Wearing a parka in 80 degree weather.

Imagine, if you will, that you have to lay out your wardrobe a full month in advance. Imagine that you pick long johns and a parka for the 1st of the month, but the day arrives and it's 80 degrees outside, but you HAVE to wear it! Or, imagine that you pick shorts, t-shirt and sandals and the day arrives and it's 30 degrees and two feet of snow outside....and you HAVE to wear it!

To me, trying to ascertain sales a full month (or two or three....) in advance is a lot like trying to predict the weather.

Oh, like the weather, you can get general seasonal differences correct, but you are lucky to get any one particular week, day, or hour right.

I know what you're thinking. "What....budgeting again?" I see your eyes glazing over. "Dear god, mister! You do go on about budgeting!"

But sometimes I feel like budgeting is the whole ball game. The difference between success and failure, between making a little money, a lot of money, or no money at all.

It's not the only thing, of course. There are many more elements to a successful business, and indeed, budgeting only really matters if you've already got the rest of it right: The right product, the right location, the right hours and employees and set up and so on....

But budgeting is what I struggle with, day in and day out.

I'm probably kidding myself that I can ever arrive at the ideal budget. It probably changes from month to month; and yet, that's the point. It can't change month to month, or it doesn't work.

It's a bit of a Catch-22.

Sticking to a budget when circumstances are changing can be foolish.

But changing the budget to constantly changing circumstances can be foolish, too.

So far, in this latest downturn, (the last six months or so), I've been oddly lucky in that the 'bad' circumstances have proceeded the 'good' circumstances.

In other words, when I'm trying to arrive at a budget, bad sales have made me prudent, which have then been followed by good sales, which has made back the money.

If it had been the other way around, I would have arrived at a higher budget, followed by bad sales, resulting poor profits.

But the whole point of budgeting, in some ways, is to avoid this yo-yo effect.

If I have the correct ( in-the-middle budget) in both good months and bad months, it should even out.

It's hard -- if you've had a good streak -- to go with a budget that is lower than you think you need.

It's just as hard -- if you've had a bad streak -- to go with a budget that is higher.

That's why it's important to arrive at a budget that has some continuity, and sustainability.
And which averages out over good months and bad months.

Because I'm not always going to be lucky (?) enough to have the bad weeks proceeded the ordering of new product.

I know this is kind of vague -- it has to be, because it's a combination of being both flexible and solid; steady and variable, predictable and surprising.

In the end, I suppose it's more of an art, than a science.

When a "SALE!" isn't a "SALE!"

I've always avoided storewide sales. I figure I'm just training my regulars to wait for the cheaper prices.

It's not that I don't sell stuff at a discount, but I find a verbal "I'll give this to you for a cheaper price" works better for me.

For instance, right now I'm selling the anime and manga at a steep discount. If you buy 2 manga, you get another 2 manga free. If you buy two anime, you get the third anime free.

I intend to shrink back the space devoted to these two products, and then bring in only the best-sellers.

I believe that the big boys -- the mass market -- know this, as well. I believe that almost every "SALE!" they have was designed from the start -- factored in from the moment of production. Which, if you think about it, isn't really a discount, but simply a lower price that has profit built in.

Oh, sure, they have Clearance sales -- but, there too, I suspect most of them were factored in. I read once, that the OUTLET MALLS ran out of seconds and remainders almost immediately, and starting producing cheaper product for the sole purpose of selling out of these malls.

Cheaper as in -- well, cheaper. As in, you get what you pay for. Either this product never needed to be at the higher price in the first place, and the lower price is an admission of that, or they have done skimped on some part of the production in order to achieve a lower price.

Yeah, yeah. Higher volume makes cheaper prices. But the same point remains. If higher volume has created cheaper prices, than that should be the regular price, not the "SALE!" price. See what I mean?

I think the consumer has figured it out, mostly. They don't much respond to sales unless they perceive them to be real.

They still respond to "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS" sales, though. They need to be more skeptical of these, too. There is at least one furniture store that had a super califfragilistic "Going out of Business!" sale, and has popped back up in the same space under a different name. (Quietly, I noticed, as if they are abashed.) I know of a jewelry store who has done that at least twice.

Most people don't know that what's happening is, a third party comes in after the owner has removed the best pieces, and starts selling their own junk. After 90 days, they're gone, and the cheap crap they sold is unreturnable.

Meanwhile the former owner has a burst of cash, most of the same inventory, and all they have to do is open under a new name.

Here too, I think some of the consumers are becoming savvy. I've noticed that these second and third incarnations are a little more humble, and do less well.

There is another store downtown that I once added to the "Leaving" list because I could swear I saw a "Going Out of Business" sign. Then, a few weeks later, I was driving by and there was another sign, "Clearance -- not going out of business" and I dutifully removed the listing.

The story I recently heard was, the owner(s) found out that you can only "GO OUT OF BUSINESS" for 90 days, and had to revert to a Clearance Sale.

Lately, I noticed they had the "Going out of Business" signs back up, so we have to figure they're serious. At least, under the current name.

Makes you wonder, don't it? I mean, I could conceive of a business plan that was something like this.

Stage 1: Open a new business with a splash. Have huge sales and events.

Stage 2: Run the business for awhile -- if it's hugely successful, keep running the business.

Stage 3: If business starts to slow, have huge "CLEARANCE" and "INVENTORY REDUCTION" sales.

Stage 4: Start telling your customers you may go out of business, and you'd rather sell them the product at vastly reduced prices. Have "CUSTOMER APPRECIATION" sales; private party SALES, etc.

Stage 5: Stop replacing the product. Keep the profits. Run down the store until is stops paying the bills.

Stage 6: Sell the GOING OUT OF BUSINESS sale to a third party, but first remove the last of the 'good' stuff into a storage space.

Stage 7: Spend 90 days on the GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE.

Stage 8: After a decent interval. (a month or two?) open under a new business name with your infusion of cash.

Stage 9: Rinse and Repeat.

Like I said, I think you can only get away with this once or twice. And if you're business is successful, why would you want to do it? (For the Money.)

I belong to a couple of business bulletin boards, where there has been a fairly constant phenomenon. A business owner starts making noises, and you know changes are in the offing. Finally, they announce they are "Going out of Business."

I swear to you, about 90% of them make the same statement after a month or two of sales. "I wish I had known I could raise this much cash, or I would've stayed in business."

But of course, the reason they are raising so much cash is because the consumer has read their intentions to quit, and are buying. If you dare to NOT close, you will be punished. A few have tried that, and since the dynamics of whatever was driving them out of business didn't change, once the influx of cash is gone, so are they.

Big surprise, huh? Business is cynical.

No Customer Roll for You!

Because I didn't work yesterday.

Linda volunteered to work for me.

I did have to go in around 1:00 for an hour training session on the POS. Completely disruptive to business, which is why I've been scheduling these sessions before work, but both Aaron and Sam wanted to do it at 1:00, and I wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.

Sam has missed two sessions, I have missed a session, and -- showing that Aaron is human after all -- he missed one session.

I'm just not quite getting there. There are a couple of major issues I haven't quite figured out. Part of it is my own reluctance to learn a new system. I find myself paying attention for only a period of time, and then my brain shuts down. (Aaron says he sees it in my eyes...)

Part of it is that I need to import some information from my book publisher.

It's like the information is slowly coalescing into something solid, but it's still a little blurry.

And part of it is that this is the absolute worse time to be taking on a big new task. I'm so busy with customers that my head is spinning. Huge foot traffic, lots of little transactions, and very little time off. I can't stop everything midstream. Just the hour of training yesterday made that very clear.

I asked Sam how many other stores had my system, and he said 150. Out of 3000. "Are there other stores who want it?"

"Oh, my, yes. We have a HUGE waiting list."

I hope they don't lose patience with me. My 90 day training window is rapidly closing, but Sam said they'd extend it if needed.

I've set a tentative date a few weeks from now to spend an evening doing inventory with friends and family. I'm giving myself until the end of September to make the full transition. It should be easier to deal with all the hiccups if I have a third or half as many transactions to deal with. (Probably about a third less sales, but more than that in customer count....)

I know it needs to be done, I realize that I'll end up really appreciating it, but damn -- being my own boss, I give myself too many outs.

July results.

I've done some numbers crunching.

Overall, I was down 16% down in sales from last year (not the 15% I said the other day.) Still, that's better than the 20% down in sales I've been most of the year and that I expected up until the last week.

(NOTE: Sales are only part of the equation, and not the most important part. Profits are what really count. Last year was my most profitable year, if you consider take-home pay instead of payments on loans. This year will probably be about the same. Last year, most of the profits came in the first half of the year, this year most will come in the second half of the year.)

July was a profitable month, but only half as profitable as it should have been. I sure wish I hadn't suffered that collapse in sales in the middle of the month, but that's part of the game. The bigger problem was me responding to a stellar first week by over ordering.

I should be able to make up for that in August. I'm halfway through the billing period, and I'm bound and determined to get through the next 12 days without falling off the wagon.

Leave it to me to find a small negative in that 16% vs 20% numbers -- but because of the way the weekend fell, probably 2% of that improvement came out of August. But, hey, it's in the bank now and that's what counts...

All bills are paid, money in the bank, and a small balance on my credit cards (1500.00 -- I've been paying off a 5000.00 order of books by 500.00 a month since January.)

(NOTE: the kind of 'profits' I'm trying for, is cash profits over and above the slightly better than minimum wage I pay myself. Nor does it include profits in increases of inventory, or -- in the past -- payments of principal in business loans, both of which the IRS considers profits.)



O.K. Some specifics.

1.) Comics were basically equal to last year. A bit of a surprise, really.

2.) DVD's were also equal.

3.) Sports cards were down considerably. This is a category that depends on having a couple of heavy buyers of full boxes, and most of those customers have disappeared. But my budget is within the correct range, so no real harm done.

4.) Card Games. Magic sales were down quite a bit. They accounted for about 5% of the difference between last year and this year. But again, it frees up my budget to spend on other things -- such as:

5.) Board Games. Up a bit, but also the highest they've ever been. A record month.

6.) Books. Again, up a bit, but the highest they've ever been. A record month.

Not dramatic increases, but hey, in the Great Recession, advancing at even a small pace can't be a bad thing.

7.) Toys: Equal to last year.

8.) Graphic Novels: This was the other category with a big decline. It happened industry wide, apparently, and no one quite knows what to make of it. The Watchmen can't account for all of the difference, can it?

Overall, I think my responses have been right on. Build on books and games, maintain everything else.

Also scary to contemplate not having added boardgames and new books a couple of years ago....

You want it cheap, or you want it good?

It's always interesting to me when people balk at the price of quality product. I'm not talking about your everyday commodity; I'm talking about something that is nicely made, isn't generally available, and isn't discounted by anyone else.

I just have to shrug. Either the quality is worth paying for, or it isn't. But what it says to me is that some of these people just don't buy UNLESS it's on sale or cheap, and quality isn't really the point.

I suppose I never noticed this as much because until recently, I never really tried for that higher quality market. Most of my product was in the 1.00 to 50.00 range, with a few exceptions. I stayed in that zone, mostly, because I hit so much price resistance in the past.

But as my store has filled out, I've realized the only way to get some of the nicest material is to get it at the higher prices. So I've slowly morphed in that direction. Frankly, I have limited space, so I need product that can produce more dollars per foot. One of the consequences of the high rents.

Still, I kind of like it. Nothing super fancy, mind you. But nice.

Games like Settlers of Catan are just made better than your average Monopoly set. You can feel the quality in the heft of it, the packaging, the contents, the colors, the thickness of the cardboard, and so on. Just the sheer pleasing design of it.

Same with the "deluxe" editions of classic graphic novels like Sandman or Watchmen, or the wonderful reprints of Peanuts, or Dick Tracy, or Little Orphan Annie.

I'll have people pass over these wonderfully solid hardcover books, which cost in the range of 30.00 to 50.00, even though they are obviously attracted to them; and then they'll buy (they'll settle for, if you will) a 10.99 paperback of Pearls Before Swine, or Get Fuzzy. (I'm not knocking it, just wishing they could see their way to buying the nicer books....)

Same with 'designer toys.' An artist created it, and it is usually produced in smaller quantities -- so small, that I estimate that about half of the designer toys I order are 'canceled'; which means they didn't even make it to my wholesaler before they sold out.

But they cost quite a bit more than your average toy. I pass on most of the $100.00 and more toys, but I have a fair number in the 30.00 to $80.00 range, and when I quote the price, people put them back quickly.

"What does this belong to," they'll ask. (You know, what movie, what cartoon...?)

And I'll say, "Nothing. It's an object that is esthetically pleasing in it's own right."

I might as well be talking Greek.

"Oh," they'll say. "Do you have any Spider-man toys?"

So it's the very quirkiness of the artist toys that attracts me to them, and which drives the average customer away. Problem is -- weirdly enough for a comic store -- I just can't get decent Spider-man toys at a decent price. And when I do, they sell for even cheaper at Walmart. I'm almost forced (gladly, in this case) to carry the unusual, the weird, the wonderful -- and often that comes with a higher price tag.

And, well, it comes with a need to sell to people who think for themselves, who know what they like, and aren't just following the herd. Even designer toys hinge a little too much on the name value of the maker than the actual object, but there it is. If you buy this toy, you may be the only person within 300 square miles who has it...

I always want to ask, "Do you really like it? Isn't it a bit better than the average? Wouldn't you like having it around, long after you forgot what you paid for it?"

I don't know -- buy less cheap crap, and a few higher quality items and you'll spend about the same.

Walmart and the Dollar Stores are doing great, so I hear.

O.K. I can understand it. But it does make me wonder about the vaunted 'rich' demographic of Bend, though, because I know this stuff sells like crazy in bigger cities.

(***Sidenote, because it deals with comics. But as illustration of Bend's difference...
I recently read a message from a dealer who was asked about his sell-through on a certain title. "Oh, pretty slow," he says. "I've sold about 60% of what I ordered, about 225 copies."

Which made me do a double-take, because I got 10 of the same item. Total. So, he ordered something like 400 copies!!!

I see this over and over again, and it makes me realize that for all the talk, Bend is still a pretty small town.***)

Eventually, if 'designer toys' really take off, you'll see them everywhere and they will become a commodity and they will be discounted. "Ugly Dolls" are already reaching that point.

Eventually, Walmart will convince the makers of Settlers to use thinner cardboard, and eliminate some of the extra pieces, and so on, and the game will play the same and most people will only see that it's cheaper....

The irony being, the longer I'm in business, the less inclined I am to discount; and the longer I'm in business, the more people seem to expect discounts. But the way I look at it; I have a nice store, full of nice things, and you found me because I'm in a nice district of town with high rents. (And if my profit margin is adequate, I can get even more nice stuff and make an even nicer store.)

I'm going to wait for the people who really want something enough to pay for it.

So it goes....

All this is a long lead-in to my real point.

12 years ago, when we had the mall store, probably 80% of the people who came in the door weren't really interested in buying anything. It was the nature of the mall. Lots and lots of people.

Meanwhile, at my store downtown, probably 80% of the people who came in the door were customers, because my store was a destination. I was off the beaten track.

I almost couldn't work the mall store because my expectations were all out of whack.

Now, more than a decade later, my downtown store has turned into something very similar to the old mall store. 80% of the people who come in the door aren't really all that interested in what I have. But there are lots and lots of people.

I'm glad I recognized this trend a few years back and tried my best to carry material that would both fit into my store and also attract the average person off the street. Books, obviously. Family boardgames, too. But also toys and just knick-knacks. Comics and cards and manga and anime are still pretty specialized, but I pick up a bit from the sheer numbers.

I'm not responsible for this change. I stayed in the same location while the world around me changed...

Competition.

Out of curiosity, I started counting the number of competitors I've had in the last 25 years, running up to the first of this year. Not counting current competitors. I came up with a quick 20.

I'm sure I could come up with more with a little thought, but these 20 stuck to my brain enough that when I leafed through the years I remembered them.

Some were more direct competitors than others; but all had some impact on my business, or competed directly with one of my product lines.

This really isn't all that many. I know at one point that Grants Pass, for instance, had something like 12 card shops. For whatever reason, this didn't happen in Bend.

O.K.

First off, I want to make clear that I had little or nothing to do with the demise of the other stores. Competition doesn't work that way.

What happens is that they siphon some of your business away, create business of their own, and then give you back a little when they close. Generally, more inconvenient than brutal.

What caused the demise of all these stores wasn't me, but their own decision-making. Mostly, their decision to open a specialty store in Bend, Oregon.

Sometimes there is enough business in a specialty to warrant a shop, but if there is that much business, then the chain-stores have jumped in, I guarantee you. The chain-stores are responsible for the demise of most small businesses, not competition from other small businesses.

If the specialty is left alone, either it isn't much of a money-maker, or it is a very difficult market to suss. Such as comics.

Mostly, though, all these specialty products, games, toys, cards, books and so on, have popularity arcs and what usually happens is that the specialty store opens toward the top of the arc.

Where the arc settles, however, is a whole nother story.

Wait a minute, you might say, Bend has grown by leaps and bounds. And I'd agree that if you have a specialty that has demand, and the town is growing, you might be successful during your arc.

But it is constantly changing.

My answer was to keep adding product lines, add specialties together, until I had a comfortable range. No one product line accounts for more than about 35% of my business right now, and most are in the 10 to 15% range. It helps smooth the rough spots.

It doesn't make me immune to competition, but it helps.

I always say, a specialty store will always beat me in the short run. Hell, if I was a magic player, I'd probably go to a store where the owner played and gave me a space to play and so on.

But I'm much more comfortable being a generalist. I may not know everything there is to know about any one product line, I may not make all possible sales in one product line, but I have a mix that seems to work.

Hell, at least 3 of the stores were doing a much better job than me when they quit.

But, well, I'm in it for the long run, and I'll adapt to whatever circumstances come around.

I've almost pushed that rock to the top of the hill....

I feel as though I have most everything in the store that I want to have in the store, or that I think I should have in the store.

If I don't have it, I probably haven't heard of it, or I've not thought of it yet, or I don't basically want it.

Oh, sure. Who wouldn't like to have multiple copies, who wouldn't want to fill every tiny little possible hole. But....you know? I've almost done that.

Anyone who has ever had a store will know what a BIG STATEMENT that is. I spent years apologizing for how little I had, years more trying to get to adequate supplies, years more trying to get above average. Years more adding new product lines and starting the whole process all over again.

So, to actually GET THERE, is pretty amazing.

I'm not saying I have every possible seller. But I do have the mix of product I've been striving for. Lovingly handpicked. So that I have the best chance in my opinion of selling something to the broad mix of customers who come in the door. Part of that feeling is from experience, part from cold, hard data, but mostly it's intuition.

I have always had a nagging feeling that one area of my store or another is missing important components. For the first time, the nagging feeling is gone, and I have a sense of completeness. I know that it is temporary, but!...... I may be able to keep up from here. Instead of constantly playing catchup.

I don't have everything, but I've got a good solid selection in every category, which is really all I can do. It's impossible to have everything.

The book world, for instance, is endless. (I just read that 275,000 titles were printed last year.) Just look at Powell's.

But that was never my goal. I wanted a very good selection of good books; I wanted certain authors and genres covered. I wanted my favorites, and I wanted a constant flow of intriguing titles. I've got that covered.

So, yeah. It's pretty much there. I never thought I'd say that.

What's interesting is, I think 99% of the potential customers of the type of material I'm covering would find something to like. It's turned my job from trying to convince someone to buy something else LIKE what they wanted, to actually trying to help them FIND what they wanted.

I've tried to fill the nooks and crannies of material that either dismissed or overlooked by the big chain stores. I think nerd culture is wide, but shallow. That's counter-intuitive, since being a nerd implies a deep and strong attachment to a narrow pop culture niche.

Still, I think 'cult' favorite is just another way of saying, 'not quite popular with the average consumer.'

It actually took another 2 product lines to finally get me to a place where I feel the sales have smoothed out. New books and games. New books is, in fact, a mass market product, but I can sell it in a niche-y way. The equivalent of a small music store selling vinyl records.

In a sense, it is the fulfillment of my business plan. There are going to be plenty of people who think I'm not doing a good job of keeping in what they want: for instance, there are many comic customers who don't think a store is any good without an extensive back-stock, without graded comics, without collector rarities. There are plenty of game customers who don't think a store is any good without a playspace. There are plenty of sport card customers who don't think a store is any good without superstars and newer singles and graded cards. There are plenty of book customers who would don't think a store is any good without an extensive selection of non-fiction.

For reasons to many and varied to go into here, I decided not to do those things. I chose a different path.

And for the path I chose, the store is pretty much caught up.

Having twice as much of the same kind of stuff I currently have wouldn't make much difference, at this point. Kind of like the Star Trek guy who proclaimed "You don't have anything," and after he left I counted over 100 separate units of S.T. So, am I to believe that having 200 units would change his attitude?

What he was really saying was, "You don't have the particular item I was looking for," which is a completely different thing.

No one will ever have everything that anyone could possibly be looking for....right?

So in every category of product I currently carry, I've got the 80% or more of the stuff an interested party would be interested in. The other 20% stretches to infinity..................................................................................................AND BEYOND!

Just to be clear....

Bend economic news is dire. We all know that.

I tend to think in terms of seasonality. As I've always said, I make money four months out of the year, lose money four months out of the year, and break-even four months out of the year.

So, if we miss out on the money making months, we have to endure the other 8 months. This is the problem with basing a town's economy on tourism.

Anyway, all this dire news is taking place at the BEGINNING of summer, which means the next two months are pretty much shot, also. Including June, that's three of the four good months gone. Then 3 slower months, then Christmas, and then another 5 slow months.

Which to me means, the Bend retail economy has almost no chance of recovery for the next year or so. I'm betting next summer won't be much better. Because the housing and building trades -- I'm pretty sure -- aren't going back up for a long time (anyone need a house built? A new hotel? How about a mall?), and the foreclosure crisis will be really zeroing in about then.

Don't let all the talk of green shoots fool you, we're are a long way from recovery. In fact, I think we're still a long way from bottom. Especially in Bend. We'll be hearing about the rest of the country picking up long before it happens here.

Yes, businesses are opening. And they are all whistling past the graveyard. 7 coffee shops in downtown Bend? No problem!

Don't get me wrong. I'd rather have these spaces full. But is it a sign of of success, or a willingness to gamble? A sign of opportunism? A sign, even, of desperation? For instance, I've noticed that some businesses are bailing out of smaller towns around us and relocating in Bend. Is that a sign of strength, or an acknowledgment that the small town thing wasn't working?

I think people are betting it all on downtown Bend, because it seems to be the only vibrant part of the city for small business. Which is true, I suppose. Where else are you going to go?

I guessed a couple of years ago, that the froth of downtown Bend's appeal might just bridge the economic gap. It'll probably be close. Two years from now, the shine will probably be tarnished a bit. But by then, there might be a few of those 'green shoots' for real.

I'm getting fairly high foot traffic, but a very small per-customer average. So I'm hitting my averages by working twice as hard, essentially. Turns out, filling my store with product was the right thing to do in this kind of atmosphere.

The empty parking spots are kind of interesting. So the only explanation for the foot traffic is that the retail around me has grown so much since the last time I kept customer counts, that even a slowdown doesn't bring it down to the old levels.

As I've said, this is a relatively easy slowdown for me to deal with -- I'm feeling amazingly confident -- compared to past situations. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm thankful for those experiences -- as bad as they were at the time -- because they trained me how to deal with this, and most importantly, I know what to expect emotionally and how that all plays out.

That's really important. How you deal with the disappointment, how you accept it, and still keep your equanimity. How even, you look for opportunities in the chaos.

I'm really bemused by all the business activity downtown, businesses closing and businesses opening almost as fast. Thankful for it, because it's fun to watch as it plays out. Some will succeed, some won't -- which isn't all that different from normal times, except maybe accelerated.

But business activity, none the less.

Far better than the alternative of empty storefronts.

Temptation proves too much.

In the last two days, I fell off the spending wagon bigtime. I woke up in the gutter with invoices plastered all over me. A hazy memory of hitting the keystrokes and hovering over the commit button. What harm ordering a few items?

Hi, My name is Duncan. And I'm a Spendaholic.

I've been invoice free for one day.....



I don't want to talk about it.


Moan. Sigh......



Thing is, I've been keeping you up to to date until now, so I'm going to keep on doing it.

First of all, it isn't a huge disaster, unless the economy tanks again. What I essentially did was spend my reserve. It takes the sales level I need to make to turn a good profit from the 'worst case' to 'middle case' scenario. The worst case is obviously easier to reach, but I generally do hit my middle case.

So I can still hit my goals.

But only if everything goes according to plan. I have to stick strictly (as of now, heh) to my original spending plans and not take advantage of any more opportunities for the next 10 weeks. And I just have to hope that I reach my sales goals.

Here's where I supply the rationalizations.

By buying such a huge amount of product as such huge savings, I've given myself more of a chance to reach those goals. By spending it now, I've given myself the entire 10 weeks of summer to try to sell.

I can make the case that this kind of behavior has kept my business going all these years: but also that it's kept me from making much of an extra profit.

Here's my reasoning as to why I just jumped all over the Summer Appreciation Sale from Diamond.

1). It keeps the inventory level high. I can sell fewer items to make back my money, or take longer to sell them.

2.) It takes me out of my ordering box. I know that 20% of my product will sell, but the other 80% is more of a gamble. Frankly, I can't tell much difference in that 80% of product between what I pay full price for and what I got a deal on.

The two examples that are most noticeable are posters and t-shirts. I'm offered dozens of each every month. I used to spend a lot of time trying to pick out the good ones, the ones that either I thought would sell or the ones that really appealed to me. Eventually, I realized I could do just about as well ordering by using a dart board.

Strangely, not everyone likes the same designs as I.

3.) It brings in a constant flow of new material. Just replacing the evergreens would keep the inventory static. At a very high level, to be sure. And most of it would be new to all the tourists.

Still, and I don't know how they do it, but customers seem to be able to pick up when you're active and when you're not. And they generally reward activity.

4.) It keeps me actively engaged in the store. This is no small thing. The more involved I am, the better the store does. Sitting back and letting sales fall where they may is almost like giving up to me.

I'm going to be challenged, over the next month, to find ways to sell the new material. To find display space. The unpack them, and sort them, and price them.

It could actually turn out to be a very good thing.

But it was a gamble I didn't need to make.

UP next.

It seems to me that I spend most of my time at the store trying to simplify tasks, winnow them down to essentials, weed out the extra, and streamline procedures.

So reading Lyle's blog, The Diner Life, and Keeneye's Blog, Untrained Professional with OCD, just wears me out. How do they find the energy?

Here I was feeling sorry for Keeneye, and she goes and takes Flying Lessons. What, huh? No more sympathy from me, buster.

**********

New stores popping up in downtown Bend, without fanfare. Clothing stores, mostly. cc.McKenzie, and Mary Janes are two I noticed. Anyone know the story? Any others?
Anyone closing?

**********

I was talking to another comic store owner down in Ashland, and his level of sales was just slightly above mine, but he's open 11 hours a day, versus my 7, so it probably evens out.

Such consistency is actually kind of reassuring. Makes my predictions much more likely. In fact, the only time I wasn't able to really predict sales within a pretty close margin of error was back in 1995, when I had three bubbles burst at the same time, and nothing else selling.

It was also funny when he said to me, "For being how bad it is, I'm doing amazingly well." Which is exactly the statement I've been making.

********

I'm meeting tech-guy Aaron Leis at the store early today to go over some things with the Point of Sale computer. He's had two sessions so far with the Diamond people, and it seems to be going smooth.

My biggest concern -- trying to get all my inventory online -- may not be as big a problem as I thought. I'm beginning to think I can take my last full inventory done, and then just add the data from every invoice since, and then just scroll down and cross off what I know I've sold.

What I'd really like is for Aaron to by standing at my shoulder for a couple of days while I introduce the POS, but I'm more likely to get a couple of hours and cell phone access....

**********

Pretty quiet on the blogosphere, right now. Both twitter and blogs seem to be trending more and more to spam like entries. I guess that was inevitable. It's another reason I don't gussy up this blog, or add all kinds of hyperlinks, or whatever.

I try to keep it non-professional, if you will. But hopefully still readable.

**********

Seen three summer movies, so far. Star Trek, Wolverine, and Terminator.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with a 6 and above worth seeing in the theater, Wolverine and Terminator were both about 6, Star Trek pretty much a 9. UP next.....

Competition is all right with me.

I got this comment to yesterday's reveal that my card games sales were down and my board games sales were up.

From Mark:

"I'm glad to see your game sales doing so well, but with the new game store downtown, I wonder if your boardgame sales may soon fall like your card game sales have.

Your new downtown competition does a lot more than you do to support card games (weekly in store Magic tournaments, etc). Maybe he is gaining some market share in card games.

He says he plans to do similar things with boardgames. He hasn't quite figured out which board games to stock yet (he has good graduate level stuff, but not many entry level "hooks"). If/when he does figure this out, and follows through on his plans to sponsor in-store gaming activities, I don't see much advantage you will have in this category either.

And if he ever gets a sign up ... whoa baby!"

My first response was a bit flippant:

"And here I was thinking I'd probably get a lot of the magic sales back...."

I don't want to appear threatened or defensive. (I detected a tone of aggression in his comment, but I really don't think we have to fall into a "either him or me" posture....)

I've found that the most mentally healthy way of dealing with competition, is to wish them all the luck. And to offer the hand of cooperation. I've been freely sending people his way, and I'm hoping he'll return the favor.

He has every right to open a business. I'm sympathetic to the desire. I understand why he'd want to be in downtown Bend. Life is way too short for territorial cat fights.

Because competition always arises. Always. No sense getting all worked up every time it happens. I just tend to my own knitting.

My second answer to was to say, it may turn into a a moot point since I think the Big Boys are on their way:

"By the way, I think the chainstores on are the verge of diving into this category, making it moot.

Had a guy yesterday who "Just can't Understand Why Walmart Doesn't Carry Ticket to Ride!!"

He thought they could sell them all day at 40.00 instead of my 50.00.

I'm pretty sure he's right. So...it's probably only a matter of time."

To extend that even further. If it so happens that the competition sells the hell out of boardgames, more power to them! Nothing could be better for our culture than to have families turning off their T.V.'s and video games and sitting around a table for a little friendly social interaction.

But as far as competition goes, local competition is nothing compared to the big box stores. Anything they decide to fully carry is something that then becomes difficult for me to fully carry. Simple as that.

If it happens....I'll just sell something else.

But I also think the concept of competition deserves more of a serious answer.

So here it is.

1.) It doesn't have to be a antagonistic relationship. No reason we can't co-exist. I don't believe it's a zero sum game.

2.) My experience is that competition doesn't usually take all your business - despite what the public thinks. There is usually a downturn at first, but it picks back up again after a certain time. (Same is true when they leave, by the way, there usually is just a small boost in sales, nothing more.) It's the new kid in town phenomenon, and you can't fight it. But like I said, after a certain time, probably because each store creates its own customers, sales trend back to normal.

3.) In theory, by doing what he's doing, he could create new customers, some of who will spill over to my store.

4.) Downtown business is walk-by business, mostly. I'll get a share just by being on a busy street.

5.) If you've read my blog for long, I've always maintained that specialists gain a short term advantage, but generalists will be more solid in the long run. Even if that isn't true, I'm more comfortable being a generalist.

For instance, if a store owner spends all is time and energy and space and money on Magic he can get a very good result.

But if he adds Warhammer to the mix, that adds to his time, energy, space and money commitment, as well as splitting his focus.

Add role-playing games, and the focus get split further.

Add boardgames, and it splits further.

How about cribbage and chess and such? I'm getting constant requests for them, but I don't have the room.

Like I said, nothing's easy. It all costs one way or another. If he chooses to use his space for game play instead of inventory, there are advantages and disadvantages. If I choose to use my space for inventory instead of game play, there are advantages and disadvantages.

If what he says happens, it's a fairly easy thing for me to put my attention into one of my other 8 product lines; sports cards, toys, comics, graphic novels, dvds, used books, new books, a different line of games.

Or something completely different. The world is full of compatible product. I have limited space, but not limited opportunities.

For instance, let's say that Boardgames are selling on a scale of 1 to 10 at a 9; and lets say that anime and sports cards are selling at a 7. So I chose to support boardgames to a larger extent than those other categories.

If boardgames stopped selling well, first of all I don't have to buy as much. Secondly, I can put my money behind anime and sports cards, and perhaps push them back up to an 8, say.

In other words, I'm diversified so that I always have options. I'm always keeping my eye out for other things to sell, for other opportunities. Some things get put on the back burner, some get put on the front burner.

Or I can even decide to carry another selection altogether. I've been looking even more at the Kid Robot type toys lately, for instance. Or like I said, go ahead and bring in cribbage, and chess and backgammon and such. I can think of half a dozen other things I could either bring in or support.

I was once 85% sports cards, and last month they were 2% of sales.

I'm nothing if not adaptable.

I'm hoping we can stay on friendly terms. I've been sending people his way. It's not a very pleasant experience when everyone starts taking sides.

Shop either place or both places. That retail.

5.) We all live by the same retail laws: overhead, margins, inventory, promotion, store design, etc. etc.

I've been doing it for 30 years. I'm feeling pretty good about things right now. I'm feeling pretty confident in my ability to change to fit the circumstances.

6.) Finally, What's with the sign? It's been six months...

The Budgeting Game.

O.K. Boys and Girls.

Let's play the Pegasus Budgeting Game!

The rules are simple.

I have 100 points to spend. Anything over 100 points and I automatically lose.

If I let more than 10% of salable product go out of stock, I lose.

Actually, this is my game and you guys get to watch! Or....you can go down the street and watch the lawns dry up on that abandoned house, whichever is more fun.

This is an honor system, I have to be honest about what is "salable", for instance.

I tend to frontload my orders, because they roll over on the credit card, so I get maximum time to sell the product. Something like this: 30% first week, 25% second week, 20% third week, 15% fourth week, and 10% reserved for opportunities.

The new game starts next week for Diamond orders (which are about 50% of all orders.) and on the fifteenish of June for everything else.

Let the best of my instincts win.

Meanwhile, I got my semi-annual order of standups in, yesterday. I order heavily on the Star Wars, which always sell; (especially Yoda, Darth, and Boba Fett, and I always have to have Slave Leia....) Always have to have John Wayne and Marilyn and James Dean; Elvis and Betty Boop, Pirate Johnny Depp.

New this time. Michelle and Barack. Heh.

Off to the races...

This blog is going to become a bit of a horse race for the next 3 to 7 months, because that's where my focus is going to be.

Housing? Boring. Haven't read the Housing Bubble Blog for months.

The discussion has turned to the economy (and other equally disgusting things) over on BB2, which is all right by me. Despite all predictions of boarded up buildings downtown, new businesses keep opening. But as I said yesterday, this isn't so much a predictor of success as an indication that people are still willing to take a chance.

My two little stock picks, (2000.00 invested in each, Eaton Vance and Evergreen Global,) have increased by about 30%. I'm not sure this means my portfolio has gone up the same, but it's fun to watch anyway. You can see why stock picking could become addictive. Going to plop a big 5000.00 more into them by the end of summer.

Anyway, my main focus will be to stick to my budget, come hell or high water. Sales I can't really control, since I'm unwilling to discount to bump them up, or spend more than maintenance money on inventory.

But summer usually takes care of that. Tourists come. Christmas takes care of that, despite the Sheriff of Nottingham's threats to "Cancel Christmas!" People still buy gifts.

Buying I can control. The budget will be tight. I'm not sure it's completely possible with this tight budget to get absolutely everything that sells. My standards for what I consider an Evergreen will probably have to be raised.

I'm not sure about that. If enough of the 'liquidation' product I buy sells, it might be possible to keep tooling along.

Either way, the budget is written in stone this time.

May was my best month of the year, so far. Running about 12% above the average of the previous 4 months. We're down about 20% overall for the year, which is the least amount I expected it to fall. We should start lapping last years dramatic declines in September. (Last fall was Armageddon for retail.) There has been a small but noticeable increase each month this year.

COMICS: Down about 15%. Lost a whole bunch of subscribers, but seemed to do all right with the off the counter sales. Off the counter sales are preferable in some ways. I'm not in a hurry to talk customers into signing for a shelf, and thus getting an automatic 10% off. Nor to tie up my cash flow for weeks and sometimes months.

ANIME: Up 25%. Numbers are so small in this category, not sure it's significant except to show there is still some life in it.

SPORTS CARDS: Down 80%. Simply had no box buyers in this category. I can carry it, though, for awhile.

CARD GAMES: Down 45%. A lot of my magic customers disappeared. I've decided not to get too upset about it, just order more moderate quantities. But I take note of the fickleness of this category.

BOARDGAMES AND RPGs: Up 20%. It's fun when a category starts to respond to tender loving care. I'm liking my selection of games, right now.

BOOKS: Down 15%, but still very strong. Last year I was throwing money at books, this year I was more maintaining them. The number is a very strong number. Between books and games, they represent 27% of sales. These are two categories that barely existed in my store 3 years ago, so I shudder to think what sales would've been like without them!

TOYS: Down 33%. Another fickle number, and not necessarily indicative of the strength of the category. Next month could be 3 times more, and so on....

GRAPHIC NOVELS: Down 6%. Basically even. Again, these are mostly off the counter sales, thus I get full price. Like boardgames, this category has lots of juicy product to sell and reorder.

Like I said, I'm pleased with these numbers. The categories that are low, I can respond by keeping just enough flow of new stuff to keep them interesting but not lose money. For the categories that are doing well, I'm not in the expanding phase but just keeping them humming along.

Off to the races....

Banana therapy.

If I could rename my store, and if I could set up a viable online presence, I would change Pegasus Books of Bend to Pegasus Books@Bend. Why aren't more brick and mortars stores doing that? Seems like a natural to include the @ sign. Advertising without confusion. Or perhaps it would cause confusion -- is it a store or a website?

**********

Bananas. I pay no attention to my diet. All of you food junkies who just took a sharp intake of breath, get over it, don't bug me.

I have learned over the years to eat something, anything at 4:00 everyday so I don't turn into a blithering idiot around 5:00, which is my low energy point every day. In other words, I treat food as fuel.

I noticed over time, though, that whenever I ate a banana, I'd have a better mood for a few days. Nothing dramatic, but enough for me to notice. Then I'd forget until the next time I ate a banana.

Thing is, I really don't care for the stupid fruit. I can eat about half of one before I gag.

Still, on our little trip I ate one because it was what Linda packed, and I really noticed it again. I just googled 'banana' and 'mood', and sure enough, there was a whole raft of articles on the mood connection.

So....you've heard the saying an Apple a Day, from now on for me it will be, a Half a Banana every Couple of Days....

I know. I know. It's all in my head. Have a banana, chimps.

**********

Manager Mike from 900 Wall just came in and gave me a nice gift card to the restaurant. Told me he reads my blog. I always have the reaction of, "Oh, Oh," but he seemed fine with it. Just confirms my resolution to only talk about other downtown businesses in the most vague of ways. (Not that I've said anything terrible...)

Consider me bought.

I think they'll have wild success this summer!

*********

May is my best month of the year, so far. Usually, March is the best month of the first five, but it was a big dud. So...June is looking promising. It looks to me that the tourists have been showing up. In fact, if you take out the outsized sports card performance last year, and if card games hadn't dropped in half this year (probably due to new competition), we'd have been close to last year.

If I --
Could've
Would've
Should've

Books were up significantly, as were board games.

*********

Learn something new every day. I have Shmoo figures in my store. I couldn't figure out how everyone knew what a Shmoo was. Most of my customers weren't old enough.

Turns out that Shmoos appeared in the Flintstones in the early '80's. Of course, I remember them from their original appearance in Lil Abner in the '60's, thus the confusion.

**********

In anticipation of the Bulletin article on boardgames, I stocked up. Bought 4 copies of each of the major games, which is about twice the usual maintenance level.

Bam, Bam, Bam. Sold three copies of Ticket to Ride.

I'm nowhere near ready to make another order, so if I sell the last T to R I'll be out of stock for a week or two.

This is a classic example of what I call "spot shortages," and I guess other than having a warehouse in town that I can pluck a single copy or two at a time, I don't suppose there is any way around them.

***********

After renting million dollar condo's for a summer or two, would they still be considered new?

I went camping with a friend once who rented a sedan for the trip. As he drove like a maniac down the country roads, I was horrified. He didn't care. It was a rental...

Just saying....

**********

Opening in bigger locations, splashier locations is not always a sign of recovery.

The Bulletin's lead sentence in "Will Art Still Sell?" is, "It stands to reason that art, being a luxury item, would be an early casualty in a recession and, likewise, late to recover. On Monday, two local businesses are turning that notion on its head."

Well, opening a business is not a sign of success, but a sign of a willingness to take a chance.

Different kettle of fish.

If you'll allow me, I'm going to repeat that: Opening a business is not a sign of success, but a sign of a willingness to take a chance.

It's more like doubling down, of moving "all in"; it could be a sign of confidence, or a desperation move, or a bluff. But the move still has to pan out to be considered a success. The move itself is not the success. Know what I mean?

The Tumalo Art Co. all but admit the gamble: "For a brief period in January, Higdon said, she and co-owner Tracy Leagjeld contemplated the gallery's demise.

"We felt it was move forward or perish."

I'm sympathetic to their dilemma. Foot traffic is hard to come by, in this town, since they tore down the inside malls. Downtown Bend and the Old Mill, that's pretty much it.

It's the same reason I've held onto my downtown location, despite the rents.

**********

Amazingly, despite relatively still high rents, despite the economy, many of the downtown locations are still being taken. It may only be the froth from the bubble, but whatever it takes....

There may be enough froth to carry us through the next couple of years, on to the other side.

Of course, renting is a sign of a willingness to take a chance....not success in itself.

See above.....

Still, for the casual visitor, it certainly gives the success vibe, and I'm all for that.

Bloggin' for fun or profit.

I was asked the other day if I thought this blog had helped my business.

I muttered something about having as many doors open to business as possible, and left it at that.

So I've been mulling it over for a couple of days.

My vague answer still stands. Like having the much increased foot traffic in my corner of downtown, like having the 2 new product lines that represent 25% of current sales, this blog has been part of the puzzle of keeping the store viable in down times.

I mean, if I'm down 20% in sales, what would it have been like without the above three factors?

Of course, I never set out to make it a business blog. Probably wouldn't have worked, because it would have been too blatant a grab for attention.

But now? I think I've learned enough about how to do this, what issues to address, that I could probably at least transform my 'Pegasus Blog' into something readable, that talks about my store, and comics and books, does reviews, and talks about stuff happening.

But my inclination is to talk about other things. The bubble economy-- which no doubt bores plenty of readers. Local government, which bores those who are left. Quails nests (my son's friend's visiting dogs ate them, sadly), the weather, my cat, my little trips with Linda, the occasional politics, anything else that strikes my fancy.

So, a focused business blog would be too much work. Writing reviews is way too much work.

Tossing off observations? That's easy.

I've also made no attempt to gussy up this blog in any way. It could be much more visually interesting. Nor have I made any tit for tat connections to other blogs, you read my blog if I read yours, you list my blog if I list yours...type of arrangements.

By keeping it mostly local, my readership is always going to be pretty small. That's fine with me. Who needs the pressure?

I like that the occasional new customer finds me through this blog, and that older customers remember that I exist because of this blog, that friends and family can occasionally check in to see how I'm doing.

The blog has been a huge success in getting my business noticed by the local media. For which I'm grateful. I think I became a real person to some people who either didn't know about me, or thought I was only about comics....

It's also been great for venting steam, occasionally. It's probably been a great tool for a nerdy individual like me to communicate with others. It's at least felt very social, in a strange way.

So has the blog helped business?

Probably, though it's hard to quantify.

Has it helped me?

Most definitely.

Sitting on my hands.

This is one of my periodic pep-talks to myself, so those of you who expect actual content are excused. As I think I've mentioned, I wrote a hard-copy business journal to myself for years -- for more than a decade -- before I started this blog. It was full of such pep-talks, attempts to buck myself up and get disciplined.

Usually didn't work. First little temptation that came along, and I fell of the wagon.

But that's really being a bit unfair to myself. More accurately, I wasn't able to follow through because circumstances would change radically in the middle of the plan.

In the first half of last year, I managed to be disciplined enough to pay off my credit cards. I managed to stay even through the rest of the year, despite the deteriorating economy. It was perhaps the first time I was able to formulate a plan, stick to it, and make it work for an extended period. A great confidence booster.

The first half of this year, I've managed to stay in the black, and even make a bit of money. I've kept away from debt, and completely stocked the store from top to bottom.

It's as if I'm a major league sports franchise that finally has all the right players in place, and the season is about to begin. Now, I just need to let them play.

Doing nothing is harder than doing something. So this pep talk is really about staying focused, and yet not really making any major moves. Staying involved, but without messing with things.

Last year I succeeded, but fear is a bigger motivator for me than greed.

If I can manage to stick to budget, and sales are what I believe they will be, I might be able to make this store really solid for the first time. The budget is more than generous, and my projections are very conservative.

By solid, I mean, completely operational in cash-flow, completely stocked, debt-free, taxes paid, and an amount of cash left over to actually motivate me to keep going.

So wish me luck sitting on my hands.

***Later: To Continue...

I can almost guarantee that sometime this summer a 'great' opportunity will arise, a real deal, a future money maker. If not this summer, then certainly this fall. And if not this fall, for sure by Christmas.

And the rationalizing will begin. It will be a wonder to behold. Hell, I'll convince you guys it's a good idea, as well as myself.

This is advance warning to myself.

No.

Just say no.

Make money for once in your frikken' life....

Betting on a slow news day.

Every time a big 'event' is covered by the media, I'm caught short of product.

I learned a long time ago, big time media coverage will blow my numbers all out of proportion.

For instance, the Death of Superman -- back when. I ordered something like 30 copies, for a comic I was selling 3 of at the time.

I could've sold 300; Hell, I probably could've have sold 3000.

But I also can't tell you the number of times I've ordered that same proportion (30 copies) in hopes of big media coverage, and sold the normal (3 copies.)

For example, we were told Kevin Smith would be on David Letterman to talk about his writing the Daredevil comic, and because he didn't have a movie in the works they'd be talking only about the comic.

Instead, the S.O.B. didn't mention the comic once. Not once.

You get burned enough times, and you quit betting the farm on the hope that it will be a slow news day and that the mass media will pump up the volume.

Another example is the Obama Spider-man cover comic. Again, I could have sold hundreds, but I DIDN'T have ANY for sale. None. I completely missed the boat. Not only didn't I catch the hoops that I was supposed to jump through to qualify, I didn't even know the hoops existed!

I then compounded the problem by underestimating each of the reprintings; because historically, reprints sell poorly.

(Even so, I still don't read the Marvel Mailer that had the announcement, because it is the most spam infested piece of media tripe I have the misfortune of receiving. I could spend days of my life reading their hyped up hype and not learning a thing.)

But the media play on Obama stayed intense, and I messed up.

I'm not kicking myself too much about it, because it wasn't something that was creating future business -- as in readers. No, it created a bunch of 'collectors', who were buying the Obama comic only.

Still....a missed opportunity.

What brought this up is that I've got a couple of these 'events' on the horizon.

First up, a comic from Marvel called REBORN. They won't tell us what it is, only that we should order oodles and oodles of it. (I'm guessing that it's the return of Captain America. He's dead, you know. Oh, you didn't know? But surely you'll be tremendously interested in his return, right?)

The tendency is to over order the next event because you missed the last event, but lightning rarely strikes twice in the same spot. I've got dozens of copies of the white cover Return of Superman in the basement if anyone is interested. Cheap!

Still Marvel is promising "Major Media Coverage!!"

Again, whatever that means and again assuming it's a Slow News Day.

I repeat the most important part: THEY WON'T TELL US WHAT IT IS! Just reassuring us to bet big. O.K. Sure thing. Here's my money, Marvel.

Way back in my beginning year of business, I got a cassette tape in the mail. On it, Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter, went on and on about some special event, and reassured us it was the second coming of Spider-man, of Superman, of Batman, the biggest thing ever!

It was so bad, I don't even remember what it was. Just that I lost oodles and oodles of money....

**********

The other comic event on the horizon: Archie is Finally getting Married!!

Will it be Bettie?

Will it be Veronica?

Will it be Reggie?

How much do I order, and will anyone care, and will the media decide it's worth covering bigtime?

Because comics are non-returnable in the Direct Comic market, it's become a truism that no one loses money buy Underordering, only by Overordering.

On the other hand, I really hate having to say "No, I have none for sale" to so many people.

**********

Speaking of media coverage. The Bulletin had an article on board games this morning. It has a section at the end where I'm recommending Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Carcassonne, Munchkin and Killer Bunnies.

It has a nice description of the 'German' style games. I could do without the three mentions of the word "expensive" in a few paragraphs, though. Really, folks, they aren't THAT expensive.....

I wasn't sure if this was going to be a major article, or a sidebar, and it came out as more of a sidebar. Still, I stocked up on all the games just in case. Summer is coming, and I'm pretty sure I can sell them.

My part of the article below:

"LOSE THAT BOREDOM WITH THESE FUN GAMES"

"...At Pegasus Books of Bend, owner Duncan McGeary carries numerous board games that you won't find elsewhere. Among them, he recommends his $20 to $25 card games, including Munchkin and Killer Bunnies.

Some of his more popular board games are the strategy games, namely The Settlers of Catan, $42, Ticket to Ride, $50, and Carcassonne, $25.

McGeary says these games are referred to as German - or European-style because they focus on strategy, rather than conflict or luck. They also have more complexity and variation -- each time you play the game, it will be different -- and the game pieces tend to be high quality and expensive. The variations are fascinating and complex, even though the game rules are fairly easy to learn.

"You don't just figure out the trick to the game and win," he said.

These games can cost up to $80, McGeary said, with equally expensive game expansions, which add new elements or variations to the games. Owners can also buy player extensions to allow for more players, which cost $10 to $15.

"Board games can be expensive," he said. "But you get a lot of play for it."

If things are so bad...

...why are things so good?

I can't explain it. I'm down 20% in sales this year, which is substantial. But I'm not feeling it.

In fact, for the very first time in my entire fricken career, I'm able to order everything I want, pay the bills on time, and still have a little left over.

I can order the new stuff, I can reorder the evergreen's, I can indulge some of my whims, I can incrementally improve my stock, and I can buy tons of "liquidation" product.

That last category is the key, I think. This is pretty good stuff that may be past its prime selling period -- but still very salable to me.

But still, how can this state of blissful affairs be possible? (Knock Wood.)

I can think of four good reasons.

1.) Inventory has finally reached combustion point. That is, I have so much stock and so much inventory that the true 'long-tail' benefits come into play. Someone buys SOMETHING every day that I don't expect.

2.) I'm working the store all by myself. Saved a bunch of money by this, and it hasn't been all that hard. Frankly, I like being in total charge without having to explain things. By taking every possible Holiday (I'll be off today, Memorial Day, for instance) and getting the occasional break from Linda, and by taking a laid-back day to day approach, I don't seem to be wearing down.

Plus, I can put the full weight of experience and knowledge into play by being here. I can be much more effective in ordering. Sometimes, like last Saturday, I can get on a roll, sell the hell out of things, and have my best day of the year.

3.) Access to 'sale' product. I'm jumping on every opportunity. I'm buying a year or two worth of stock at a time. I'm filling every nook and cranny of the store.

4.) I'm no longer trying to build entire product lines. I've reached my limit. I couldn't fit another product line into the store if I wanted to, and I suspect it wouldn't be very effective, or would detract from what I'm already selling.

Making incremental improvements to the stock is a very different kettle of fish from trying to build a whole new inventory.

New books and boardgames are currently double what my original goal was -- and represent 25% of my sales. 25% Stuff that wasn't even in the store 3 years ago. Feeling like I made some good planning decisions.



So, despite the down economy, I'm feeling like the store is performing better than it ever has before.

Knock wood. Knock wood.