Many small businesses have to make a careful decision on whether it is worth it to be open or not, on a holiday.
Will the day’s sales be worth it to offset staff, cost of (perishable) goods, utilities as well as the stress of staffing the store or being there to work on your own?
We used to be open for most major holidays especially the ones when people gather and celebrate as a group – which, let’s face it, are MOST of the holidays. It’s been a while and I think we tried to be open for New Years as well as the summer picnic holidays, too (Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day) but it just wasn’t busy enough to warrant the above mentioned costs.
We hated to make people work when they could be home with family, loved ones and friends… And we hated to be away from our own, too. But, there are some days that we just had to open to support the customer and help them enjoy their holiday – while of course, we earned those essential sales to keep our doors open the rest of the year.
With all of this in mind, I am still shocked when I find retailers who close, not only on the day of the holiday, but go further even and choose not to extend their normal retail hours to be open leading up to the holiday – this is especially true for food retailers.
I hope that they are doing enough in sales to allow them that luxury… I hate to see businesses fail, but I see it all too often. If you want to own a small business, you have to work MORE than you ever did for someone else. Then, when it is successful enough, you take holidays when the rest of the folks are working and it is a naturally slow time (or you hire trusted staff to run the business in your absence.) Besides, it’s nice to travel when others are not. (Sorry, NYC – we had fun, but we are never again going to see you between Christmas and New Years…)
So, with this “first of the year” small business marketing insight – I offer my very best wishes small business owners everywhere. May 2015 be an even better year, whether you choose to be OPEN, or not.
~ Dawn aka Hat Girl