My customers THIS week, thank you very much.

Well, I did exactly three times the sales this Saturday that I did last Saturday. Maybe all of these customers were here last week, and came back this week? Yeah, right.

When you talk to your customers you realize:

A.) They are tourists who are in town THIS week. Not LAST week and not NEXT week. They are here THIS week. Just as last Saturday there were tourists in town for the week -- who were efficiently waylaid away from shopping in my store.

B.) Regulars, who I didn't see at all last week, and who I did see this week.

Whatever I do today will be bonus, because I didn't bother to open last Sunday because the bike race ran from 10:00 to 2:00 cutting right into the middle of my day. So I suspect for the weekend I'll be somewhere around quadruple the sales of last week. Not double, not triple -- quadruple.

I've always wondered how other merchants in other towns feel about street closures, and I stumbled across an article, when I was googling "bookstores" and "closing." (I've posted it at the bottom of this blog.) So I'm not the only one who isn't pleased with street closures.

The conflicted feelings of the merchants just oozes out of this story; you can tell they don't want to say anything negative, or be the bad guys, but it's pretty obvious it hurts them.

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I've been able to add up my August 'Cost of Goods' already.

I'm not sure if I've finally figured out how to do that, or that I've just never tried, but I've never done this so early in the month before. Amazing that I can already know the total of what I've spent on product this month. Assuming that I don't spend money next week -- which I can tell you right now, I won't be spending money next week. (Despite having sold out of Settlers of Catan yet again.)

So I was a mere 200.00 over budget. Not bad. Given my tendencies.

Nothing more I can do to affect sales until I start ordering for September the week after next. I just need to take care of my customers for the next 22 days and hope they come through for me. If I can do my average for July, which is my projection, I will match my profits for the year.

Now I need but keep my eye on the ball until the end of the year -- obsessively, since that's what it takes -- to turn the best profits of my career. I've forgiven myself for not having much of a personal life, right now, so that I can actually sock some money away.

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A phrase caught my attention in today's Bulletin article: "Businesses, Banks Alike Caught In Credit Crunch."

"A business needs a loan or a line of credit to turn a profit, but a bank needs to see profits before it agrees to lend."

Nice tidy sentiment, that seems wrong to me. A business needs a loan or a line of credit to do many things: open up in the first place, expand, cover seasonal cash flow, or to just plain operate. All of which need to be done before you turn a profit.

So, technically, I suppose you could say a business needs a loan to turn a "profit"; if you stretch the definition. In reality, borrowed money eats into your profits. Borrowed money isn't profits. It can't take the place of sales. Which seems to be the implication. If you have low sales, your loan payments will just make it harder.

Just saying....

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To say the housing industry is 'recovering' because of foreclosures and short sales is pretty ridiculous.

It's like a couple of beachcombers coming across the flotsam of a sea wreck, and saying, "Gee, the shipping industry must be doing really well!"

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Parade preparations frustrate downtown shop owners

By Aaron Falk

Deseret News
Published: Thursday, July 23, 2009 9:52 p.m. MDT

Parade route restrictions rained on some downtown business owners Thursday, with parking along a part of the route blocked off a day earlier than expected.

As parade-goers staked out spaces for the annual Days of '47 Parade, parking along 200 East was restricted for most of the business day Thursday.

"I've watched people pull up, go to put money in the meter and drive away," said Missy Baber, who owns Misc Boutique. "The day before a holiday, potentially it could have been a really good day (for business)."

Along the parade route, business owners are accustomed to closing shop each July 24, but losing an extra day of business was difficult to swallow for some.

"Given the weak economy and the ongoing economic depression, I really don't appreciate the city going out of its way to take away potential business by shutting down all of the parking today and the entire street tomorrow," Ken Sanders, who owns a bookstore on 200 East, wrote on his store's Facebook page. "That's two days worth of sales that I can't make up."

While the signs on the meters said parking was not allowed Thursday, police did not plan to enforce the restriction until 8 p.m., said Salt Lake City Police spokeswoman Lara Jones.

"This is the delicate balance we have to do every year," Jones said. "We have to give people advance notice or they'll just clamor that they didn't know. … It's one of the biggest events of the year. It's one of those issues we have to deal with. It does create some headaches, and we're sorry for that inconvenience."

Sanders questioned why parade-goers were allowed to claim space along the route when a city ordinance restricts camping along the route until after 8 p.m.

"I'm resigned to not being able to get to my business (on the 24th)," he told the Deseret News. "As odd as I find that behavior … God bless them. But don't take away my parking. How does it make sense to allow the camping and not the parking, which is affecting mine and others' businesses."

Jones, meanwhile, said officers would not impound cars illegally parked along the parade route, instead moving them to a lot beginning at 4 a.m.

Baber said she hoped the parking problem was a one-time thing for her shop.

"I'm fine with sacrificing one day. Two is pushing it," she said. "I still want to be here next year."