Rainfall and Umbrella Sales: More May Mean Less

According to an article in The Globe and Mail, it is raining more in Vancouver than it used to. However, while you would think this would be great for umbrellas, it turns out that it is not the "right" kind of rain! It is raining harder, but not as frequently.

Corry Flader, one of the family owners of The Umbrella Shop, Canada's last remaining umbrella- manufacturing business, says the fact that it rains less frequently, but harder, is not good for business. "My sales have been hurt dramatically because now it rains in buckets."

Ms. Flader mourns the weeks of steady daytime drizzles that used to send her sales soaring. (Her consolation is that her sales are still going up, as people have veered away from cheap, flimsy umbrellas and toward more durable ones, as they weigh their purchases more carefully in a tough economy.)