The changeover is coming.

When you've had a year of 30% increases, (this over the best year you've ever had) you get kind of spoiled. So when that rate of growth finally subsided in June to a mere 15%, it felt like a disappointment. But really, it's a more sustainable level of growth. I was a little worried about what would happen in August if we kept growing at that rate. I don't think our bandwidth, so to speak, could handle that many customers. 

What's happened is that we had a big surge in summer last year, with Pokemon and Magic and books and back issue comics all hitting new peaks. So I knew that as of June, we'd be piggy-backing on major growth which had already factored in. 

I think that's exactly what happened.  

It's harder for me to know what's happening with the broader market and economy. I believe Magic has settled down and Pokemon is not quite the mania it was last year. Books continue to grow, but it's a mature product line for us now so the rate of growth is good but not overwhelming. As I said, it's the rate of growth that has slowed. 

Bend is popular and downtown Bend is very popular, and we continue to benefit from that. I don't know how much longer people will defy the rising costs of everything, but so far it doesn't seem to have slowed down the flow. 

My workload is increasing. I'm going into the store for a few hours before opening to put away books and clean and straighten and break down boxes--all the things that is becoming increasingly hard to do during official store hours. Then I spend at least a couple hours most nights reordering books.

I don't mind. I actually like it. And if I wasn't around, it would be a real cost in time or money for Sabrina. (I'm very, very fast both ordering and stocking.) So I'm hoping to stick around--with Sabrina the owner. She seems OK with that.  

"I didn't know you were here!"

Listening to a podcast called "The Rise and Fall..." with Michael Girdley talking about big businesses that have come and gone. When I heard his B&N episode, he became credible to me. He pretty much got it right, though I wish he could have mentioned that Indie bookstores have had a resurgence as well. But mostly, it was pretty insightful. He ended by expressing some doubts about the story B&N is spinning, noting that almost all the stories were repeating the same things, sometimes the same words, which means it's probably a PR spin. I've heard enough from insiders to think that the big changes haven't been as big as advertised.

Anyway, I continued to listen to his podcasts and what became clear to me was how many business and industries and products have simply disappeared or retreated than I was aware of. Once they're off the radar, you just don't think about them

Businesses like mine that last 47 years seem to be rare. I've changed constantly, from being all comics, to almost all sports cards, to half a game store, to the present day, two/thirds books. It's a bit of a problem with locals because everyone who was exposed to my store in the first 30 years have an impression of my store that is no longer accurate. We're a full-time bookstore, with a fairly deep inventory for the space we have. Over the weekend we had families come in where the visiting members of the family were dragging the locals into our store and the inevitable comment: "I didn't know you were here!" Or "I had no idea that you were doing this!"

I try to look on the bright side. That means there are still a ton of locals to convince into being new customers.  

 

I started taking Wegovy pills six days ago. Not to lose weight--any more than 10 pounds would be really pushing it--but because the possible cardiac, liver, and kidney improvements. I got 4. milligram pills, but my understanding is the 1.5 to 2.5 is the normal starting dose.

It's not going well so far. I've had episodes throwing up and acid reflux and I feel off-kilter most of the time. I'm going to keep trying for another week. If it doesn't improve, I'll ask for a lower starting dose. But hey, I've already got six day in, so I'm going to try to make it work.

 

When you can recognize a Glenn Gould Bach tune by the humming in the background.