Like most retailers, large and small, we’ve found our attempts to find part-time employees this fall have met with little success. My next move is to try to focus on retirees to see if that helps us find the help we need – we already have a number of excellent staff members who are in… Read More

We all want our businesses to operate in the black (i.e. to be profitable).  According to tradition, the Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because that is the day when most retailers’ bottom line went from red to black, thanks to the frenzied start of the holiday shopping season.  This turns out, however,… Read More

As a general rule, according to Business News Daily, 80% of your profits come from 20% of your stock. With much of your business investment tied up in inventory, it makes sense to make sure you’re making the best use of your money by managing your inventory well. Start by determining what merchandise makes up… Read More

We can’t say that COVID is in the past yet (our shop still requires employees to be masked), but hopefully the worst of it is behind us. Now seems like a good time to look back on the past 2 ½ years to see what we’ve learned. When a government official recently asked my fellow… Read More

There are not many American main streets, shopping centers or commercial districts without empty storefronts today. The economy and pandemic have been hard on existing retail businesses, and high rents are often prohibitive for those wanting to start a new store. In addition, some residential developments are required by mixed-use zoning to include ground-floor retail.… Read More

Amazon, the largest online retailer in the world, now accounts for some 37.8% of all e-commerce sales. The U.S. has antitrust laws on the books intended to encourage healthy competition between companies, and to help keep the free market working by preventing monopolies.  It’s hard to believe that Amazon has not been taken to task… Read More

According to Forbes, women drive 70-80% of all consumer purchasing decisions. There are many reasons for this, including one fascinating suggestion that it’s because our brains have a thicker corpus callosum. I’ll leave this speculation aside, because the question that I’m interested in pursuing is how to get more men to shop in our stores.… Read More

The latest term in the HR world is “quiet quitters” – employees who continue to show up at their job, but put in a very minimal amount of effort. According to a shocking recent Gallup poll, at least half the U.S. workforce may fall into this category. There once was a time when a low-performing… Read More

A friend recently told me about a motivational seminar he went to years ago. The speaker started out by asking everyone in the room to take out a dollar and throw it into the center aisle.  Pretty soon there was a rain of bills aimed at the center of the room. The speaker scooped up… Read More

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily aspects of running a store – especially in these trying times.  But it’s worthwhile to dedicate some time away from the shop to revisit the reason you went into business. If you’ve lost some of your focus or enthusiasm, this is a great way to get… Read More