Back to The Shop After 17 Days Vacation

After 17 unforgettable days in Europe with my family, I returned to Sweeney's Sports feeling grateful, recharged, and—truth be told—a little anxious. It was my first extended break from the shop since taking over nearly five years ago. Would the systems hold? Would the team thrive in my absence? Would anything go terribly wrong?

Well, things looked good at first glance. The shop was clean. Shirts were neatly hung, the front displays tidy. Our team had clearly held the line. But it didn’t take long to uncover a major issue.

We ran out of essentials.

I'm not talking about slow-moving inventory or niche gear. I mean the basics—striped bass leaders, miracle thread, swivel clips. Items that anglers rely on. Items we sell every day. Items that keep our business breathing. And because of a breakdown with one of our main distributors, these essentials sat in a warehouse instead of on our shelves—for over a week.

This wasn’t a small hiccup. It likely cost us over $2,000 in missed sales. But worse, it eroded customer trust. When a regular walks in needing a $1.99 item and we don’t have it, that moment sticks. And if it happens more than once? They may not come back.

How Did This Happen?

While I was gone, our main distributor attempted to charge our auto-pay credit card. The transaction was declined. From a lake in Italy, I scrambled to contact our bank, thinking something was wrong on our end. Turns out—it wasn’t. We had over $40,000 in available purchasing power. The issue was on their side, but the delay triggered a 14-day stall on our shipment.

What made this especially frustrating is that we thought we had a solid process in place. Auto-pay was supposed to prevent exactly this sort of disruption. But one system hiccup can lead to a domino effect when you’re relying on just-in-time inventory.

The Bigger Problem with Just-in-Time

I’m a believer in lean retail. Dusty backstock eats cash. It pays rent to sit there. So for years, we’ve relied on Lightspeed POS and Analytics to replenish stock just in time. It's efficient, it works—until it doesn't.

When a vendor drops the ball, that lean model exposes you. The fix? Create a buffer for the most essential items.

The Top 50 Backstock Plan

Shane and I sat down to rethink how we prevent this from ever happening again. The answer isn’t stocking up on everything—it’s identifying the top 50 SKUs that drive the majority of our day-to-day sales and keeping backup inventory on those items only.

We're currently running reports, analyzing sales velocity, and calculating the budget needed to hold extra inventory for these critical items. It's a shift—but a necessary one. Having a two-week buffer on the right SKUs can mean the difference between delighting a customer and disappointing them.

Lessons Learned

This episode reminded me that running a retail shop isn’t just about merchandising and customer smiles. It's about building resilient systems. Systems that account for the unpredictable. And when something breaks, it’s about fixing it fast—and learning from it.

To our customers: If you ever walked in and couldn’t find what you needed—thank you for your patience. We heard you. And we’re doing something about it.

To fellow shop owners: Have you faced something similar? How are you building resilience into your inventory strategy?

Let’s keep the conversation going. Because staying in business on Main Street isn’t easy—but it’s worth fighting for.