Should you open on July 4th or other important holidays?

Business owners, especially those involved in retail have the hard decision of whether or not to open their doors on this or any other Federal holiday.

The answer to that question of course is maybe.

It all depends on your market and where you are located. When I worked at a major electronics store and a major office supply store, I cannot tell you a time that we even paid the light bill to be opened on July 4th. At one store, which was the busiest store in the state and region, we would literally watch cars drive by and do very little business during the day.

On the other hand, when I worked in the grocery industry July 4th was THE busiest days of the year until around 3pm when it would die out.

Not only do you have to look at the type of business you are, you also need to look at the area. For example, if you are in a major tourist destination then July 4th and the other important holidays are probably busy days for you and you would be stupid not to open.

The best source of information is your fellow store owners. They can tell you what traffic is going to be like on the 4th and then you can make a more educated guest on whether or not to be open.

If you have employees you also need to take them into consideration. While you may need to be open during the day, ensure that your employees have the opportunity to spend time doing the normal July 4th activities especially the evening ones. One option if you have a few employees is to seek volunteers to work that day and then have another day off. In the years that I asked for volunteers to work the holiday's I never had a problem finding enough people who wished to work to staff the store properly.

Other sources of good information on holiday traffic are your local chamber of commerce or SCORE office.