Holiday shopping season from the eyes of a small retailer.

Hey everybody.

Yeah, it's been a while, I know. Things are hectic lately, and I haven't been able to dedicate any time on this. I'm going to try something for the next few weeks.

If you don't know, I'm in the family business. I was working on and off for my dad for almost ten years, and after being in the corporate life for about five years, I left and decided to be with pops full time.

Along with my dad and brother, we own two small clothing stores in the Bronx. The three of us have been the full owners for almost five years, with the past two years being a struggle. Before my brother and I came aboard, my dad was partners with two of his friends for over twenty years.

Alot of my friends think that I have tons of cash and I can take off anytime since I own a business. I put in at least 60 hours a week (that's without the commute), and due to the crappy economy, the finances are not too good these days.

I want to show what it's like to have a store in the inner-city during the economic crunch, so I'm going to attempt to have a diary of what goes on from November 28th (Black Friday) to January 6th (Three Kings Day).

My work week is split between the two stores, with my dad working most of the time at one store while my brother is based in the other. I used to work more out of the store my dad us based, but when one of our employees quit two years ago, I asked to split time between both. It breaks up the routine for me. I usually work Monday, Friday and Saturday at one, and Tuesday - Thursday at theother. During the holidays, I work all seven days with an afternoon off sprinkled in there.

I'm going to do the best I can to make it a daily diary, and I'm going to use one of three methods; plain text, audio, or video. It will depend which method would likely go well with the day's topic.

I'm hoping this will open a few eyes about life in a mom and pop store. Please do me a favor, and spread the word about this upcoming diary to your friends, family, and enemies. This should be interesting/fun/unpredictable/sad/pathetic/saucy/quixotic and other five dollar words.