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.