We're open all day.

We could close at 4:00 or so, but I kind of like wandering around the store, tidying things up, soaking up the atmosphere, relaxing.

So I send the kid home and stay open myself that last two hours.

I also mosey around and pick up presents for family, anything I've had my eye on that people didn't buy. Scoop up several calendars and books and maybe a toy or two.

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I'm sorry. I just couldn't get myself to play Christmas music.

I'd planned to do it the last two days before Christmas, but....I couldn't do it.

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I need to update my talking points about the store.

I keep saying "We've been here for 30 years!"

But-- as of next week -- we'll have been here 32 years. In a few months, I will have owned the store for 28 years.

I'd never have guessed it. I never thought it was going to be my career. I'm glad it was.

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I think maybe I overdosed on people a little this week. Toward the end of my shift, I was feeling a bit frazzled and was just giving back blank looks when people asked me questions.

Fortunately, I have a cheery, well-trained crew in place this year.

Yesterday was the biggest day of the year -- maybe of several years. And we are a stone's throw from beating last year with a week still to go.

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Had the regular customer who is the husband of another downtown business owner. I was telling him that sales were good, but I'd also spent so much that it would still be a challenge to stay in the black.

He just shook his head. "Why do you guys do that? I keep telling my wife, the money you make is the money you don't spend."

Which is undeniably true.

But I just don't think you can ever remove taking risk from small business, no matter how many years you are around. If you weren't the type to take risk, you'd probably never have opened a store in the first place. And if you quit taking risk, then you're dead in the water.

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The real reason for the big reboot of the DC titles. I wanted to order more Green Lantern #4, and I had to go through page after page after page of Green Lantern stuff....

I suppose I still do, but at least the comic ordering has been simplified.

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