I sometimes get antsy around this time of year. The holidays make me anxious even without my retail past. Used to be a very busy time of year for me. A lot of hard work making sure folks got their booze. Had to make sure there was enough, without breaking the budget on inventory. It was a difficult balance but there were times the last four weeks of the year were nothing but profit. There were also times we had to sell enough to make payroll, and to buy merchandise.
I'm not sure when this picture was taken on Main Street in Fredonia, sometime in the late sixties is my guess. But that sign that says "Liquor Store" was still there the last time I visited.
Business was a bit more successful in Fredonia. Mr. B. had been running the show for awhile. Thanksgiving was always the busiest holiday of the year, with the day before being the day that brought the biggest receipts. Mr. B. even went in for a few hours by himsef on Thanksgiving Day morning. He seemed to enjoy taking care of people getting their last minute wine and liquor.
For the life of me I cannot remember if Mr. S., after he bought the business, went in on those mornings. I can't remember if I went instead. The late eighties were a bit of a blur to me.
Things in Columbus were no different at first. We blew out so much wine at the Holiday. So much Beaujolais Nouveau and Champagne went out the door. We really kicked ass for a couple of years. We'd drink good wine the night before each holiday. Sometimes Perrier Jouet, Dom Perignon one year, we worked hard and drank well. I miss the pre-cooked shrimp C. would bring from Johnson's downtown.
The year I ran the place my ex-wife helped out a lot along with a man who used to be a bar regular. He spelled me on the floor and did quite a good job at it. The extra hands were needed. We made a little money that year. I honestly cannot remember if we were open on Thanksgiving Day at any of the shops I worked at in Columbus.
At the other eponymous wine shop I worked at, the tone shifted. Because the owner was screwing up so much we did not have basics to sell, especially in home brewing supplies. More than a few people left empty handed and disappointed. Hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in sales lost because he did not know how to buy and would not listen to reason from the co-owner or myself. The pressure was immense, selling merchandise just to make payroll instead of profiting from our work. Holidays sucked in the later part of the nineties. I got tired of saying no, it hurt.
It was vastly different at the bookstore. Even with all the craziness, and it was nuts, there never seemed to be much pressure. The stuff was going to sell, it was just those damn loyalty cards that management wanted sold. Luckily, I did not work the register much.
At the library, it's another world. From my desk I barely see the change from quarters to semesters - maybe a little bit in how the books flow into the building but that's it. I barely miss retail and have little desire to be out in it. I'm seeing Black Friday push back into Thanksgiving Day and it's a matter of time before Thanksgiving Eve comes into play. It's tough when so much business is done during one four week period of the year, but when did the the joy of shopping and giving become a obsessive fetish instead of a pleasure?
Even now though, many years removed from the madness, I get a bit triggered about what transpired, and try to find the good things that happened during my time in the retail wine scrum. I can still pick an awesome wine to go with turkey.
