RUSH

Yeah, i am sure I have mentioned RUSH before, it is when all of the students arrive back on campus, and wreak havoc on my life. OK, so they don't mean to make me crazy it is just a side effect of the students and their parents all mobbing one place at the same time.

The students started arriving this week, we are in the final preparation stages and while we are ready for the students physically, we are still preparing mentally for the onslaught. The sales in the store have been incredibly strong this summer, we have had some great tourist traffic, but now there is a huge switch in the business. Now the transactions take place on the lower level, it doesn't matter how pretty the floor looks, what matters is that all the stock is on the floor, we can't sell books and supplies out of the back stockroom.

The customer for RUSH is very different. They are stressed, they are starting classes, and they are shocked at the price of textbooks. We try to cushion the blow by providing used books and also a membership program that gets them a rebate at the end of the year, we also hold sales on other items in the store during RUSH week. This is because we have the potential to have a new customer for four years if they have a positive experience in the store on their first visit.

With so much going on it is amazing that any of us keep our sanity, we have two to three weeks of insanity and we all work very long hours and are busting out butts to get all of the work done, we even have a single day where we do $250,000 on 12 registers, this is one crazy day. Much like Christmas it is all hands on deck for the next few weeks and I bet I will have some interesting retail stories.