One question answered....

My monthly statistics were looking kinda strange, so I dug up my records from 2006 to compare.

In May, 2006, games and new books represented 7% of my sales.

In May, 2009, games and new books represented 27% of my sales.

In other words, without those two product lines, I'd be having trouble.

SHOULD I OR SHOULDN'T I?

I wondered at the time if I was doing the right thing by bringing in new product lines when I knew the economy could go south at any time. I wondered if I had the room. I wondered if I had the energy. I wondered if it would defuse the focus of the store too much.

I'd ask my wife, "Am I going too far? The store is packed! Should I add even more?"

Her answer was, "It's what you always do." Which was either reassuring or a warning.

AN OPPORTUNE MOMENT IN TIME.

But I saw an opportunity, as well. Gambit Games was leaving, and the Book Barn showed every sign of getting ready to leave. I knew I was getting requests for books that almost never showed up used. I thought that the Euro-Boardgames were catching on.

I was going to be standing alone for awhile, at least, with Anime Mt. gone, and American Sports gone, and Fun and Games, and so on....

CASH OR PRODUCT

The choice at the time was to stand pat and save the cash.

Or to roll the dice one more time and see if I couldn't establish a new revenue stream or two.

I thought at the beginning of 2007 that I would have a year or two before the economy would crash, or that I would get plenty of warning. Business was still good, so I took the plunge and started buying new books and boardgames. That continued until about mid-August, when the whole Bear Stearns fiasco kicked off the economy collapse.

ANOTHER MOMENT OF CHOICE.

It was clear to me that the economic slide I'd been blogging about for about 8 months at the time, had begun. But the dropoff was relatively small at first, and continued at a relatively moderate pace for the next year -- about a 10% decline.

I'd seen enough strength in the boardgames and books to want to continue. Sometimes a little bullheadedly. I picked every moment to reinvest.

THE REAL CRASH.

In September of 2008, the real crash started. Sales took another dip. I was still not quite sure whether I should continue, but I had Christmas ahead of me and I went forward. By about January, I was mostly there. I made one more big huge book order, and I've been maintaining ever since.

THE RESULTS.

As I mentioned above, these product lines, which are paid for, now represent 27% of my sales. What's more, they are still showing growth at a time when all the established lines are sliding.

I figure that if I'd just save up the cash I spent on the product, instead of reinvesting, that I would've used up that reserve by the end of this year. And I'd be stuck.

Instead, the two extra product lines have made my store cash-flow viable when I most need it. I've gotten new competition in books and games, comics are in a transition phase again (aren't they always?), I don't have any heavy sport card collectors right now, toys are hit or miss, and so on.

Books have been especially valuable with the foot traffic. I got 84 people in yesterday, on a Tuesday, my slowest day of the week. Most of them were interested in books, which accounted for about 45% of my sales.

TROTTING OUT THE OLD CLICHE.

If you'll pardon my trotting out the old cliche -- "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime."

But in this case, I think it's true.