Saturday, November 21, 2015

Business Hours-Weekends and Holidays

I dropped DD#2 off at the high school this morning.  She has three days of choreography practice for show choir.  Her school letter jacket, taken in to get updated at the end of the cross country season  is done, so being that it is close to the school, I was going to swing in and pick it up at the specialty shop that does mostly school and sports team athletic wear.  I was dumbfounded to see that it was closed. Here is the summary of the sign posted on their door.

Regular Hours
Mon - Wed9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Thu9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Fri9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Sat-Sun Closed


For the first minute after pulling out of the parking lot, I was annoyed.  How can a business that relies on local business, knowing many people work out of town during the week, not be open on a Saturday?  How inconvenient!  Then my annoyance got a touch snarky.  Must be nice to have bankers hours, except even the bank is open on Saturday mornings.  Then my annoyance turned on myself.  Why should the owners have to give up their weekends so that twits like me, that didn't bother to check their hours when they dropped off the jacket, plan for the pick up to fit their hours? They are open late one night, so it was easy enough that I could have swung by on my way home Thursday.  Why should they stay open an extra day a week, when they clearly are dong a business that is thriving enough to stay in business for over 30 years? 

This is exactly the kind of plan I am hoping to build for my own life.  I want to work in a job, or a business of my own that I enjoy, but I want to be able to have the time and flexibility to enjoy the rest of the time with family and friends, volunteer work, and doing other things that make me happy. This business owner found that balance, and here my first impulse was to be annoyed.  No doubt they are also spending countless hours outside of the store open hours managing stock, coordinating embroidery work, and marketing their business. The more limited store though allows them to enjoy a cup of coffee or a nice morning walk.  If they have children or grandchildren, they can get to school or other activities on evenings and weekends. They can take a weekend away, almost unheard of for small business retailers. They can sit down for dinner. 

Cheapolife  is tracking the stores that are not going to open on Thanksgiving. As retailers are now marketing the fact that they are not going to be open on Thanksgiving, they might have taken a lesson out of this stores playbook.

6 comments:

  1. I have similar arguments in my head. The sad thing is that a lot of people that I have come in contact with never get to the point where they think about it from the other person's point of view.

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    1. I will not black Friday shop on Thanksgiving night. I think the gas stations and food stores feel they have to at least have limited hours but the rest is greed playing to shopping greed. My sister in law and sister both have to work-not voluntary as I did back in highschool.

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  2. Presumably they've canvassed opinion and their regular customers don't feel the need to visit over the weekend otherwise it would be business suicide.
    We had a taste of Black Friday in the UK last year with people fighting over cheap electronics they didn't need. Ridiculous when we don't even celebrate Thanksgiving. xxx

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    1. The post Thanksgiving shopping day used to be more about companion shopping and kicking off the gift shopping not the insanity it has become. I've avoided it in recent years. I suppose this business is unique enough they can not cave to masses. I plan to hit some craft and if can find any sales like you offer your wares. That would make gift shopping fun again.

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  3. There are a few speciality businesses here that have different hours and every person has the option of doing business on their terms or not. A couple of them have such fantastic products/service that I very happily comply.

    I am thrilled with all the stores that are not caving into the open on Thanksgiving mayhem. Even better is REI who is not going to be open on black Friday!

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    1. I will be curious if they release their holiday sales figures how they compare.

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