The idea of doing the right thing at the right time is still something that seems to elude the great bulk of retailers.

This is the time of year when retailers tend to down tools as far as opening new stores is concerned. Between now and September, very few new projects will be completed and those that are are likely to be lower profile than what follows in the short period between September and mid-November (after which shop-building tools are downed once more as all hands are applied to the Christmas sales pump).

The rationale for the summer lull is a curious one. It’s holiday time, which means that we all head off for the Costas and forget about such mundane things as refining store portfolios. But hold on a moment. Wouldn’t this be the perfect time to be putting the finishing touches to a new store, making sure everything was just so ahead of the fourth quarter rush? And sales in stores that are being refurbished might not be so badly affected as shoppers will be thinner on the ground and therefore things might be better overall.

Yet retailers remain reticent about undertaking new projects over this period and the assumption is that things will be left to their own devices for a while. There is also the matter that now is the time when those who build and design stores go on holiday, just as much as the shoppers who frequent the outcome of their hard work.

Hard to escape the sense therefore that work on stores is a bit like seasonal ranges in the shops. Just when you expect everything to be in place and swimsuits, for example, to be on the shelves, the winter stock comes piling in. It’s the last week of July and by most people’s reckoning, high summer has another five weeks to run, yet try finding some summer stock that you might want and the chances are good that you’ll be disappointed.

So what’s the answer? Have summer stock in the shops in summer? Work on and open stores when there may be a dip in shopper numbers? Of course not. Why would anybody want to put summer stock in a shop in summer? Why would retailers seek to minimise disruption to trading patterns by creating new stores when there’s a low(er) season?

Occasionally, it’s actually quite hard not to scratch the head and wonder why things are the way they are. Perhaps affairs could be better and more efficient, or is this simple, vainglorious daydreaming? Probably the latter.