Reflections on the Holiday Season

Here I am sitting at the computer in the back room of the store, the day after Christmas, thinking about the past month and how everything went.
This is the 22nd Christmas/Holiday season we have had at Sweet Tooth and I am always amazed at how fast the days go by during December.  It is difficult to find time to reflect on the season.  We are always barreling ahead, planning for customers, watching the inventory, waiting on customers (one day we had about 150 transactions and that is quite a bit for a store our size). 
We attempt to satisfy each customer's request.  We create individualized gifts for our customers and we hope that we have ordered the right amount of gifts and candy and that no one walks away dissatisfied.
Of course you know already that we cannot live up to 100% of our promises no matter how hard we try....and we try really, really hard.  Our staff is courteous and helpful.  They are full of information and suggestions.  And when they have to say, "So Sorry, we are out of that" or "So Sorry, we do not have that item this year", our staff sincerely means what they say.
Let's pause to say that without a great group of staff members, Sweet Tooth would not exist.  No matter how new or how "senior" our staff is, we are always grateful and pleased with their work.
Now back to reflections.
The past few years have not been the best for retail, especially for small, local stores like ours.  It is impossible to know all the reasons for that; however the bottom line tells us that things could have been better.
This year felt better.  The numbers aren't in yet, but we seem to have had more customers, ready to purchase candy and gifts.  Our Trunk Shows were better attended and we were pleased with the outcome.  The Shop Local Saturday brought us more customers aware that the way to have a thriving local business is to support those stores with purchases....we hope...year around.  Local economy thrives when local businesses do well.
Today we met at the store to ready the store for our After Christmas Sale.  Our staff was encouraged about the number of items we had left.  In other words, we had less than expected.  We also put "odds and ends" of other merchandise on sale.
We are ready for the customer who wants to know if we are going out of business because our merchandise is 50% off.  Sometimes I wonder if that same customer walks into Dillard's on the After Christmas Sale and asks the clerk the same question.  We do like the big guys.....we participate in a sale.
We are looking ahead to the next season....Valentine's and Easter.  We hope it reflects the same sense of stability and hope that this past season has shown.  And we appreciate all of YOU who have made it so.