Sunday, November 28, 2010

Black Weekend results.

Credit where credit is due. You've got to hand it to the mass market. They've done a hell of job of claiming Black Friday -- Black Weekend -- to themselves. Hijackers.

20 years ago, these two days were huge for us. Now? Not much better than average....

I may think the chainstores have accomplished the dirty deed with Smoke and Mirrors, but...well, they've done it.

(You know, either those discounts are impacting their margins or they're not. If so, then all those increased sales won't turn into lots of profits. If not, then they are a big phony deal that we've all fallen for...Smoke and Mirrors.)


I actually had a lot of people in the door on Friday. My sales were slightly over last year, but way below what we used to do on this day.

Sales were down on Saturday. The weather really didn't help there.

I'm sort of expecting an average Sunday.

Overall, we were down from last year, but not by much. Since my expectations were nil, I'm pleased overall. November, however, pretty much sucked. Over the last five years or so, November has turned into my slowest month.


Interesting -- what happens is that these kinds of weekends tend to spring loose my regulars -- so that I make more money, but it's the same people as usual. Plus their families. Because, it's seems to be my kind of people this season.

My evidence is -- during busy times, my comic and graphic novel sales tend to be about 45% of my total sales. During the off season, they tend to be between 50 to 55%.

In November, comics and graphic novels have been 65%. Which means the drop off hasn't been so much among my regular customers as it has been the 'Off -the-Street.'


I wrote the middle part above in the middle of the day on Friday, so I think I need to revise it slightly. I did have tourists and locals spending Christmas money during the day. So, like I said, I'm pleased.

1 comment:

Duncan McGeary said...

So, adding up the day before Thanksgiving, and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I was only $50 less than last year.

Given that most of the month was down much more than that, in percentage drop, it gives me an eensy, weensy hope for Christmas.

eensy, weensy...