July results.

I've done some numbers crunching.

Overall, I was down 16% down in sales from last year (not the 15% I said the other day.) Still, that's better than the 20% down in sales I've been most of the year and that I expected up until the last week.

(NOTE: Sales are only part of the equation, and not the most important part. Profits are what really count. Last year was my most profitable year, if you consider take-home pay instead of payments on loans. This year will probably be about the same. Last year, most of the profits came in the first half of the year, this year most will come in the second half of the year.)

July was a profitable month, but only half as profitable as it should have been. I sure wish I hadn't suffered that collapse in sales in the middle of the month, but that's part of the game. The bigger problem was me responding to a stellar first week by over ordering.

I should be able to make up for that in August. I'm halfway through the billing period, and I'm bound and determined to get through the next 12 days without falling off the wagon.

Leave it to me to find a small negative in that 16% vs 20% numbers -- but because of the way the weekend fell, probably 2% of that improvement came out of August. But, hey, it's in the bank now and that's what counts...

All bills are paid, money in the bank, and a small balance on my credit cards (1500.00 -- I've been paying off a 5000.00 order of books by 500.00 a month since January.)

(NOTE: the kind of 'profits' I'm trying for, is cash profits over and above the slightly better than minimum wage I pay myself. Nor does it include profits in increases of inventory, or -- in the past -- payments of principal in business loans, both of which the IRS considers profits.)



O.K. Some specifics.

1.) Comics were basically equal to last year. A bit of a surprise, really.

2.) DVD's were also equal.

3.) Sports cards were down considerably. This is a category that depends on having a couple of heavy buyers of full boxes, and most of those customers have disappeared. But my budget is within the correct range, so no real harm done.

4.) Card Games. Magic sales were down quite a bit. They accounted for about 5% of the difference between last year and this year. But again, it frees up my budget to spend on other things -- such as:

5.) Board Games. Up a bit, but also the highest they've ever been. A record month.

6.) Books. Again, up a bit, but the highest they've ever been. A record month.

Not dramatic increases, but hey, in the Great Recession, advancing at even a small pace can't be a bad thing.

7.) Toys: Equal to last year.

8.) Graphic Novels: This was the other category with a big decline. It happened industry wide, apparently, and no one quite knows what to make of it. The Watchmen can't account for all of the difference, can it?

Overall, I think my responses have been right on. Build on books and games, maintain everything else.

Also scary to contemplate not having added boardgames and new books a couple of years ago....