I saw a review of the store somewhere and thought I'd use this forum to answer the comments. One comment was that it was too warm in the store to stay and shop. I completely understand - when it's that warm in the store, I don't want to stay, either! To top off the heat issue, I have hot flashes which make it even more unbearable at times.
The reason the temp in the store has been so warm is complex. The first problem was that tweekers/drug addicts stole the copper out of the a/c units. The units have essentially been gutted and would have to be completely replaced. This is an expense that neither the property owner nor Mike and I were prepared for, so we agreed to limp through the summer with the evaporative (swamp) coolers. That was another problem - the coolers had been neglected and were in such bad shape, they literally had to be rebuilt from the pump out. We finally got the coolers running well and when the humidity is low it is actually comfortable to cool in the store. When the humidity is up, the coolers add more moisture to the air and it literally rains inside! YECH!
We had a handle on the cooler situation and were optimistic that we'd make it through the rest of the 100+ degree heat of the season. But, we got another surprise. Tweekers again decided to target the store and tried to steal the copper water line on one of the FINALLY working coolers! They broke the pliers they were using, but also broke the water line. We had a miniature fountain on the roof until we could get our maintenance guy up there to fix it. Yesterday, we had to shut that cooler down again because of a smell of smoke from it. I'm thinking the tweekers came back to finish their job. GRRR!
If everything goes well this winter, we plan to have new a/c units up and running by next summer so that everyone will be comfortable.
I mentioned in the first blog post that we had challenges with the building. Well, those challenges have turned out to be more problem than we thought. Roof, electrical and other stuff - things that had fixes "for now" and that "for now" has turned into MUST repair soon! The good news is that the property owner has been getting bids and will get a reliable and thorough company to do what needs to be done instead of "making do" with patches. We'll be in good shape by the time winter gets here!
Another comment I read was about the lighting. It doesn't have anything to do with saving on the electric bill, though it is tempting. I cannot stand having my work area poorly lit and I know how important it is to have the store well lit so customers can match colors or decide between shades. I've been known to go through the store and turn on lights that Mike just had turned off!
Believe it or not, the reason the lights aren't completely lit in the store goes back to the humidity in the air from the swamp coolers. Fluorescent lighting doesn't like moisture and the bulbs won't light if they or the conections are wet. We replaced something like 60 light bulbs in the store - the 5' long ones (ain't cheap) and still wound up with 20 or 30 that didn't light. When we checked the ballast and and the bulbs, they were literally dripping wet! When the bulbs and the enclosure and ballast were dried out, they lit up like daylight!
