Summertime, but unlike the song, the living ain’t easy. While many parts of Britain bask in sunshine, it’s always a bit more unpredictable up here in the north and a sunny day can be a rare and special thing. It’s frustrating, as we all know sunshine can put hundreds of extra pounds through your till each day.
So far it’s been a poor summer in terms of weather for us in Edinburgh, and sporting events so far have failed to inspire. Despite lavish displays for the Euro Football Championships, we saw very little in the way of incremental sales, so we are hoping for better from the Olympics, although there will never be the buzz we had for London 2012.
As well as weather, location also plays a huge part in summer sales; if you are near a school, you instantly lose hundreds of customers for six weeks. Also, a lot of your regulars disappear on holiday. If you are in a tourist spot, clearly this is your time, but I think it’s easy to forget that summer can be a quieter time for many local stores.
We have brought in a slush machine for the first time this year, and sales have been very good, but it will be interesting to factor in the energy consumption of both that and the ice cream freezer at the end of the season, as some days they most definitely do not pay for themselves.
So we are looking forward to our local schools going back shortly, and we have lots of activities planned to kick-start the new season, including a mini-relaunch week in September, with lots of special offers, a face painter, free barbecue, and a trolley dash competition.
It will be good to get back to normal!
