, 15 years and then pass them down to your kid. Getting my tennis racket restrung once or twice a year cost a lot more.

 

That's pretty much what I see. Too many courses + bad economic times = the lesser courses closing.

 

Fees are obviously the biggie. As for clubs, with a little patience and detective work you can find really nice clubs well under retail. I'm currently using Taylormade R7's and I got mine for almost half what they sell for retail. Also helps if you know somebody or can get in with a pro at a course near you. A friend of mine's father is the golf pro at a local course and he also reps Taylormade so when I need a replacement iron or a club reshafted he can get it done for me at cost.

 

Anyway, once they reel in all the dead weight courses by closing them and economic times pick back up, I anticipate that golf will see a short burst and then taper off to pretty static levels for some time.

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the blob

the blob

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book stores

 

gyms

 

music stores

 

suit retailers

 

newspapers

 

magazines

 

not sure these places are geared towards kids

 

 

yes but demographics START with kids

 

if you grow up NEVER wearing any kind of formal clothing, there is less of a chance you will wear suits on a regular basis as an adult

 

 

I see where you are going with this. Paints a pretty grim future though. I shudder to think that gym's will soon be in trouble and everyone will grow up unhealthy and out of shape.

 

If you guys are just being facetious... :roflmao:

 

If you aren't... :roflmao: :roflmao:

 

If I ever went out on my own or in private practice I would go back to wearing a suit 4-5 days a week. I don't get paid enough to justify it now other than when I have to, in court.

 

A good looking suit, good shoes, nice tie, shirt, etc. do make you look more "professional" if you're in a job that demands that. Of course, I don't want an IT Sytems guy who wears $1000 suits. Last one I had was a frigging prima donna who refused to do any work, he wanted to have lots of meetings and pretend he was management. I was so THRILLED when he left and one of his geek underlings took over. Things actually GOT DONE then and yes, the former underling did not wear suits!

 

My kid brother is an IT guy and he really takes it too far sometimes. A mohawk, some of the clothing he wears...there's casual and then there's giving the middle finger to your employers. Fortunately for him, he's really good and they know it and he's found ways to make himself very hard to replace.

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The Troll King

The Troll King

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I think several of you guys are off base.

 

Have you been to a book store lately? My wife and I go about every other week and out of 3 different ones we go to they are always PACKED with people of all ages.

 

Magazines and other periodicals aren't going anywhere for a long time. Sometimes you can't even walk through the magazine aisles due to kids sitting on the floor reading them.

 

Gym memberships are constantly on the rise. Drive by those places and the parking lots are always packed.

 

Golf is on the rise. I don't plan on playing but about 85% of the guys I know either play or jut started playing.

 

Music stores... I could see those going away but there's something to be said for "physical ownership". If I can find a CD on a shelf for the same price as I can get it on iTunes, I always buy the disk. I like having the liner notes, etc.

 

The remastered Beatles albums are not on iTunes and I bought 4 of those.

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DiceX

DiceX

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Most of those hippie kids getting high and giving free love in the 60's eventually grew up, put on a suit and tie and "sold out to the man". This generation will be no different.

 

Many of the problems we're having right now are because not enough of them did. They're still chasing Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and living in the dream world where peace, socialism, and global warming are "real". :shy:

 

 

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