Monday, October 27, 2008

New Hours as an Experiment

For this small business the question of when to be open in the winter has been a challenge. We have always been closed on Wednesdays all year round which is perplexing to many people. The last several winters we have closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Most bicycle businesses open mid to late morning and stay open through the early evening. We have noted for some time that when we open at 10 AM there is a flurry of business. There is another flurry during the lunch time. It goes quiet from 2 PM to after 5 PM and there is a flurry just before we close at 7 PM.

So I've decided to experiment on our hours this winter. We'll close on Tuesday and Wednesday as we have before. On the three weekdays we are open we'll open earlier at 7:30 AM and be open until 1:30 PM. We'll close at 1:30, but we'll reopen from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM. No, my one visit to Barcelona hasn't made me aspire to a siesta. I'm trying to gauge if there is a market for being open earlier.

Will people come to the store on their way to work? That's what I'm trying to determine. I'll let you know how it is or is not working.

Here's our hours as of November 1:

Saturday 10-5
Sunday 11-5
Monday 7:30-1:30 5:30-7:30
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday Closed
Thursday 7:30-1:30 5:30-7:30
Friday 7:30-1:30 5:30-7:30

As always, we will be happy to open earlier or stay open by appointment.

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