The bricks are chipped, decayed. They looked like they were laid individually, by individuals, one brick at a time. Little pieces of brick fell to the floor, lay next to the building. Some of the bricks stick out further than others, with slightly different coloring, very faded, yet, even faded, add to the buildings detail, surround the windows and doors, forming small windowsills and entryways.

The back of the building sits alongside an alley, an alley mostly used by local pedestrians to walk or bike back and forth to the stores a couple blocks away.

The alley is thinnish, mostly empty. A few garbage cans and a shopping cart sit towards the sides. Weeds and grass grow through cracks in the asphalt.

The backdoor and surrounding bricks are covered in graffiti. Most of the windows are boarded. The boards are partly rotten.

A few of the upper windows aren’t boarded. Just like the building, they’re decayed, vintage looking, within wooden frames dividing the glass into four sections.

The wooden frames are old, faded and partly rotted. Some of the glass squares within the frames are cracked. They’re loose. They rattle when the wind blows. The windows are two piece windows. The type where the bottom slides up to open, and somewhat large. I’d imagine they let in a lot of natural light.

Even in their tattered condition, they’re soothing to look at, most likely, soothing to look out of, over the alley in the back, over the city in the front.

The front doors show some age, though, in great condition, with stunning detail. They’re large double doors, made of thick wood, most likely oak, carved beautifully in sections, much like the windows, without windows. The oak is stained dark. The door handles are large, metal, bow shaped.

The building’s been abandon for many years. The roof’s most likely leaking. The old wooden plank floors are most likely rotted.
I wonder what happened? Maybe the owner retired, grew old, then naturally passed away, abandoning the building. Not likely. Life’s much to cruel.

He was probably a very hard worker, dedicating much of his life to his business, yet things kept going wrong. Maybe he didn’t have good people around him. Perhaps he was given bad suggestions as to how to run his business. The bills kept piling up, while his income kept lowering.

Perhaps he was older, spent almost his whole life working, saving to open his business. The cost to open many businesses is astronomical. Even after years of saving, he needed to take out a loan.

A few months after he opened his business, a competing business opened in the area, a franchise, providing lower prices. Many locals frequented the competing business.

After years of losing money, doing everything he could to keep his business open, he began defaulting on payments. The bank foreclosed the property, though, didn’t upkeep the building, couldn’t sell the building. The building sat, decaying, wasting away.

Maybe there wasn’t any other competing businesses in the area. Maybe he was crooked, overcharging and treating purchasers with disregard, taking advantage of the lack of competition, selling inadequate items.

The neighborhood is poor, his business practices potentially caused many unwanted financial issues.

Chances are, he really cared, not just about profit, the service he gave purchasers and the quality of the items he sold. The cold hard realities of life kept wearing on him. The bills and lack of income most likely caused him a lot of stress. The stress most likely caused him issues at home. The issues caused the business to close.