Two weeks and counting - OK I'm anxious and it shows; it's actually 15 days. As compared to the lackluster weekend I sold three guitars today plus all the assorted other stuff. Quite a nice take though it's not going in my pocket. But it pontificates the nature of retail. Some days are great and some aren't. The best one can hope is that the average taken over time will be enough to get by.

Another local music store I visited yesterday is on the verge of self-destruction. They bought way too much inventory for the soft seasonal sales. Now they need cash flow and are practically giving away instruments at cost. This is the mistake many retailers make. When you forego profit for cash flow you end up with (surprise) zero profit. And don't forget that it's profit which gives paychecks to the four or five people working at that particular store. But I won't try and teach them the error of their ways. A few months down the road and I will be in need of at least one good music sales person. And if the place totally screws up and goes bankrupt - well that's one less competitor. That's some of the wisdom I've gleaned from the current owners. I've rattled off the names of a good twenty music stores in the local area from the last 20-30 years that didn't survive when this one did. All places where I personally did business and then boom (or perhaps I should say bust) - they were gone. I've learned what mistakes they all made and why they aren't around anymore. Almost universally they got into a cash flow bind and kept cutting prices until they closed the doors. The second biggest mistake was trying to go head on with a competitor ten times their size. Same result.

As it so happens, I know the strategies of playing that game also (from the browser wars). Luckily I don't quite foresee anybody handing out a free guitar or clarinet for something akin to signing up with PG&E. And I also know what mistakes Netscape made way back when. I've got strategies for dealing with all-out war initiated by a huge conglomerate, but I can't tell you what they are.