The customers are are ours, and nobody but ours. Cha, cha, cha!

I decided to dedicate the summer to the store. Partly because the physical changes need to be finished off, partly because of the emptying of the basement, and partly because book sales have surged so much that it requires a couple of extra days per week to order everything.

It's weird, but we're busier than ever. I just posted this on my Facebook:

"Re: Bulletin article on tourists driving to Bend.

 

Yes...yes they are.

 

And may I point out, we've had no festivals or street fairs or any of that other stuff going on.

 

The customers are all ours, and nobody but ours. Cha, cha, cha!"

 

I'm hoping that the rest of the Downtowners will finally understand that they've been shooting themselves in the foot every summer....Not much hope, really. The entrenched interests are just too strong.  

I always talk about Bend being somewhat isolated. We are far away from interstates or any other metro area. But I also think this makes us a tad exotic--even to people from the valley. ("The Valley" in Bend parlance is everybody west of the Cascades.) 

I always ask where people are coming from, and it's a ton from the valley, but also a bunch from California and Washington, and some from much farther. I'd have to believe this is going to rebound to our favor in the future, too.

As long as the tourists don't ALL move here!

Meanwhile, most of the stores on my block are still closing on Sundays and Mondays. This is totally inexplicable to me--that's 28% of the week they are foregoing!!!

Anyway, it's fun to have this much activity and, at least in our store, everyone is wearing masks--though I still have to remind people to put them over their noses. 

If the Fall nip in the air doesn't arrive too soon, this could be a record summer.