Open all hours?

....erm....no, actually.

We, as in Teatime Vintage,  (me and The Lovely Husband Man, aka full time Radiographer) have now been open for almost eight months. From the start we knew that opening our tea room and shop for as many hours each day as possible, and for as many days of the week as possible, was important for two main reasons:- 

1.  To enable us to provide a good service within our community by being available to meet with customer needs, wants and expectations.

2.  So that we could maximise our potential takings each day - we love what we do but we cannot afford to do it for free.

It's obvious isn't it?  No-one starts a business with the idea that you want to irritate your customers and risk losing money by having inconsistent and relatively limited opening hours.  That said,  we are also realistic about our own personal situation and about maintaining some sense of work-life balance in order to look after our family and to remain happy and, quite frankly, sane.

Whilst this little business of ours is important to us and we want to do it  as well as we possibly can, it is not as important to us as those we love.  We shall NEVER put the business before the needs and wellbeing of our two sons.  We are, at times, at risk  of putting the needs of the business before our own personal needs but we try hard - and sometimes we even succeed - to limit the impact of that.

We chose the location of our business to be within walking distance from home and the two different schools our children attend.  Up until now we have opened up each morning at 10am and for three days a week we have closed at 3pm.  This has meant that we have been able to take and collect our youngest (now five year old) son to and from school during his year in the reception class.

Over the past few months we have built our business up enough to sustain employing part-time staff to help us with both the day-to-day running of the shop and with the external catering and events side of our business (weddings and other celebrations mainly). Prior to this, when we felt we couldn't afford to pay for staff,  I worked in the shop six days a week in addition to us doing all of the external events, until I felt too exhausted to keep up that pace. I continue to do all of the baking and management of both side of the business. 

Our profit margins are moderate. We aim to provide excellent quality and service at a reasonable price.  Some days we are very busy, some days we are very quiet.  There is little to no pattern to this, which results in a challenging decision making process about opening hours and staffing levels.  To manage costs, we, as is the way with many sole traders, perform many different roles to keep the business going...we wear many 'different hats'.  Occasionally, the wheels fall off....we drop some of the juggling balls....some of the plates stop spinning and come crashing to the floor. 

If one of our sons is sick, or if I am ill, then we can be left with no option but to close the shop for a day or two with no prior notice. We also close our shop during our family holidays away - if we didn't do this then we would be losing a considerable amount of money in order to keep the shop open and we cannot afford to do this.  If we have a private party booking then we may decide to close the tea room to walk-ins to accommodate a confirmed booking with guaranteed numbers.

Each time we take the decision to close the shop, it is a decision that is not taken lightly.  We would, of course, prefer to be in a position to keep the shop open regardless.  Which, brings me to the disappointment I feel when apparently well meaning people suggest that they hope they don't offend me when they advise me that (not them but) 'local people' don't like it when I hang up a notice on the shop door to say that I have to close that day because my child is sick.  Or that our inconsistent opening hours put people off supporting our business at all - as if this is something we haven't considered and worried about.    Well, yes, actually, you do offend me.  You offend my morals and my intelligence and I suspect that no matter how much you may like the idea of independent local shops, you are not, in reality, consistently supportive of the independent retailer.

I'm going to take a risk and spell it out here... we very much value our customers and want to provide a good service within the local area. We appreciate genuine feedback from customers about what we do and how we can improve the experience we provide.  However, there may be times when it is impossible for us to open up, to get staffing cover.  To clarify, IF EITHER OF MY KIDS ARE ILL THEN THEY ARE MY PRIOIRTY I WILL BE HOME WITH THEM and not serving you tea and cake.  I'm guessing that if I am ill then you don't really want me baking the cake you will eat or me in the shop coughing into your afternoon tea.

Thankfully, our loyal regular customers have been wonderfully understanding and supportive of our need to balance our business with the needs of our family.  We are truly appreciative and thankful for this. We are also in the fortunate position of being able to continue to develop our business.  It is with this in mind that we are happy to share with you our new longer opening hours that we are able to bring to you with the support and commitment of our growing team:-

From Monday 5th September, when we will be offering our newly expanded menu, we shall be open from Monday to Friday from 8.45am until 4.30pm and on Saturday's we shall be open from 10am until 4pm.  We shall continue to remain closed on Sunday's and Bank Holiday Monday's.  We hark back to years gone by when the world seemed to move at a slower pace with these times reserved for fun with family and friends. 

There will inevitably continue to be the occasional 'sick day' when we may need to close without advance warning. We shall also continue to close during our family holidays.  We apologise in advance that we will not be open ALL of the hours on ALL of the days but we shall keep doing what we do as well as we can, as often as we can.  Huge thanks to all who 'get it' and support us in this. 

Supporting local independent businesses feels good.  Your support enables the business to thrive and to enrich the community of which it is a part, by bringing character and diversity.  Share the love.  Build and connect with your community. Shop local.  Embrace slow living.  Enjoy the experience.  Say 'no' to the 'open all hours' culture that the big chain retailers have groomed us to believe is the shiny new way.

Thank you for reading and thank you for sharing our ongoing adventure.