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LHS service (or lack thereof... >facepalm< )

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Dave F

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
So... while doing my running around today I took a few minutes and dropped in my LHS here in town to have a quick look around and see if anything new had arrived. It hadn't, nothing to see, new anyway.
I'm fully aware that I no longer live in Utah, land of the nicey nice, and folks here can be more.... real... yeah, that's a good word, real.

The owner/manager/sole employee of this LHS has always been brusk, with all customers. He's not mean nor rude, but he's not the kind of guy you'd be comfortable chatting with. He's a bit off-putting, keeping you at a distance and doesn't really appear to go out of his way to provide service. I've never seen him come out from behind the register.

The store is small, but nice (It's the FUN store with the RED door !!) quite a bit of stock in N and HO, not much in the way of G.

Today I noticed that on the overhead G track he had a coal train up there. If any of you know me, you know I like long coal drags. I counted 14 Aristo three bay hoppers with coal loads up there.

I asked if the Hoppers on the track above were available for sale?

In response I got a very abrupt . "Well, those are mine, they belong to the store. Our G scale sales have dropped to 0 for the last two years. I don't even order G scale things anymore. I'd have to call AristoCraft to see if they are still available."

Now gee .... I've worked in retail and retail management for most of my life. I own my own business now. If sales are in the crapper, and I have a customer in front of me with cash money, asking if he can buy something from me in my store.... There's only one thing to say.... and it wasn't that.

Maybe your sales have been at 0 for so long and your business is hurting because you treat your customers like that.... get a clue buddy.


Robby.. Thank goodness your only two hours away now..

DF
 
#2 ·
Your story reminds me of a stop at a hobby shop in Union town Pa 35-40 years ago.

After looking around the shop and not finding what I was looking for, I asked the older fellow behind the counter, if there were any other hobby shops in the town.

He responded in a rather gruff voice, "I certainly hope not"

Even as a young fellow in his late teens or early 20s, I could understand his hoping there was no other hobby shops in town, even though I don't think he really new why.

For years starting with trips to Pittsburg Pa with my late father, we always stopped by A.B. Charles & Sons Hobby Shop in Dormont.

We always got a smile and a hearty hello.

We always felt welcome.

In a time when the internet companies are killing the brick and mortor stores, it's so amazing that the so many owners of local brick and motor hobby shops have forgotten the most important aspects of their business.

But like so many things in life today, Common Sence has been forgotten.
 
#3 ·
Chances are he thought you were one of those guys who was going to try to bust his chops and get him to take a loss on them because they were "used".

That kind of customer he can get anywhere. And probably meets dozens a day. When I was in business there were lots and lots of folks happily willing to help me cut my own throat, too.

As for staying behind the register, does he also have security monitors there? it might be the only place he can keep an eye on the whole store at once. Shoplifting is a HUGE problem for most hobby shops, and having an accomplice distract the clerk while the theif loads up is a classic ruse.


Then some folks just aren't "people" people. OTOH There's an old saw about, "show me a man who hates people and I'll bet you he worked in retail." Ill mannered, entitled "customers" (not pointing at you), and unsupervised obnoxious brats have turned a LOT of once pleasant shopkeepers surly

SHOULD he have offered to look to see if they were still available? Probably. SHOULD he have asked how much you were willing to pay for them? Probably. Could he just be attached to them? Maybe

Until you've been in their shoes, don't be so quick to judge
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Mik: I'm not going to argue your points with you. For the most part you are correct. What you may not be aware of is my 25+ years of working in retail, from sales floor to management. Burned out or not, defensive or not, security minded or not, there is simply no excuse to treat a retail customer thusly. For what it's worth, you can only see about 20% of the store from the register and there's no video surveilance.

Scott: He never even allowed the conversation to get to the point where price was up for dicsusssion. If it was new stock, just on display out of the box, and original boxes are available I have no issues with whatever his retail price may have been. At least at that point I could have made an informed decision as to wether I wanted to buy. He cut the conversation off before it even got started.

Ron: This guy is even more gruff and rough around the edges than you my friend..


My point is, if someone (me in this case) inquires about purchasing a hobby item in a hobby store (not an unusual request) instead of biting the customers head off a simple "I'm sorry those particular units aren't available for sale, but we can sure get some in for you." would be preferable.
 
#7 ·
I realize that people can have a bad day and customers can be jerks, but it seems to me if you are in retail you have to be able to treat the customer like you're happy to see them and they aren't a bother, until they prove otherwise. I would never go back to a hobby shop like the one Dave describes. There is a hobby shop near me that has very little stock in trains (nothing in G), but I go in there occasionally because the owner is always friendly and happy to see me or anyone else. I spent $60 there last time I was in. I could have gotten everything on line for $40 and free shipping. He's a really nice guy and he's having trouble making much money from the store. If he acted like I was a bother I wouldn't go back.
Bob
 
#8 ·
Part of working with the public, is that you have to EXPECT some rude customers.

How you deal with them is up to you, but tossing it right back is rarely good for business.

Sure, if you are a discount camera shop in New York, you can toss people out if they waste your time, since you are making so little per item, wasting your time costs you money.

Very few brick and mortar stores can afford this particular type of luxury.

Sounds like an encounter I had on the phone with St. Aubins, one nice guy and one a**hole ... this is when they had the internet only price, and the phone in price and the in-store price...

I managed to get the locomotive, but I should have bought it from Robby.

Greg
 
#9 ·
I'm right there with you Dave. You are spot on. I'm a small business owner myself and the very first thing I tell any new employee is, "learn to smile, because if you cant then I cant have you work here."

There are so many "good" ways to handle the situation. The store owner handled it the very wrong way. It is a tale as old as time, those that dont understand customer service are soon to go the way of the Do-do. Did the store owner ever wonder why his G-scale business went to ZERO? I would be curious how his HO and N is doing too. Probably going the same route.

As to what Mik said, I know there are A-holes out there that demand and demand. But that never gives you the right as a store owner to do anything but ask the person to kindly leave. However, i dont believe Dave was that way. I think Dave was just being the average customer.

I tell you what I would have done Dave..."How many you want? They are $XX each." If you bucked at the price then that is when the experienced salesman kicks in..."Well I could probably take some off since they are out of the box and all but I dont have a lot of markup on these." Cha-Ching sale done.
 
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Dave F
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