Owning a Mountain Bookstore--Part Three

After that heady and hectic first summer, the realities of owning a retail business in a resort town soon became apparent. Autumn delivered golden aspen leaves, but empty streets. Winter was not much better for business. Though the county was filled with ski tourism, skiers don’t read much. Occasionally a non-skiing spouse might wander into the store, bored and looking for reading material to pass the time until après-ski revelry commenced, but overall sales just barely paid the rent.

And then came the deadliest mountain retail period of all: Mud Season. Late Spring delivers sloppy streets and still-chilly, but longer days. The lonely counter time was not entirely a waste. I was able to continue work on the novel that would eventually become “An Uncommon Enemy.”

Finally, Memorial Day came round again. Halleluiah! All the frustrations and confusions of the previous nine months melted along with those last snow drifts. Summer at 9,000 feet...there’s nothing quite like it.