I realized it’s been many, many months since I blogged about our journey of opening, and now running, a bookstore. January will mark the one-year anniversary since we signed the lease. About this time last year, Ross and I were scouting locations to do this little venture of ours.
I used to think that I was an extrovert until we opened the bookstore. See, I’d never done retail in my life. Not even as a teenager. But, after nine months of running the bookstore now — and being the one who mostly is behind the counter — I find myself “communicated out” by the end of the day. Don’t get me wrong. I love chatting with customers who come by. But it’s exhausting to do all day long. By the time I get home, I just want to sit in a corner by myself and not talk. Or write. Obviously.
My husband recently said: “You don’t realize what’s coming.”
He was referring to the upcoming holiday shopping season. He’s a retail veteran, having run comic book stores for many years pre-me. I really had no idea, but took his word for it. We’re just now beginning to see an uptick in patrons, which is exciting. We’re ready for it. I spent several days decorating the store for the holidays. I decorated so much that I told my now-adult kids: “I’m not putting up Christmas at the house.” I just don’t have it in me.
The most surprising thing about running the bookstore — to me — has been that it feels like when you have to pack up your house, move, and unpack. We seem to do this every couple of weeks at the store. There’s a constant reorganization going on that’s pretty exhausting, yet exciting at the same time. I thought we’d be set for the holidays when I made our windows at the end of November. Well, I was wrong. Ross decided that it would be better to have books and games in the windows to entice people into the store. GAH! He was right. Again. So, last night, I transitioned the holiday decorations from both windows over to the blue table.
The bundled boxes aren’t selling either. Really bummed about that. Everything this first year is an experiment for us. I’m thinking this one is a fail.
What I’ve learned over the past year since starting renovation of the store is that I needed to carve out time for myself — the ever-popular term these days: self-care. I was pushing myself way too hard and needed more down-time. The trouble is that Lily the Bookstore Dog doesn’t understand “We’re not going to the bookstore today.” In fact, as I write this entry at home on a Sunday, she’s sitting by our front door grunting at us. She takes her job greeting customers seriously.
So, here’s to my very first holiday season of retail.
