Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

In this day and age, the honest answer to my topic would probably be 24/7/365 because we`re all so busy and use to getting things more quickly now.

But here at my print shop, I`ve been contemplating opening on Saturdays for a few hours. I`m currently open M-F 9-6, but after working last Saturday and seeing several people and fielding several calls, I`m wondering if this may be a good move.

You see, at one time I was open on Sat`s 9-1, but I was also only open M-F 9-1 because I was still working my full-time job. But after opening this place full-time, I figured my longer hours would eliminate Saturdays and for the most part, according to sales records, it did.

I dug up 41 different print/copy shops and found their hours. Out of the 41, only 8 had Saturday hours.

So as a business owner and/or a regular customer needing some copies, would you like to see office hours at least on Saturday?

What are your services?

You could create a great niche for yourself!  There are times during the week that I don`t get everything done and need to get some stuff done on Saturdays.  If I were you, I would work Saturdays, but find some time during the week that is slower to take off.  If Tuesday afternoons are slower, make Tuesday a 9-1 workday.  However, if you are doing this business by yourself and you open up on Saturdays and work 6 days a week, you may not like it.  If you add on Saturdays, make sure you have the staff to cover it.  Maybe that staff will be added in a few months when you`ve got more business than you imagined, but make sure that`s a direction that you want to go.  Don`t work 6 days a week forever--life is too short.

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DoorMat,

We`re a multimedia graphic design and printing company. Offering print collateral services, Web site and identity design for small businesses. In a nutshell, that`s my little elevator speech. But to the person who needs a b/w or color copy, we also offer that which is something I would probably do more of on Saturday`s than anything. With the exception of people picking up orders they placed throughout the week. An advantage for my customers? Sure! A disadvantage for me because my entire workforce is me, myself and I? Yeppers. :- /

You know what I would LOVE about that? I use to be a 9-1-1 dispatcher before opening this business and every week our days off were different. So I might have Wed/Thurs off this week and Tues/Wed the next. You know how nice it is to get things done during the week while others are at work? Oh wow, very nice. The flip side to that is with that job, you only got a Sat/Sun off every 6 weeks and if I open on Sat`s, well now I`m back in that "working the weekend thing".


Yep, me, myself and I is it. My wife could help out periodically, but she`s part of the retail world and retail doesn`t hardly ever take a Saturday off. Y`know?

I think there is a definite need for afterhours services. I don`t think I`ve ever visited a Kinko`s inside a "normal work day" .. and they alway seem really busy on a Saturday or weekday evening.