EMERGENCY! WE ARE HOMELESS!
Donation protected
I am trying to raise money to help with rent and prescription medication cost.
My name is Patrick Potter. On November 5th 2019 I suffered a stroke and was forced to be closed until we reopened on Black Friday. I was in the hospital originally completely paralyzed on my right side and over the course of the next couple of weeks I began regaining control of my limbs and undergoing physical therapy.
Upon my release from the hospital I was tasked with catching up the rent and other bills. Although I had a strong 3 days on Black Friday weekend, the weeks that followed were bleak and I did not make the money I thought I would.
That's not to say we did not give the landlord some money. There had already been back rent due from the summer when I moved from one house to the other and in doing so lost a lot of time opening my comic book store. When I returned to work regularly I was working on online sales and in-store sales daily up until the stroke. In December 2019 we gave the store landlord $2,000 and in March we gave him another $1,000.
But as everyone knows March 2020 was when covid-19 swept the country and the World At Large and all non-essential businesses were forced to close to the public.
I also must point out that from the last week of November 2019 until the first week of March 2020, I was unable to drive my car and my wife and I relied on Uber to get back and forth from the house to the comic store and Back Again as well as to grocery stores and Pharmacy for essential items.
The multiple Uber trips totaled $3,500 over that 14 week period. The mandatory Lockdown from middle of March until May cost me a good deal of money. I tried selling online but what little I sold during the lockdown went to essential items and food.
Of course I am at high risk having had a heart attack at the beginning of December 2018 in which they placed a stent in my heart, and having had a stroke November 5th 2019, I'm being diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes. Covid-19 targets high-risk people like me with multiple health problems.
During this time my wife was trying to get a full-time job but everything was on hold or fell through and she only just recently got a part-time job for a company called 24/7. She does online customer service making $9 an hour working 25 hours a week.
Additionally, while at work at the job my wife used to have, my wife was injured in October 2016. A subsequent workman's comp case dragged on until April 2019. When the case settled, my wife was forced to resign from that job. When my wife received her settlement she prepaid the first year of rent for the new house that we're trying to qualify to buy. Unfortunately covid-19 interfered with her job plans and therefore the purchase of the house. The pre pay rent ran out in May of 2020 and I began having to run some excessive sales to cover a house rent of $1,500. In addition for every day we were late we paid $10 per day. I paid the house rent for May June July and August of 2020 plus late fees for each month because I was late every one of those months. This put me further behind on the store rent.
It's not that my comic book store doesn't make any money but because of the covid-19 crisis and because of my stroke there is a reduction in sales. The pandemic has reduced business as far as walk-in customers and online sales. But the stroke has impaired me so that I don't work as fast as I used to and I'm now doing all the work myself. To sell comic books that are vintage I have to grade each book which involves counting all the pages, examining them for tears or for any coupons or other things that might be clipped out of the pages. Marvel Comics for instance used to have Marvel value stamps that kids clipped and this drastically affects the value. I do the most accurate job I can grading and then pricing each comic book but it takes me longer to do the work which means I am unable to get as much product out there for sale as I used to.
Over the course of the summer I was approached by several people regarding a purchase of the entire comic book inventory of the store. Using the information given to me by my accountant the value at sale price was $25,000 for all 170 boxes of comics. However each deal disintegrated in one way or another and in the middle of that the store landlord gave me a 3 day notice. We began negotiating for more time and at the same time we began negotiating again with other people including other stores to try and make enough money to pay the back rent on the store plus one month's rent on the house.
Unfortunately the store landlord did not acknowledge the pandemic or the fact that I'm doing this after having a stroke and decided to file papers with the clerk of the court of Pinellas County. This gave us limited time to come up with the outstanding rent. In a desperate gamble, we negotiated with another store hoping to get what we needed. They offered to take 100 boxes for $2,000 and all the toys for $1,000, effectively crippling the store. The value of the merchandise was at least four times what they paid if not more and we should have at least gotten twice that much if not more.
Out of that $3,000, $2,500 went to the store landlord and $500 went to the house landlord.
In addition whatever books we were keeping were pulled and set aside and in the two weeks since this deal went down I haven't even been able to bring those boxes back out on the sales floor because of my disability. I haven't gotten any sales hardly at all in 2 weeks.
I now owe a balance of rent by the middle of this coming week which would be the 29th of September Plus they want me to pay attorneys fees Plus September's rent. In addition I still owe a balance of rent for September on the house.
I am working at a severe disadvantage right now trying to pick up the pieces of my business and organize the remainders of the store merchandise while trying to get the boxes back out for sale.
Understand, we probably could have gotten what we wanted for each item if we just had enough time to properly price each item and do some live sales and reach a wider audience.
We simply aren't given enough time because the store landlord has pushed things over the line and taken the matter to the court.
I'm between a rock and a hard place because I've made all the house payments up until now in their entirety but now I owe $800 balance plus once the store rent is caught up I should be able to make the store payment monthly without a problem. All of this was exacerbated by my wife not being able to get a job until recently. Her working will help but right now I don't even have my multiple medications which are waiting at the Publix Pharmacy for me to pick up because every dime is going to these rent payments.
I take four different blood pressure pills. I take Plavix which is a blood thinner. I take an anti-inflammatory for diverticulitis. I take Flomax for the prostate. I take medication for cholesterol. I take an antacid for acid reflux. I don't have any of these. I have one blood pressure pill at home and I have my diabetes pill. That's it. Currently the situation has become life threatening. And because I have already had a stroke I know that I am at risk of another stroke.
If I cannot make enough money to get the store rent caught up and get even, I'm in danger of being evicted from my store
We are threatened by both the house landlord and the store landlord on almost a daily basis. The high level of stress is taking its toll on both my wife and me. In addition to my health problems, my wife has been to the emergency room with chest pain that we thought was a heart attack. It was not but they could not find out what the cause was.
I have not given up on trying to do online sales but I have run into a catch-22 situation because I have been giving the house landlord every dime until this month but it is put me behind shipping the books to the people that are buying books. I've been reluctant to try selling anymore until I can get people shipped.
I've got my back to the wall no matter which way I go.
I do as much work as I can here in my store but I am Limited as far as climbing a ladder to put merchandise on the wall, as far as writing out price stickers to get the merchandise ready to be sold online, as far as lifting boxes. Because of my stroke I have a true disability. I have not qualified for any disability yet but my son hired an attorney to put me in for disability. From what I'm told I have another year to go before I might get approved. So it's very important that I get caught up so I can be at break even and begin making my payments current and on time. It would also be important for me to get all my medication so that I don't have another stroke or heart attack especially right now during the covid-19 crisis and when I'm under this much stress.
If you can help in any way by either purchasing some comics or making a donation it would be appreciated. I'm not happy about doing a fundraiser. I've tried to do this on my own since before the covid-19 crisis but I'm simply overwhelmed.
Thank you
My name is Patrick Potter. On November 5th 2019 I suffered a stroke and was forced to be closed until we reopened on Black Friday. I was in the hospital originally completely paralyzed on my right side and over the course of the next couple of weeks I began regaining control of my limbs and undergoing physical therapy.
Upon my release from the hospital I was tasked with catching up the rent and other bills. Although I had a strong 3 days on Black Friday weekend, the weeks that followed were bleak and I did not make the money I thought I would.
That's not to say we did not give the landlord some money. There had already been back rent due from the summer when I moved from one house to the other and in doing so lost a lot of time opening my comic book store. When I returned to work regularly I was working on online sales and in-store sales daily up until the stroke. In December 2019 we gave the store landlord $2,000 and in March we gave him another $1,000.
But as everyone knows March 2020 was when covid-19 swept the country and the World At Large and all non-essential businesses were forced to close to the public.
I also must point out that from the last week of November 2019 until the first week of March 2020, I was unable to drive my car and my wife and I relied on Uber to get back and forth from the house to the comic store and Back Again as well as to grocery stores and Pharmacy for essential items.
The multiple Uber trips totaled $3,500 over that 14 week period. The mandatory Lockdown from middle of March until May cost me a good deal of money. I tried selling online but what little I sold during the lockdown went to essential items and food.
Of course I am at high risk having had a heart attack at the beginning of December 2018 in which they placed a stent in my heart, and having had a stroke November 5th 2019, I'm being diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes. Covid-19 targets high-risk people like me with multiple health problems.
During this time my wife was trying to get a full-time job but everything was on hold or fell through and she only just recently got a part-time job for a company called 24/7. She does online customer service making $9 an hour working 25 hours a week.
Additionally, while at work at the job my wife used to have, my wife was injured in October 2016. A subsequent workman's comp case dragged on until April 2019. When the case settled, my wife was forced to resign from that job. When my wife received her settlement she prepaid the first year of rent for the new house that we're trying to qualify to buy. Unfortunately covid-19 interfered with her job plans and therefore the purchase of the house. The pre pay rent ran out in May of 2020 and I began having to run some excessive sales to cover a house rent of $1,500. In addition for every day we were late we paid $10 per day. I paid the house rent for May June July and August of 2020 plus late fees for each month because I was late every one of those months. This put me further behind on the store rent.
It's not that my comic book store doesn't make any money but because of the covid-19 crisis and because of my stroke there is a reduction in sales. The pandemic has reduced business as far as walk-in customers and online sales. But the stroke has impaired me so that I don't work as fast as I used to and I'm now doing all the work myself. To sell comic books that are vintage I have to grade each book which involves counting all the pages, examining them for tears or for any coupons or other things that might be clipped out of the pages. Marvel Comics for instance used to have Marvel value stamps that kids clipped and this drastically affects the value. I do the most accurate job I can grading and then pricing each comic book but it takes me longer to do the work which means I am unable to get as much product out there for sale as I used to.
Over the course of the summer I was approached by several people regarding a purchase of the entire comic book inventory of the store. Using the information given to me by my accountant the value at sale price was $25,000 for all 170 boxes of comics. However each deal disintegrated in one way or another and in the middle of that the store landlord gave me a 3 day notice. We began negotiating for more time and at the same time we began negotiating again with other people including other stores to try and make enough money to pay the back rent on the store plus one month's rent on the house.
Unfortunately the store landlord did not acknowledge the pandemic or the fact that I'm doing this after having a stroke and decided to file papers with the clerk of the court of Pinellas County. This gave us limited time to come up with the outstanding rent. In a desperate gamble, we negotiated with another store hoping to get what we needed. They offered to take 100 boxes for $2,000 and all the toys for $1,000, effectively crippling the store. The value of the merchandise was at least four times what they paid if not more and we should have at least gotten twice that much if not more.
Out of that $3,000, $2,500 went to the store landlord and $500 went to the house landlord.
In addition whatever books we were keeping were pulled and set aside and in the two weeks since this deal went down I haven't even been able to bring those boxes back out on the sales floor because of my disability. I haven't gotten any sales hardly at all in 2 weeks.
I now owe a balance of rent by the middle of this coming week which would be the 29th of September Plus they want me to pay attorneys fees Plus September's rent. In addition I still owe a balance of rent for September on the house.
I am working at a severe disadvantage right now trying to pick up the pieces of my business and organize the remainders of the store merchandise while trying to get the boxes back out for sale.
Understand, we probably could have gotten what we wanted for each item if we just had enough time to properly price each item and do some live sales and reach a wider audience.
We simply aren't given enough time because the store landlord has pushed things over the line and taken the matter to the court.
I'm between a rock and a hard place because I've made all the house payments up until now in their entirety but now I owe $800 balance plus once the store rent is caught up I should be able to make the store payment monthly without a problem. All of this was exacerbated by my wife not being able to get a job until recently. Her working will help but right now I don't even have my multiple medications which are waiting at the Publix Pharmacy for me to pick up because every dime is going to these rent payments.
I take four different blood pressure pills. I take Plavix which is a blood thinner. I take an anti-inflammatory for diverticulitis. I take Flomax for the prostate. I take medication for cholesterol. I take an antacid for acid reflux. I don't have any of these. I have one blood pressure pill at home and I have my diabetes pill. That's it. Currently the situation has become life threatening. And because I have already had a stroke I know that I am at risk of another stroke.
If I cannot make enough money to get the store rent caught up and get even, I'm in danger of being evicted from my store
We are threatened by both the house landlord and the store landlord on almost a daily basis. The high level of stress is taking its toll on both my wife and me. In addition to my health problems, my wife has been to the emergency room with chest pain that we thought was a heart attack. It was not but they could not find out what the cause was.
I have not given up on trying to do online sales but I have run into a catch-22 situation because I have been giving the house landlord every dime until this month but it is put me behind shipping the books to the people that are buying books. I've been reluctant to try selling anymore until I can get people shipped.
I've got my back to the wall no matter which way I go.
I do as much work as I can here in my store but I am Limited as far as climbing a ladder to put merchandise on the wall, as far as writing out price stickers to get the merchandise ready to be sold online, as far as lifting boxes. Because of my stroke I have a true disability. I have not qualified for any disability yet but my son hired an attorney to put me in for disability. From what I'm told I have another year to go before I might get approved. So it's very important that I get caught up so I can be at break even and begin making my payments current and on time. It would also be important for me to get all my medication so that I don't have another stroke or heart attack especially right now during the covid-19 crisis and when I'm under this much stress.
If you can help in any way by either purchasing some comics or making a donation it would be appreciated. I'm not happy about doing a fundraiser. I've tried to do this on my own since before the covid-19 crisis but I'm simply overwhelmed.
Thank you
Organizer
Ashley Kline
Organizer
Largo, FL
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