Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 336, Going Out of Business.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 336.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development at in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
You can go to our website at eslpod.com and download a learning guide for this episode.
The learning guide will give you all of the vocabulary definitions, additional sample sentences using the key terms from this episode.
You will also have a cultural note about a general topic related to this episode.
We also include additional definitions not discussed on the podcast, comprehension questions and a complete transcript of this episode.
This episode is called Going Out of Business.
It's a dialogue between Julianne and Elio about a business that has closed.
Let's get started.
I'm really glad to be back in Macville.
What happened to the market that used to be here?
Oh, it went belly up.
It struggled for many years.
The owners tried to downsize and reduced the space they were renting, but they had to throw in the towel when they got into debt.
What a shame.
It was such a nice store, and the family who owned it was always so friendly.
Yeah, things have changed a lot around here.
Where is the restaurant that was next to the market?
I used to eat lunch there all the time.
The owners couldn't make it profitable.
And after trying to get loans to bail themselves out, they ran out of options.
They had to pack it in.
What's happening here?
The gift shop is going out of business.
It's having a big sale to liquidate the store.
The owners lost their lease and have to close.
This store has been in the family for generations.
But the property owners want to tear down the building for a parking lot.
A parking lot?
For what?
With this economic downturn and all of these businesses going bankrupt, who will want to park here?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Our episode is entitled Going Out of Business, which describes what happens when a company decides to close its business.
Julianne begins by saying, I'm really glad to be back in Macville.
What happened to the market that used to be here?
Elio says, oh, it went belly up.
To go belly, B-E-L-L-Y, up is an expression that means to fail as a business, to go out of business.
Elio says the business struggled for many years.
It struggled.
It tried very hard to do something that was difficult.
The owners tried to downsize and reduced the space they were renting.
To downsize means to reduce the size of your business.
It is often used to mean you are getting rid of some of your employees.
You have a smaller company.
You are downsizing.
Well, this company downsized by reducing the amount of space it had to rent for its store, but eventually the company had to throw in the towel when they got into debt.
The expression to throw in the towel is an idiom meaning to give up, to stop trying to do something because it is too difficult.
I tried to learn how to play the piano when I was young, but it was too difficult for me, so I threw in the towel.
In this case, the business has to throw in the towel because they are in debt.
D-E-B-T.
Debt is when you owe money to a bank, a company, or another person.
You borrow the money, then you are in debt to that person.
Notice we use the expression to be in debt, means I have a lot of loans I have to pay.
So in this case, the company went into debt or they got into debt, which meant they didn't have enough money to pay back the loans that they had taken out.
You can be in debt without closing your business, of course, as long as you are paying for your loans.
In the United States there are many people who bought big houses over the last few years and now are in debt and they have problems paying their loans.
Julian says, what a shame.
That expression, what a shame, means what a pity.
It's used to show that you feel bad about something that has happened.
It can also be used to show sympathy to someone else.
My girlfriend left me and you say, what a shame.
Can I get her phone number?
Elio says that things have changed a lot around here.
Julianne asks, where is the restaurant that was next to the market?
I used to eat lunch there all the time.
Elio says the owners of the restaurant couldn't make it profitable.
When we say something is profitable, we mean it's making money.
It is getting more money in than it spends.
They are profitable.
Well, they could not make the business profitable.
And after trying to get loans to bail themselves out, Elio says the restaurant ran out of options.
To get a loan, as we talked about earlier, means you get money from a bank or from another person with the understanding that you are going to pay that money back.
You are going to give it back.
Usually...
You give it back plus interest.
You give them money for loaning you the money.
The restaurant tried to get loans to bail themselves out.
The expression to bail B-A-I-L oneself out is to get out of a difficult situation, especially when you don't have enough money to do something so that it is no longer a difficult financial situation for you.
For example, if a bank is having problems, and it doesn't have enough money.
In many countries, the government will come in and bail the bank out.
They will get them out of this difficult financial situation.
Both the word bail and shame have additional meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some more explanations.
Well, the company, the restaurant, tried to get loans to bail itself out, but they ran out of options.
An option is a choice, an alternative.
To run out of something means to no longer have something.
You can run out of milk.
I don't have any milk in my house.
I ran out.
In this case, to run out of options means you don't have any other choices.
You are forced to do one thing because there are no alternatives.
This is yet another expression meaning to stop doing a job or an activity.
You may say that at the end of the day.
I'm going to pack it in.
I'm going to stop working.
In this case, the restaurant stopped operating completely.
Julianne says, what's happening here?
Meaning, what is going on in this town of ours, this city where we used to live?
Elio says, the gift shop is going out of business.
When a company, especially a store, closes, it will often try to liquidate its products.
To liquidate means to sell everything that the business owns.
Usually...
Because you need to pay back your debt.
You need to pay your loans.
So you sell everything you have.
That is to liquidate.
Elio says the owners of the gift shop lost their lease and had to close.
To lose your lease means that you can no longer rent goods. the place where you were renting before.
A lease, L-E-A-S-E, is a legal agreement to rent something.
To lose your lease means you no longer are able to rent from whoever owns the property, whoever owns the building.
They decided not to, we would say, renew your lease.
Renew means to sign a new agreement.
Elio says the store had been in the family for generations.
Generations means a long time in this case.
A generation is a group of people who are born at about the same time.
We sometimes refer to every 15 to 20 years as a generation.
There's a famous book in the United States called The Greatest Generation, talking about the generation of Americans that fought in World War II.
My father was one of those in the greatest generation.
Well, in this case, the store had been in the family for generations, for many years, but the property owners want to tear down the building for a parking lot.
To tear something down is a phrasal verb meaning to, in this case, destroy something, to get rid of something.
In the neighborhood where I live, there are many small houses like mine that have been torn down And new houses have been built on the same area, the same land where the little house used to be.
Julianne says, a parking lot for what?
With this economic downturn and all of these businesses going bankrupt, who will want to park there?
She's saying that there's no need for a parking lot because there has been an economic downturn.
A downturn is when the economy gets worse.
People are losing their jobs.
Inflation may be going up.
This is a downturn means that you legally declare to the government that you no longer have money to pay your debts.
Usually if you go bankrupt as a business, you have to close your business.
So that is bankruptcy.
I hope you don't go bankrupt any day soon.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I'm really glad to be back in Macville.
What happened to the market that used to be here?
Oh, it went belly up.
It struggled for many years.
The owners tried to downsize and reduce the space they were renting, but they had to throw in the towel when they got into debt.
What a shame.
It was such a nice store and the family who owned it was always so friendly.
Yeah, things have changed a lot around here.
Where's the restaurant that was next to the market?
I used to eat lunch there all the time.
The owners couldn't make it profitable and, after trying to get loans to bail themselves out, they ran out of options.
They had to pack it in.
What's happening here?
The gift shop is going out of business.
It's having a big sale to liquidate the store.
The owners lost their lease and have to close.
This store has been in the family for generations, but the property owners want to tear down the building for a parking lot.
A parking lot?
For what?
With this economic downturn and all of these businesses going bankrupt, who will want to park here?
Your guess is as good as mine.
The script for this podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Say, who's still in business.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2008.
