Perhaps the Great Escape could have picked a better date to open for business than May 30, 1977, but in my opinion it would have been awfully tough. Opening five days after the original Star Wars film debuted in theaters, the Nashville comics and collectibles shop opened at virtually the beginning of the pop culture explosion that followed. My childhood was filled with trips to the Great Escape to buy first comic books and later CDs, and I have many found memories of the place. It added fuel to the fire of my already vivid imagination, and I’ve been reaping the rewards ever since.

Owner Gary Walker is interviewed in today’s City Paper regarding the store’s upcoming 30th anniversary. He talks about the store’s origins and, more importantly, its future:

“CD sales are down this year some 20 percent from last year, and last year they were down from the year before,” he says. “The future for this business is somewhat bleak, because the business model has changed drastically. We’ve moved as a society to an iPod and downloading culture, and we’re all losing a lot of business. But we’ve come up with some strategies to deal with these changes.”

“I saw attitudes start changing about 10 years ago, “ Walker continues. “The biggest thing we’ve done over the last five years in response to a lot of what’s happened is build up and improve our Internet service, starting with the Web site. I had to go to school on that whole cyberspace world, but it was a necessity. Now we’re steadily emphasizing Internet sales, and also expanding into eBay sales and eBay auctions.”

I’m glad to see the Great Escape adjusting to the changing consumer landscape, and based on the great timing of its original launch date and its subsequent success, I wouldn’t bet against the little shop that could. Here’s looking forward to many more great years of making trips to Broadway. Happy birthday, Great Escape!

How does one year-old wedding cake taste? It’s a little dry, despite having spent the past 365 days in our freezer, but it wasn’t half bad. I only managed a couple of bites Sunday evening when Carrie and I participated in this time-honored marriage tradition. We were just happy that our lovely white cake from May 2006 was still white rather than green or some other unwelcome color.

We didn’t eat much because we had an outstanding dinner at Germantown Cafe, the site of our first official date in April 2004, before heading home to check out the wedding cake. We had a feeling that, though we wanted to try the cake, we might not want a whole lot of it. Instead we somehow topped off the huge portions at the Cafe with a delicious chocolate torte and vanilla ice cream. It was fantastic, but we were rendered semi-conscious by such a huge meal upon leaving the restaurant.

It’s been a fun and challenging and rewarding 12 months, and I can’t believe the time has gone by so quickly. Here’s looking forward to another great year–and another chocolate torte. I seriously doubt the torte will wait until next May, but the anniversary has no choice.