Your store hours?

Do you have and keep specific hours?

We tell people our hours are 10-8ish but if our cars are here people figure we must be opened no matter what time it is, even when the closed signs are out. We’ve never posted our hours on our storefront because they are negotiable. Perfect example, we normally try to close around 7 on Sundays and have had a steady flow of people, plus the phone hasn’t quit ringing to see if we’re still here. I’m sure everyone is now shopping for wine & cigars to watch the fireworks but it happens on a daily basis.
Mind you I’m not complaining at all, just curious what others do?

Carrie,

When I had my store we were open from 10AM to 7PM on Tuesday thru Thursday; 10AM-9PM Friday and Saturday; Noon to 6PM on Sunday; Closed Monday. But… we had a large tasting bar, so the Thursday thru Saturday closing hour was more like a restaurant than a retail shop. If someone came in to taste at 8:55 we were there until they were done.

The people that bought the shop run pretty much the same hours, but post 8PM closing Thursday thru Saturday, so they can get out at a more reasonable time. In this area tasting is a major draw and several of the more successful places are more like mini bistros (bar + table seating, with a limited food menu). Retail is important, but the tasting bar thing takes over on ‘going-out nights’ (which includes Thursday in the OC). That influences the hours greatly. Closed Monday seems pretty universal around here. Most are Mom & Pop operations and need some down time.

I think I spent too many years in major general retail (department stores and The Gap) to be comfortable with “ish” hours. We were just up in Los Olivos and I noticed that on several shops. I suppose it can work, but my anal side wouldn’t get OK with it.

We are open 10-9 Monday - Saturday and 11-7 on Sunday with the caveat that if my car is here (I’ve been here since 8:45 today catching up on paperwork) then we are open. When we open our tasting room we will extend hours till 11pm Monday - Saturday and at least till 9 on Sunday.

Story from my days at Antoine’s in NOLA: The proprietor’s grandfather (in his 90s) used to prowl the joint for lack of anything else to do and one night I overheard the following conversation between him and a busboy giving the evil eye to a couple that would not leave at 11pm or so: “Oh, Jimmy, got a hot date tonight, wanna get out of here, hunh?” “Oh yes, Mr. Alciatore, she’s a beauty!” “Ok, here’s $50 (this was 1984, that was a lot of money for a 19 year old then), go have a good time with her and then take a week off so you can concentrate on the customers when you come back…”

My shop is open from Monday through Saturday from 10:00 - 7:00 and 11:00 - 7:00 on Sunday. I used to stay open later but as the economy tanked there just wasn’t enough business to justify it.

Our hours are: Mon-Wed 9am-8pm, Thurs-Sat 9am-9pm, and Sunday 10am -7pm. Those hours are pretty much set in stone since we have a staff of over 30 people.

Our hours here in Texas are pretty much dictated by the TABC (Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission). We are a package store (we sell liquor, beer and wine) and we’re allowed to be open at the earliest 10am and latest 9pm, Monday through Saturday and we use everyone of those hours. Sunday, being a Holy day, we are closed because the State dictates that our time would be better spent in church.

Understand your frustration. We’ve had some dealings with TABC, though I have to admit that the person we spoke to was very good natured, stressed that he had to work within the rules established by TABC and was as helpful as he could be.

In MA & NY, hours of operation are also dictated, but there is some flexibility based on owner’s discretion. It’s all about knowing your clientele.

My current store has it’s hours dictated based on a county-only blue law from after Prohibition that no one has ever generated the will to change. We are open from 9am-7pm Mon-Sat. Very nice for me, but we could really do a lot more business if we could be open until 9pm. NYS general law is 8am-Midnight. One mile away is Putnam County, which has no restrictions. Still, the local store closest to us closes at 8pm Mon-Thurs and 9pm Fri & Sat to catch our overflow. I can’t tell you how many people ride up as we are counting the drawers between 7:01 and 7:30, the latest I usually finish.

Even Crazier, we have to be ‘essentially’ closed on the following Holidays: Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and New Year’s Day. In the county code, we are allowed to be open ONE HOUR from 9-10am on these days. That’s it. [swearing.gif] It’s actually worth it on every day except New Year’s. But this year, for example, we were closed on July 4th, as it fell on a Sunday and on July 4th you can only be open 9-10am but that’s trumped by the fact that it’s Sunday and on Sundays you can’t open until Noon… [head-bang.gif]

Sunday is a whole different matter. NYS law changed 6 years ago and they adopted hours of 12pm-9pm on Sundays. Most stores by us were closed or only opened 12-4 or 1-5, but when we opened we did 12-9. Didn’t really get much business after 7pm so we changed it after 6 months, but some of the bigger stores in the county have followed suit by expanding their hours until 7pm.

The City was a whole different matter. We experimented with different am times and you can get business as early as 8am but we decided that the late hours gave us more business. We would open at 10am and close at 11pm or midinght, and 12-9 on Sundays. On the UES, there is definitely enough business to warrant it.

Napa I’m sure is a ‘small town’ feel and everyone’s laid back and all, but honestly I don’t understand the notion of having no set hours.

Brent,
That sounds way too confusing, I know it’s law but I would hate having anyone dictate when we could be open & closed. I don’t think other businesses do things the way we do in Napa but we’ve built a certain relationship with our regular customers and they make it worth the weird hours. Fortunately Randy & I are here together so it isn’t like waiting for one or the other to come home. He gets to spend 24/7 with me, what a lucky guy. We actually have a great time working together, it makes it all worth it and you guys all get a double dose of us when we relax at the end of the day…
flirtysmile

Does that mean you might have had your marital bliss on my case of wine? [swearing.gif]

9am - 10pm Mon~Sat
12pm - 6pm Sunday
No soft closings.

We close in 5 minutes pick out your drink and GTFO.

blush blush teehee!

Did you get a discount for Signs of Seepage?

No, they charged me extra for “special bouquet”! [stirthepothal.gif]

If it was a Southern Rhone, how could you tell?

Huh.
And here I thought you did all the spending… [snort.gif]

Hey, why not just adopt the 7-11 style and open all night… pileon

“I was closing shop at a 7-11 and a guy came up and said ‘hey I thought you were open 24 hours’…and I said, not in a row!” (Steve Wright?)