Now this is more like it!

Memorial Day weekend and this is what it should be like. May has been a great month - breaking records and may end up being our best May ever. Making up for those slim months of March and April. The Sacramento River is almost in flood stage from the remains of those rainy months so fishing season hasn't kicked off yet, although a few people are fishing and a few are catching fish and we've actually sold out on our first order of Canadian night crawlers. Gardening sales are strong and so are paint sales. We got hit hard this past week with large shipments of True Value merchandise, giftwares, hats and gloves, fasteners (nuts and bolts and screws) and National Hardware (traditional hardware - metal goods). Our back room was jammed for most of the week but finally got most of it checked in and moved out. Gotta keep it moving because more will be coming this next week. Dunsmuir's annual British Car Show was Saturday and brought us a lot of business. It's a nice event that brings a lot of people to town to see the cars - which are parked on the street right in front of our store. We'll be closed on Monday for Memorial Day - one of the few days we close. It will give us a chance to catch our breath and then jump back in. End of the month is coming so will be doing accounts receivable billing. Don't yet know what gas prices ($3.47) will do to our tourist business this summer. There are a lot of angles to consider. It may keep local people in town to do their buying. It may keep out of town people away. I tend to think the effect will be minimal insofar as tourists. If gas is $1.00 per gallon more than a year ago then it will cost $15 to $20 more per tankful - roughly 500 miles of driving - or 4 to 5 cents more per mile. I don't think that will stop many people from traveling. Well - we'll see.

Here's a nice shot of the street in front of our building (which is about a half block down on the left side) in the early 1920's I'd guess - based on the cars. Interesting that the iron rail by the stairway on the left is still there. Lamp posts have been replaced with modern ones that look much like these originals. Utilities have been undergrounded so the poles and wires are gone now. The building on the left is still a bank. Note the dresses on display in the window on the right.

As we anticipated - once our weather broke things got much better. Last Sunday broke records for the busiest Sunday ever. Fishing season sort of defines our business season. From the last Saturday in April through November 15 is our busy time. This year - due to all the rain and snow - the river is still running very high and almost unfishable. Fishing gear sales haven't been real hot but we got slammed on gardening things. Thought we were prepared for the first rush but within a couple of days got cleaned out on a lot of items - insect sprays, sprinkler parts and potting soil to name a few. Re-orders are now bringing us back up. Paint sales are taking off - mainly interior products now but exterior paints will take off soon. Our little model railroad section is doing well too. I think our reputation has spread and we're getting a lot of out of town customers who hear about us and drive to see. Not uncommon for customers to buy a half dozen railroad cars at one time. Our tourist business - if gas prices ($3.47 right now) don't totally kill it - will begin to pick up soon and really take off when school is out at the end of the month. I need to beef up our "giftware" section to appeal to those customers. We try to emphasize old-timey collectable house and garden items that people don't see in the cities. Another of those areas where we have worked to get a reputation for having unusual things. It's a nice time of the year and it feels like a nice summer coming.