Shuffling the deck.

I woke up last night with the analogy of shuffling the deck.

My store is like a 52 card deck, of which I only show 5 cards at a time. Of course, I want to show the best 5 cards, so the analogy isn't exact; but I have a huge range of material, and the possible combination of product I can show face out is nearly endless.

I'm constantly surprised by the quality of backstock I have. I can pull a book out at random, and it has a Wow cover; a great title; a neat idea. And it's lost at the bottom of the deck.

There can be a serendipity in the combination, as well. Unseen connections.

The store is constantly morphing, of course. A very slow shuffle. I need to make room so I have to move stuff, or a hole develops, and I fill it with previously unseen product, and so on.

So I just need to keep doing that, and maybe try a little harder to flip product around in creative ways.

I'll probably want to leave about half the books that are currently face out, because they are proven sellers. But I think I'll try to change the other half every week, probably on a Thursday.
It probably won't have a huge effect -- to tourists, it's all new. The regulars probably rarely glance at areas of the store they aren't used to. But it's worth a try.