Every year we close the store for one to two weeks after the holidays. This year we are only taking this week off. Our Christmas was so busy we thought it best to be open for folks to use gift cards and bring visiting family into the store and then close. Some readers might think we’re crazy, but in a rural town we have a little more latitude to be more human than a larger store in a big city where there are expectations of being open 362 days a year, closing only for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Our town is such that our customers actually applaud us for just shutting the doors and giving staff a real rest and allowing people to have quality family time. Commerce is not the driving force of our decision to be booksellers. It’s about connecting with people and helping them find the right book. And after the Christmas season we had, shuttering the doors is the only real way to recharge our batteries.
Because we are closed this week, we are also going very light on the blog posts. Nothing says a true vacation then actually having nothing hanging over our heads. I encourage readers to revisit the Who’s Winning Awards in January and make some predictions for the upcoming ALA Midwinter announcements.
I hope you & Elizabeth (& your booksellers) truly enjoy your week off!
How wonderful! GOD BLESS U for having the courage and taking the time to do that for your staff. I am a out of work bookseller and I miss selling books so much especially my friends and co workers. I always told my family that retail takes its break around January lol. Have a fun break
Yes. It is a vocation/passion…. dealing with people, face to face.
I rarely take time to read all the interesting bits and pieces in PW. Glad I clicked on this one.
What lovely employers you must be. I know your employers appreciate it.
God bless you for remembering to remain human.
OMG. You’re setting a VERY dangerous precedent by acting human toward employees. What would Ebenezer Scrooge say? 🙂 Have a great week off. Smart move.
Bravo! After reading your posts about your busy Christmas, I did wonder how you would all recover and recharge your batteries. Closing for a week is the perfect solution, and a fitting reward to everyone for working so hard.
Hear, hear! When you own a small business it’s difficult to make yourself stop working. At our flower shop we closed for a few days and drastically reduced our hours the other days, just so we could get a bit of a break. It’s the first time we’ve done this and we’re definitely going to keep up the practice! Glad to know other retailers are of a similar mind. 🙂
The most important thing about any small business is understanding your market. Sounds like you know yours very well. Sometimes the best marketing you can do is to do nothing 😉 Good Luck to you and all the indies this year! The year of the Dragon looks promising for the industry.
Wait! Other bookstores close on New Year’s Day??? Hmm… Why do I always end up working that shift?
Hope you had a lovely week off.