Winning the Card Game: Month 2

PLAINVIEW, N.Y. (MainStreet) -- Card$mart co-owners Dana Norman and Michele Rothberg didn't know what to expect of Valentine's Day. While they were sure to prepare their store well ahead of time, they noticed that while some people (mainly females) were coming in for holiday cards and gifts, it was slow going. It made the new partners nervous the season would be a bust.

But the owners of the discount greeting card store, in an upscale shopping mall on Long Island, N.Y., found themselves scrambling to fulfill customers' last-minute needs even past closing time Feb. 14.

Dana Norman and Michele Rothberg bought a Long Island, N.Y., Card$mart store in June. Month by month, they're learning how to make a business survive and grow.

February's lessons from the small business is a part of a yearlong series following Card$mart's ups and downs. Norman and Rothberg bought the ailing business in June. This is the first business they have owned together (Norman has a degree in marketing; Rothberg's family owned an independent party goods store in the area.) Based on advice from their accountant, the partners have declined to share revenue and profit numbers for January and February.

"We have the cards up for a month and it feels like they're never going sell," Norman says, recalling the run-up to Valentine's Day.

In the end, "we could have had more cards." Card$mart ended up running out of some Valentine's merchandise in stock, primarily cards tailored to men to give to their wives, sweethearts and daughters, Norman says.

"In certain categories we had nothing left," she says. The staff ended up trying to upsell cards they did have in stock that could make a good alternative, such as blank cards.