Monday, July 20, 2026 · 7:02 am · Fleet Feet Cleveland · 5 stores
Good morning, Jody.
You’re okay. Payroll is covered, cash stays above the floor, and 41 of 46 signals are quiet. Five decisions need you today—about $15,600 on the table, plus Friday payroll protected. Everything else can wait.
Pay Brooks today. Hold the New Balance invoice until Thursday, after the e-comm deposit clears.
Protects Friday payroll—$18,400 stays in the account until the deposit lands
- New Balance, $18,400, due Wed Jul 22. Terms allow Thursday without penalty—the net-30 window closes Friday.
- E-comm deposit, $22,750, expected Thu Jul 23. Shipments cleared Sunday night; the processor’s two-day clock started this morning.
- Payroll, $52,000, lands Fri Jul 24. Paying New Balance Wednesday leaves Friday riding on that deposit arriving on time. Holding one day clears the $40k floor either way.
- Brooks, $24,600, due today—pay it. Fall preorder opens next month, and payment history feeds your terms conversation.
Ranked by your rule: “Cash beats revenue.”
Move 16 pairs of Ghost 17 from Westlake to Northfield before Saturday.
≈$3,200 in protected revenue
- Northfield sells 11 pairs a week and has 9 days of cover left in core sizes (M 10–11.5, W 8–9.5).
- Westlake is holding 21 weeks of cover on the same sizes.
- Brooks lead time is 28 days—a reorder can’t land before the gap opens.
- 16 pairs × $155, plus typical sock-and-insole attach ≈ $3,200. Saturday is Northfield’s biggest Ghost day.
Your rule: “Transfer before markdown.”
Pepper Pike is sitting on $58,900 aged past 120 days. Transfer the trail shoes west—hold the markdown.
≈$8,200 recovered at full margin, vs ≈$4,900 at 25% off
- $41,200 of it is footwear—mostly Speedgoat 6 and other trail.
- Speedgoat sells 3.4 pairs a week at Strongsville and 2.9 at Westlake, vs 0.6 at Pepper Pike.
- Nothing crosses your 180-day markdown line for another 24 days—the transfer window is open.
- The apparel portion ($14,600) is season-specific; flagged for the fall floor reset instead.
Your rules: “Transfer before markdown” and “No markdowns before 180 days.”
Add a fitter to Westlake Saturday 11–3. Trim the Tuesday-midday overlap at Youngstown.
≈$1,900 a week, no net payroll change
- Westlake Saturday mornings run $212 per labor hour—well past the $150 gold standard. The fit line backs up and roughly 9% of Saturday traffic walks.
- Youngstown Tuesday midday runs $61 per labor hour with three on the floor.
- The swap is 8 hours. Saturday labor is untouched—this adds Saturday hours.
Respects your rule: “Never cut Saturday labor.”
Check in with the Northfield Saturday crew this week.
≈$2,300 a month at spring conversion
- Conversion has slipped six consecutive Saturdays—41% in spring, 36% now.
- Traffic is fine (down 1%). This is a conversion story, not a demand story.
- Two of the six Saturdays ran with a new fitter solo at open—worth a shadow shift before anything else.
- Suggested framing: a coaching conversation, not a numbers meeting.
Experience over everything—the fix here is a person, not a promo.
Confidence is earned, not claimed—every recommendation shows its receipts, and Compass tracks whether it turned out to be right. “Looks right” and “Not today” both teach it.
Noticed, not urgent
- HOKA buyers’ apparel attach is down 31% since January. Worth a look before the fall apparel order.
- Company payroll is pacing to cross the target line in about three weeks. August schedules post Friday—catch it there.
- 214 customers passed 330 days since their last visit this month. Win-back window before they lapse at a year.
House rules — Compass remembers
- “Transfer before markdown.”
- “No markdowns before 180 days.”
- “Never cut Saturday labor.”
- “Cash beats revenue.”
Every recommendation is ranked and filtered by your rules before you see it.
Cash
One view instead of three monitors: cash today, payroll confidence, and the 30/60/90-day line—payables and inventory buys on the same picture.
Projected cash — next 90 days
payroll, rent, vendor payments & deposits appliedInventory
What’s selling, what’s aging, and what needs ordering—with lead times, so “order now” means something.
Sell-through by brand — trailing 8 weeks
% of received units soldInventory aging
at cost, $ thousandsReorder radar
days of cover vs vendor lead timeStores & staffing
Store against store, and hours against traffic—measured the way you already measure it: sales per labor hour against the $150 gold standard.