Spent much of yesterday measuring the store, seeing if my ergonomic vision was crazy or not.

Amazing how something that I basically came up with in my sleep was right on. To the inch. And that's the trick, because if I'm off even an inch, nothing fits. So I'm just going to believe that my sub-conscious has been working on this for some time, and was just waiting for the day when I was ready.

When I design correctly, I end up subtracting by addition. That is, I'm going to really expand my capability, and yet only lose one moribund display. If you had asked me last month, I wouldn't have thought it possible. I think the new design is going to make the store look cleaner and crisper. Give me the capacity to pretend I'm both a new bookstore and gamestore, without losing anything I'm already doing.

Like I said yesterday, all due to the miracle of white laminate bookshelves.

The downside. I need 25 new bookshelves, which at full price would run about 1250.00. That's if they have them in stock. And a massive amount of moving. I'd love to just be able to wave my hand and have it done. It doesn't really look that hard to do, but I know that it will really cause chaos for awhile.

So, I'm sitting on the idea for the next few weeks. Keep my eyes open. See about bookshelf availability. Then hire four young husky guys to do all the moving for me.
I'm determined to just direct the labor this time: it's very hard on a guy's ego to watch everyone else lifting without pitching in, but my back and 2 hernia operations later and 55 years old, and fuck it, I'll be macho by NOT doing it. Though I'll probably spend and inordinate amount of time explaining to the workers why I can't help. February is one of our slowest months, so the damage to business will be minimal if I plan in advance correctly.

This is also a bit of a statement that I'm sticking to this location if at all possible. Instead of looking for solutions outside the current space, this is an attempt to do what I want with the space I have.

I was standing there in the entryway, tape measure in hand, staring into space when customer Todd walked in. "Oh, oh," he says. "You're changing things again, aren't you?"

Every six months. Don't know why. But it keeps things interesting.