I have a used and new bookstore in the downtown section of my city.
Despite all of the shifts over the years to online book sales, I managed to keep a steady stream of customers in my door.
That helps that I’m constantly having events at my bookstore to bring in old customers and new customers alike. Sometimes I will have authors come and do book signings if I can entice them on their tours. It’s a process of successes and failures being a small business owner. You do the absolute best that you can. Lately I’ve been bogged down with a lot of stress and it’s been a struggle to manage all of it. The hardest thing for me is overhead here at this building since I don’t rent; I actually own it. A lot of electrical work had to be completed recently and now I need a new heating and cooling system. The HVAC system that came with this building needed to be replaced within 10 years of me buying it, but now it’s been 20 years. My customers sometimes, on how bad the air conditioning is inside. On top of that, you need a dry environment for keeping and restoring old books. The paper can become fragile and even rot if there’s too much humidity in the air. That’s why I’m so adamant about getting a good air conditioner that also works as a dehumidifier. While all air conditioners definitely dry while they cool your air, there are some air conditioners that are better at it than others. I’m going to talk with several HVAC suppliers in the area to see if I can get a good commercial HVAC system that also has a high SEER rating.