This will be our third highest month in 45 years of business. It looked for awhile like it would be our best month ever, but sales on card games fell off in the second half of the month. It's turned into a bit of a stalemate. Prices are so high customers are hesitating, but the replacement cost so high that I can't lower prices. 

We're on course with the savings I was shooting for. I've spent a bit more on product than I originally intended, but this will set us up well for the rest of the year. Our store has always tried to have more variety in card game boosters than anyone else and that supply is drying up in the wholesale market so I'm making some investments now. 

Going with Ingram has been much easier than ordering direct from the publishers. Of course, the publishers are now suddenly offering even higher discounts promos, so instead of foregoing 10% in margin, it's more like 15%. Still, until I've gotten clear statements from all the publishers, I'm going to keep ordering from Ingram. Not to mention, I love getting replacement product so quickly. 

When I try to fudge the difference by buying both from the publishers and Ingram, we end up with a lot of duplication. Which isn't totally bad if the books are perennials, just not as efficiently "Just In Time" as I'd like.  

As I suspected, once I got an up-to-date statement from Simon & Shuster, I owed quite a bit less than I'd been accounting for (worst case scenario.) I think the same thing will probably be true with Scholastic and Harper Collins. 

 

We've turned our attention to back-issue collectable comics and it's really paid off. I've kind of delegated Dylan to make that effort; keep reminding people of our back issues and direct them toward where they can find them. We've gone from having very few collectable comics to a big surplus, so much that people can dig in and find some treasures. 

 

Sometimes people compliment me on our curation of books, and up to now I've always agreed out loud but in my head I'm thinking (Well, we have what sells, which is what everyone sells.) But really, it is becoming more and more true that our selection is unique. I keep ordering books that are interesting but not best-sellers because we can afford do, and the more of these midlist books we carry, the more interesting the store. At least to me.  

 

I'm curtailing the experiment of going in early. Yes, it's quicker and more efficient, but...physically, it's wrecking me. I've had a sleeping pattern now for probably 40 years. Go to bed at 12:30,  wake up around 8:30. Once I programed myself into getting up "early" my ratfink brain decided I meant 5:30 or 6:00 and that's too damn early. 

I went in yesterday afternoon and put away 10 large boxes of books. Yes, it took all afternoon and yes, it was stressful and inconvenient. but at least I got my beauty sleep.  Plus, I think I was missing the conviviality of being around my people.