Flukey

I've had some really flukey business this month. I'm nearly 20% above our average, and yet it's been slower than the dickens. I've sold 1000.00 worth of cards and comics out of the basement, for instance, which usually doesn't come into play at all. (An indicator, really, of how slow it is that I'm both aware and willing to let that part of the store be opened.)

It's as if I have a store full of gleaming, new material, and in the corners I have some old, faded, dusty product that's been sitting there forever. And suddenly it starts selling.

The other reason this is happening, I think, is that there is a bit more of a scavenging mentality in play here.

The thing I know, though, is that I can't count on 'flukey' business on a day to day basis.

But like I said, it has been very very slow in activity. An hour or two at a time with no one coming in.

My little parking indicator. We have exactly 12 parking spots on our block. Over the last five years of so, there was rarely more than one spot open. Lately, it seems that every time I count the spots, there are 4 or more.

Or that it takes 10 minutes to get to work now, not 20 minutes.

Up until now, I've sort of had the feeling that people were holding off spending; waiting, trying to save.

Now?

They got no money.

Different feeling altogether....