Grow or Die?

I'm pretty obsessed with the store right now. Constantly monitoring what's selling and what needs to be put back out again and what needs to be displayed face out. I'm really banking on the idea of having extra copies of the good selling books, even more than I am in ordering the new bestsellers. 

I'm not sure bestsellers is the right word, because these books haven't really proven themselves. They are more the "Chosen," by the industry to be the next bestsellers, which is somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think I sold two or three of the "Chosen" in the first four days of the week. I probably need to sell at double that pace, at least. I'm definitely banking on the summer tourist trade. 

Yesterday was the first day that really that both really felt like summer and in which all the books I've gotten were fully in place. Sure enough, we hit our goal. That's kind of what we need to do. 

Whatever happens, I need to remind myself that we have returnability. It will probably make a huge dent in our cash-flow, which is why I'm doing it in the summer, but in the end, it can all be justified. PRH is gambling on me, and I'm gambling on them. 

I'm also intending to do returns with Ingrams, but I'm not going crazy on my orders there. Probably ordering twice as many of the "Chosen" as normal, but not three or four times as much as I am with PRH. 

 

I'm fine-tuning the displays in the next week. I've bought white cube lifters to raise up the new book displays and to give us more storage. I thought I'd ordered 10 of the 15" cubes, and then realized that was probably a mistake in that they would be too big for the center rack. 

However, apparently I only ordered one by mistake. 

When I went back to look at the white cubes, I found a different maker who makes slightly smaller cubes, which work much better for us. So the mistake turned into a bonus. 

By the way, I'm also being very aggressive with buying Magic. We've made real inroads there. The "Buy 5, get the 6th Free" offer is really attracting the gamers. It probably reduces our profit margin by 10%, but it also probably doubles our overall sales, so it's a net gain. 

I really gambled that having more SKU's would make a difference and I think it's paid off.

I'm pretty sure this recent increase in sales won't go away and can still be built on.

Pokemon, meanwhile, seems more static. But there are always people who buy them so I'm not worried.  I ordered enough of it to probably last us through the summer and beyond, especially if a new wave is coming. 

I'm continuing to be aggressive with comics and graphic novels, as well as toys. I'm taking advantage of every special offer, which may not pay off immediately, but if done consistently eventually take on a sort of "rolling" benefit; that is, the special offer product I bought a year ago sells enough to pay for the special offer this month. That's the theory, anyway. I think it works. 

Board games are probably the most problematic product right now. There's just too many coming out, too hard to predict, too hard to get the in-demand games. We're making sure we're stocked on the base games: the Catans, and Carassonnes, and Ticket to Rides and those sorts of games and I've given Sabrina the go-ahead to keep her eyes on what other games we could be selling.

I'm making sure the D & D stuff is fully stocked, with lots and lots of dice, and I've plunked down a bunch of money on Pathfinder; which will give us a second RPG game we can try to sell. 

I don't really buy into the Grow or Die philosophy. I think that corporate America's goal of constantly increasing profits is starving the core of our country as well as destroying the environment.

However, I think I do believe in Strive or Die. That is, make improvements over time. I don't think it's wrong to rest on your laurels for awhile: I've been trying to train myself to do that for years. But I do believe that once in awhile, you need to see if you can't make things better, if for no other reason than to keep one's interest in the business.

170.2. I'm OK with just maintaining that weight for a few days. Still have three days to get down solidly to 170, which was my original goal. I'm going to keep on doing this way of eating for the rest of summer, not so much to lose more weight, though that will be nice, but to establish a new baseline to my weight, the way I did when I reached 180. 

I'm more flexible and have more energy, lighter in step. No real change in my appearance, though. Darn it.