I think maybe summer business is over.
You never can tell. Some years, summer "thinking" extends into September. Some years, it ends mid-August. Has to do with the smell in the air, the feel of the wind, I don't know.
Anyway, the last two weeks really slowed down. I still beat August of last year, by 8%, which is cool. So that's two months in a row, with a good chance that September will come through as well, if the DC #1 perform at all.
Then again, though I didn't know it at the time, I think last summer MAY have been the bottom for us (knock wood, knock wood.) I mean, comparing it to everything else, it pretty much sucked.
So this year was probably a bit of a dead cat bounce. Plus the total increase was less than the increase in magic. Books and games were up, everything else was down.
Normally, three months in a row I consider a trend, but I think I'll reserve judgment. A bunch of this is just bouncing off previous bottoms.
Though I normally wouldn't point to the stock market as an indicator of anything, I think the drop in mid-August in the market was so severe, that it probably actually did have a dampening effect on spending.
For me, a recovery would be a feeling that the bottom won't drop out again. Holding to previous lows wouldn't surprise me, in fact, I'm kind of expecting that to happen.
Not because I have any knowledge of the future, but just because that is how every bust I've experienced in the past has happened. Just when you think it's over, down it goes. Then, just as you expect it to be over, down it goes, and then...well, you pretty much give up looking for it.
And then, sometime in the future, you realize it isn't dropping anymore. It happened when you weren't looking.
You never can tell. Some years, summer "thinking" extends into September. Some years, it ends mid-August. Has to do with the smell in the air, the feel of the wind, I don't know.
Anyway, the last two weeks really slowed down. I still beat August of last year, by 8%, which is cool. So that's two months in a row, with a good chance that September will come through as well, if the DC #1 perform at all.
Then again, though I didn't know it at the time, I think last summer MAY have been the bottom for us (knock wood, knock wood.) I mean, comparing it to everything else, it pretty much sucked.
So this year was probably a bit of a dead cat bounce. Plus the total increase was less than the increase in magic. Books and games were up, everything else was down.
Normally, three months in a row I consider a trend, but I think I'll reserve judgment. A bunch of this is just bouncing off previous bottoms.
Though I normally wouldn't point to the stock market as an indicator of anything, I think the drop in mid-August in the market was so severe, that it probably actually did have a dampening effect on spending.
For me, a recovery would be a feeling that the bottom won't drop out again. Holding to previous lows wouldn't surprise me, in fact, I'm kind of expecting that to happen.
Not because I have any knowledge of the future, but just because that is how every bust I've experienced in the past has happened. Just when you think it's over, down it goes. Then, just as you expect it to be over, down it goes, and then...well, you pretty much give up looking for it.
And then, sometime in the future, you realize it isn't dropping anymore. It happened when you weren't looking.