Friday, September 21, 2007

O.K. I admit it. My store has gotten too crowded. Don't tell Linda, who has felt that way for years. In fact, the Bookmark is almost the 'anti-Pegasus', with it's wide aisles, and single product.

But, I have to admit my store has probably gone from crowded, to cluttered, to "oh my god, is this all going to fall on me!"

Every week I go through the same song and dance. "I've run out of room! I give up! Close the doors!"

Pat just shakes his head. He does think I'm some kind of wizard about finding places for all the new product. I amaze myself sometimes. There always seems to be another way to consolidate or combine. But the store is actually becoming difficult to maneuver around. When even I back into stuff, or trip over stuff, it's probably time to change.

What to do? My sales have gone up with every addition. I've diversified into a nice steady flow of business. I can order just about anything, and it will fit somewhere in my store -- if I had the room. Hard to argue with results.

But I've noticed, for instance, that I've gone from getting compliments about my store, say 5 years ago, along the lines of, "This is the best comic book store I've ever seen," to very few actual compliments, but lots of, "How do you keep track of all this?" or "You've got a lot of inventory!"

Of course, compliments and 50 cents won't buy you a cup of coffee. And every time something sells out of a crowded nook and cranny -- something I crowbarred into place -- it seems to confirm my suspicion that the more stuff I have, the more I sell.

Still, yesterday, I had a sense that I've gone too far.

I know all about sales. That, I've decided, is not the answer. I'd rather remove product and store it in the basement. I can't expand, because both stores next too me are solid. I looked very seriously into opening a second location, but you know all about that.

Mostly, I'm going to try to order just a little less, just a little less often.

Of course, I have been trying to do that with Manga for about six months now, and I've probably decreased the footprint by, oh, maybe a foot. Hardly noticeable.

But at least I'm willing to admit that maybe it's gone too far.

If only there wasn't so much cool stuff yet to get!

7 comments:

IHateToBurstYourBubble said...

Not by hiring a manager and five employees and buying every fixture new, and spending a fortune on upgrades.

This (economizing) is not even in the mindset of an equity locust. "Used"? GROSS! "No employees"? Who's going to do the heavy lifting?

Apricot Lane springs to mind. The best of everything, all done right. Closed down at the end of their first lease term.

Duncan McGeary said...

I've decided the biggest advantage of experience in business is knowing when NOT to spend money. WHERE to spend the money. HOW to spend the money.

There are always obvious and usually high priced places to buy anything, and these are the first places people find.

Scratch under the surface, and you'll find almost the same stuff much cheaper.

Spend a few years in the business, and you find the stuff for a fraction the cost. Or you realize there is stuff you don't need to buy at all.

The Natives Are Restless said...

I think the ability to control both debt and expenses is the most helpful asset a business owner can have.

dkgoodman said...

I think you hit on it with storing stuff in the basement. Instead of keeping multiple copies of product in the retail space, just keep one issue or copy of each product, and when it's sold you grab another from inventory and restock the shelf.

dkgoodman said...

Off Topic: Check out these photos on Flickr:

Superheroes

Anonymous said...

I'll tell you a secret. All those long-term businesses that are closing? They came in the waves of equity refugees in the 80's and 90's and their savings are gone and they're tired of working 60 hour weeks and their wife has finally put their foot down and said enough.
-dunc

*

Thanks dunc, you have hit the nail on the head. These folks were around in the 80's they know exactly what is coming, these folks that got out now will look like Einsteins. People will look @ Merenda and The Deep in a few year and shake their heads.

Go ahead newbies take the plunge, use your 401k to start a biz in Bend.

That whole mcGinnis article smelled like a plug, for some tourist that's still here this late in September. Stick around blow your 401K live the dream.

I'm glad you have clarified who has terminated the 60+ hrs/week for min wage. It doesn't take a a great mind to see what is coming to Bend, it just takes having been around here for 30+ years, and we know exactly what's coming.

All these folks running the town today, have completely shutdown the old timers, all the fresh young faces at City Council. It's all like DOT-CON, bricks&mortar was out, the web was going to re-invent business. The folks running Bend today were going make Bend a world-class city, with a world-class university. What have they brought? Tons of debt, an infrastructure ready to burst and impending bankruptcy.

I think its a real scary time to be in Business in Bend. The folks running the government are going to be squeezing the blood out of everyone very soon to feed the beast they have created.

Keep your expenses low, you know you'll survive, you have been here before.

Duncan McGeary said...

I'm probably going to winnow down the non-sport collector cards, maybe a few of the older toys, to start with. Put them in boxes in the basement.

And give the ordering process a bit of a rest. I've been going full blast for about 3 years now.

Sales are nearly double what they were back then, so it's worked. But it's probably time to scale back just a bit/