We’ve had a series of sales running this past week for Memorial Day and it has really bumped up the tempo of things in here. In particular, wetsuit sales are very strong, we’ve brought in a four wetsuit refill orders this last week alone from, among others, Aquaman and DeSoto and sold completely through medium full suits with more in the store this morning (thanks for the speedy, overnight service Emmanuel!).
Here’s my question, as we go into the Memorial Day weekend, should we be open on Sunday and/or Monday? If so, what hours? We are open Saturday 10-6 but were going to be closed on Sunday and Monday unless I hear otherwise.
If we were going to be busy enough I would like to be open. It’s actually fun working in here on Holidays. The atmosphere is more relaxed.
From what I have read you have been working some killer hours at the store. Business seems to be very good. Congratulations. Early mornings, late nights and not much sleep. In your eyes as the “owner” this is great. Profits are up and the hours put in are building something for you and your future. That’s part of what makes work fun. Now we come to your employees. To be blunt, its a job. It may be a job they love. It may be a job they never want to leave, but it is still a job to them. Give them the two days off. They most probably need and deserve the time to themselves. Everyone needs time and space to recharge their systems. If you are worried about your customers needing assistance open for about 4 hours each day and handle it yourself. I have a very dear friend who ran his own business for decades. He once told me this was one of the hardest lessons he had to learn as an owner/employer. He passed recently and has been on my mind. So forgive me if I am off target here.
Sure, you might a few more bucks but everyone deserves a break. Get some guys over, have a barbecue, share a beer or two or just go for a ride. Don’t miss the value of some personal quality time. I love my job but the reason for this is to keep things fresh and therefore hungry when you return. Enjoy yourself…
We’ve been in the same boat, long long days and nights. We just had our Victoria Day long weekend and closed for both days. We decided that getting away for 2 days to see family and friends was better for our sanity then making an extra sale.
I wouldn’t open on Sunday since your shop is normally closed then anyway. People are used to it and I doubt many people would come in. You never know though. My local running store is closed on Sundays but I somehow still manage to show up there a few times a year on Sunday. I wouldn’t open for idiots like me though. As for Monday, it’s a holiday and people expect you to be closed. However, we are talking about cyclists and triathletes. We have so little time off between working and training that it’s nice to have an extra day to pick up all of the cycling/tri goodies that we haven’t had time to buy yet. If I didn’t have anything better to do, I might open for limited hours on Monday (maybe 10-4). If you’re going to open, I like frogonawire’s idea about having a cookout by your store. The smoke might bring people in too.
(NOTE: This poster does not own a retail business selling triathlon related products. Therefore, you may not want to take this poster’s advice about when to open your shop).
i agree … understanding that everyone deserves a day off and i would personally not be “upset” if my store was closed on monday (they are closed on monday’s regardless), a rare day off is an opportunity for me to do all the shopping that i don’t have time to do during the week. sooo … not suggesting a course of action, only mentioning that on a day when “normal” people don’t have to go to work, those are the days that they go out and buy toys.
Hmmm. I am leaning toward being here about 1-6 on Sunday and then about 12-5 on Monday. I don’t have anything else going on anyway other than training.