trying to get the hours right

It's been a challenge to determine what hours the shop should be open. Initially, we had to go with what we thought the customers would want and as the months have gone on, we've had to adjust to what the customer traffic has told us.

We've been open on Sundays for two summer seasons. Beginning this past May we've stayed open til 7pm on Fridays, joining in an effort by the Downtown Merchants' Association to extend evening hours. We've also consciously scheduled the shop to be closed two days in a row, giving us a "weekend" that sometimes is not the traditional Saturday/Sunday.

Add to the mix that we have minimal staff and that our day is actually an hour and a half longer than the shop is open; it takes an hour to set up each morning and another half hour to put everything to bed in the evening. Our insurance requires that only a minimal amount of inventory can be out of the safe if the shop is closed, so everything in the cases has to be put into the safe each night.

We've had very few customers between 5pm and 7pm on Fridays and minimal traffic on Sundays. We gave both a good try and decided the return didn't support the expenses - wages, utilities and not the least important, tired staff that had no weekend days off.

The decision has been made to go to a regular 10am-5pm, Tuesday through Saturday schedule, effective immediately. If there's a special event or festival in downtown, we'll adjust our hours on a case by case basis.

We think we've got it right now, but only time will tell.