February 27, 2009
Snooty Attitude Tones Down at Luxe Boutiques
By Tom Ryan
According to The New
York Times, a quick glance at a man’s watch and shoes has been a
common and effective tool for sizing up potential customers at designer
boutiques. Working heavily on commission, a sales clerk gains invaluable
insight into which shoppers to chase and which to ignore.
Such practices have also
tagged clerks at high-end stores with a reputation for snootiness and all-out
rudeness. But the Times notes that virtually overnight, the brutal
recession has changed those attitudes to a “level of customer service
rivaling that of Disney.”
MaxMara recently
held employee seminars on enhancing the shopping experience “of anyone
who walks through the front door,” and the article claims other stores “are
making more effort to greet and engage.”
Putting the findings
to a test, the Times reporter, Eric Wilson, went undercover. Donning
an outfit described “if not poorly, then as plainly as possible in
a sweatshirt, jeans and dog-walking shoes,” Mr. Wilson visited a string
of boutiques along Madison Ave. in New York City.
For the most part, luxury
boutiques passed the test with flying colors.
The reporter was greeted
by no less than 17 associates at the Ralph Lauren mansion. At a Chanel
jewelry store, a clerk “gingerly” placed Mr. Wilson’s $3.00 watch
on a velvet tray as he tried on a $4,500 black ceramic J12 watch. At former
Gucci designer’s Tom Ford store, a man approached right away to offer still
or sparkling water. Inquiring about a coat in size 8 for his mother, a MaxMara associate within five minutes brought out five styles
that weren’t on the selling floor. At John Lobb,
a saleman got down on his knees to fit a pair
of $1,100 loafers.
Only one store out of
seven fit luxury’s snooty stereotype. Upon walking into Gucci on Madison
Ave., a greeter asked Mr. Wilson “in a sharp tone, ‘What are you looking for?’”
Trying on a swimsuit
upstairs, Mr. Wilson waited for five minutes for assistance. Finally, upon
leaving, another salesman approached and asked, “You still here?”
Poll Question: Do you
think the snooty reputation at high-end stores has toned down given the
recession or has it always been widely overblown? If there is a longstanding
snooty attitude in high-end selling, is it in any way justified?
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Poll
Certainly many boutiques provide lousy service. In the case of high-end stores, this is typically described as snooty and rude. In lower-end stores it might be described as uncaring or non-existent. Service in the past and present has more to do with the vision of the retailer and the people they hire to manager their stores and service their customers, than the current economics.
In today’s environment, retailers of all kinds are pushing like never before to go out of their way to be helpful, courteous, and welcoming. This is particularly true in stores where the brand mission is service oriented to start with. It is likely to be found where the brand typically stands for service and quality – a fairly common aspect of luxury brands. The reporter’s example of lousy service in Gucci, however, proves that the people you hire to manage & staff your stores determine the service that will be offered.
I don’t know. I keep trying to check on their service, but they keep throwing me out as soon as I walk through the door in my mismatched unironed button-down and Dockers.
Since mid-2008, I’ve noticed a major snoot reversal at high-end retail on both coasts and in major cities in between. The only odd and unfortunate exception has been with a few mid-sized town boutiques (where sales associates seem not to have received the memo that snootiness doesn’t = cachet).
What still needs to change is the prohibitive entries and layouts for many luxury boutiques. Newer luxury prototypes have remedied this, thank goodness; however, plenty of stores still have the skull and crossbones on the door and clique-y clusters of salespeople chatting among themselves just inside.
If anything, I’ve found high-end service veering dangerously toward fawning. A bit more chill in the air would be welcome!
I’ve long thought the snobby salesclerk persona is just one more manifestation of the pre-judging of people we all do to each other, if unconsciously, all the time. Several black friends who are not known for being paranoid admit they still feel not so subtle stereotyping or “sizing up” especially when they walk into a bank or jewelry store. A friend’s mother, one of the first ever computer science graduates from an American University, so now in her 60s, says she experiences condescension from clerks which she attributes to ageism, nearly each time she goes in to purchase technology products.
The solution many buyers have found to combat these indignities–online shopping.
Granted, I have no experience of the snooty boutiques in New York, and precious little in LA. But I do hear comments about snooty service at Saks and Neiman-Marcus, and some other high-end boutiques, here in St. Louis, and I’ve never experienced it.
I’m never shopping at the high end of their price points and rarely in there at all without a very good reason. I’m plus-sized. And I walk in straight from tennis, usually, because they’re all on the way back here, so I don’t look too great. If the staff were going to snoot, I’d think they’d snoot me.
On the other hand, if this is a profiling issue, and I’m throwing off class symbols–tennis skirt instead of mom jeans, for example–my experience is unhelpful and possibly counterproductive.
In fact, this sounds more like a diversity issue: we don’t know who can spend until we engage them on the selling floor. How is it different, really, to profile a big spender by their Rolex or diamond earrings, from a previous generation’s profiling of the wrong color skin?
Now, I’m certainly not advocating wasting time on obviously unqualified prospects–shoppers who are clearly not ready to buy. But if these clerks have had any sales training at all, they can certainly find out in five minutes if that kid in shorts with the backwards baseball cap is there to buy a suit–or the store.
It isn’t just the luxury store salespeople. I think as the economy slows, possibly everyone might become less abrasive and nicer to each other–less business around so you don’t want to turn off the spenders no matter how they’re dressed–“a king dressed as a beggar” is a good simile.
Actually that reminds me of a story someone told about 20 years ago about an Indian farmer walking into a car showroom and being treated patronizingly by the salesman. The salesman saw a more urbane customer walk in and handed the farmer off to a less aggressive colleague, only to see 4 cars being driven off by the farmer’s sons after an all CASH payment.
Maybe the image is not as evocative as Julia Roberts’, but a pretty powerful one, nevertheless.
The high-end snooty salesperson has been on the decline in recent years. High-end retailers and sellers have been working hard on identifying and converting their target customers. It takes time to establish that personal, trusting relationship. The decline is more likely an issue of “did we miss this one?” It will never completely go away, but during this economic time, when consumers are cutting back on showing their money, potential customers may simply not look the way they did.
Sad to say, it’s everywhere and always has been. Never forget the day 30 years ago that my wife and I walked into a realtor’s office in Irvington, NY, with $150K cash and very good incomes for the day, but we were in blue jeans and sneakers. The lone realtor in the office looked up from her papers, said “You couldn’t afford anything here,” and went back to reading. So we bought a house in Rye, NY, instead. Or the day a few years later when the used car salesman greeted me lovingly and even put his arm around my shoulder (yuk!) as he walked me and my toddler son into the lot. “How much you looking to spend?” Having always been conservative and into paying cash, I said “Oh, about $2,000.” I felt the guy’s arm fall off my shoulder and he turned around, without a word, to go back into his office. People like this will put on a decent “act” during a recession, but they’re still the same at core. All of this is one reason I now live in Vermont, by the way.
The snooty attitude that has been so prevalent in high-end stores around the world has been the biggest turn off for attracting and selling to customers. The “that’s just dumb” side of this is that those staff with the bad attitudes can’t even afford the product they sell in most cases, yet they’ve come off as being ‘above’ their customers.
I know this is stereotyping, and not all boutique staff should be swept under the rug. But, it’s been the most ridiculous behaviour of all in retail.
Is it getting any better? I went shopping the other day in Toronto’s high-end district and was for most part unimpressed with the service. Maybe we haven’t been hit hard enough by the recession…yet!
It’s not only high-end stores, the whole retail industry now (more than ever) needs to change their approach to customer service. How many times, after buying something do you even get a simple “thank you”? My wife pointed out to me that most sales people will say, “there you go” and hand you your bag–she’s right, “there you go” is the new “thank you.” Wow, that’s a reason to come back!
Out of all bad comes good and this downturn will be no different. Perhaps, with cutbacks and fewer people in the stores, only great sales associates will remain or be trained (if management remembers what that constitutes, of course)…and hopefully, retailers will make excellent customer service a priority again.
Their survival now depends on it.
The snooty rep is well honed and well deserved. But the real shame here is that it took the recession to get some luxe stores to rein in their bad behaviors and start offering good customer service to all who pass through their doors. One important fact that seems to be lost on these (and other) merchants is that the way a consumer dresses or presents themselves initially is not an indication of the size of their bank account. In today’s urban environment (where many luxe stores are located) the person in the jeans and cool kicks could be worth several million dollars or several hundred dollars.
To be fair, I think salespeople who stand on their feet waiting on the general public 8 hours a day deserve to be called “associates,” as opposed to “clerks.” And for those who haven’t actually worked as retail associates, the perceived slights that you experience pale in comparison to the way some members of the public treat “clerks.”
By and large, I think the more expensive the store, the better the customer service, for all customers.
Don’t think it’s overblown at all. I experience it a lot. If I’m dressed in my business suit, I get lots of attention and they’re all over me. If I go in on my off days in jeans, tennis shoes and no make up. Well, it’s impossible to get help. Very true at high-end boutiques and you would have thought the movie “Pretty Woman” would have changed their attitude!
High-end retailers need to find some way to separate the buyers from the tourists. That said, one of the characteristics of high-end retail is good service and, judging from my own forays into higher-end retailers, there’s still plenty of snooty behavior to go around–even in a recession.
This story demonstrates an old biblical adage: “Beware how you treat the beggar, he may be a king in disguise.” Or if you are not inclined to study ancient writings you can always watch “Pretty Woman” again. Haven’t we noticed that really rich people tend to wear anything they want and have no need to impress anyone?
I’d like to think that people are becoming kind, respectful and considerate toward everyone because it is the right and human thing to do…and that it has nothing to do with economic opportunism. I know, I know…you have a bridge you want to sell me.
I hate to blame the customer, but sometimes shoppers open themselves up to abuse from these snooty salespeople. Like vampires, salespeople at some of upscale stores can smell good blood and bad. They think they can determine who has money and who is wasting time. They’re not always right and the problem for the store owners is that the clerks tend to err on the side of thinking most shoppers can’t afford their goods.
Judging people has always been in fashion for retail; high end or not. I used to be a DM for a western wear store in the 80s in South Coast Plaza, the #1 per sq ft mall in the US. The way clerks looked at the guys who worked for me at these stores was always funny–my guys made more than they did yet weren’t given the time of day.
Now that the economy is hurting, we’re seeing a lot of “upscale” retailers getting PR on their mea culpa moment and how they have now embraced everyone “We are the world” style.
Doesn’t it strike you that this is like the 70% discounts Saks did last fall on high-end fashion? Too little too late. Shop ’em in 6 months after their PR campaigns are over–they’ll return to their ways–if they are still around.
Anyone in retail/sales who hasn’t already figured it out simply needs to read ‘Minding The Store,’ by the late and great Stanley Marcus.
Or…. “You work on commission, right? Big mistake, big, huge! I have to go shopping now….”
–‘Vivian Ward’ (Julia Roberts)
Retail salespeople are trained by the public. They react to their experience. Experience is a wonderful teacher, but often not a kind one. If you are selling Prada, you get an idea very quickly about your customers. What they look like, how they dress, how they carry themselves, etc. To make a living, your experience tells you where to spend your time and efforts to produce the greatest return. The Prada customer demands service and gets it.
A salesperson can spend a thousand hours showing Prada to tenement dwellers but the return will be pitiful and the salesperson will be forced to seek employment elsewhere. What the less professional salespeople do is they end up working at retail jobs that are less salesperson and more clerk. While the well heeled may be slowing their purchasing patterns, they will return and they will again demand service.
The responsibility of trained colleagues covering the retail floor is firmly on the shoulders of management. The sweet spot in the continuum between arrogance and assuming familiarity is the Holy Grail. It’s why selecting for DNA and then training daily as an integral part of your culture is so important.
I work closely with (read: train) sales associates from many of the finest luxury brands in the world. We understand that sales associates define the brand and experience. Arrogance reflects incompetence and must never be tolerated. Furthermore, extraordinary service is more than, as the article suggests, asking if they can help. The best managers expect their sales associates to tease-out the needs of their customer to create desires they didn’t know existed. Anything less is a clerk.
I never have worked retail in my life, but pre-judgments by clerks makes sense. Stereotypical, but probably understandable in the grand scheme of things. I’d probably do the same to a certain degree.
The worst experience I had was when I was young (mid/late 20s)and ready and willing to buy my first car after a few hand-me-downs from brothers. I was planning on buying it outright with cash (~$25,000).
I went to 4-5 dealerships by myself just dressed casually. Likely jeans, a light jacket and golf shirt. Nothing spectacular, nor nothing grubby.
4 of the dealerships had many salespeople just standing around doing nothing. Only a few would be working on selling to other customers. I’d wait around forever. Zero customer service. I had to approach them to ask for info! And after endless stereotypes in TV and movies of the over aggressive shady car dealer who won’t leave you alone, I didn’t see that at all!
At the last place I went to, a nice guy did come up to me. Not only was he not pushy but he also gave me the best price out of them all. Easy sale.
I just watched Pretty Woman again the other day. I loved the scene where she goes back to the first boutique where she was snubbed. She has an armload of packages. Of course, they don’t recognize her as she is all dressed up. She makes a point to tell them how many $$$ they missed out on–big,big mistake.
The look on the clerks faces was priceless. What a classic. Loved it.
I have been fortunate enough to shop, from time to time, the best retail establishments in New York, Chicago, Miami, and the D.C. area. (This is almost always for gift purchases.) For my own personal needs I always used to shop–and did a LARGE amount of gift purchases also–at Marshall Field’s in Chicago. I now rely on Nordstrom, Dillard’s Penneys, and a number of ubiquitous other stores (Banana Republic, Target, etc) for myself.
This shopping has spanned the late 80s to last Christmas season and I MUST admit it never ceases to disappoint me–the “snooty factor” in sales associates attitude! I agree that If I am in Armani, my service is superb but if I am off that day, depending on how I am dressed it varies greatly –EXCEPT at Marshall Field’s. Their service was ALWAYS EXCELLENT and lacking of judgement!!! It is one of the attributes that I most miss and will always miss from that wonderful store. Their sales associates were uniformly the BEST.
Although of late things aren’t as good as in the past–especially for Christmas shopping–I was fortunate in the past, to drop a fair amount of $$$ in purchases. I have experienced some attitude that is very disappointing and rather than let it upset me, when that occurred, I simply informed the associate that unfortunately they were not going to be able to help me and I left. I am sure that they all thought that I simply could not afford whatever I was looking at. However, I left and went to another store and repeated the experience until I found someone who was helpful instead of judgmental and I purchased from that person.
They may be changing their tune of late but I have NO doubt that when the economy rebounds, they will rapidly return to their traditional ways of judging potential customers.
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Certainly many boutiques provide lousy service. In the case of high-end stores, this is typically described as snooty and rude. In lower-end stores it might be described as uncaring or non-existent. Service in the past and present has more to do with the vision of the retailer and the people they hire to manager their stores and service their customers, than the current economics.
In today’s environment, retailers of all kinds are pushing like never before to go out of their way to be helpful, courteous, and welcoming. This is particularly true in stores where the brand mission is service oriented to start with. It is likely to be found where the brand typically stands for service and quality – a fairly common aspect of luxury brands. The reporter’s example of lousy service in Gucci, however, proves that the people you hire to manage & staff your stores determine the service that will be offered.
I don’t know. I keep trying to check on their service, but they keep throwing me out as soon as I walk through the door in my mismatched unironed button-down and Dockers.
Since mid-2008, I’ve noticed a major snoot reversal at high-end retail on both coasts and in major cities in between. The only odd and unfortunate exception has been with a few mid-sized town boutiques (where sales associates seem not to have received the memo that snootiness doesn’t = cachet).
What still needs to change is the prohibitive entries and layouts for many luxury boutiques. Newer luxury prototypes have remedied this, thank goodness; however, plenty of stores still have the skull and crossbones on the door and clique-y clusters of salespeople chatting among themselves just inside.
If anything, I’ve found high-end service veering dangerously toward fawning. A bit more chill in the air would be welcome!
I’ve long thought the snobby salesclerk persona is just one more manifestation of the pre-judging of people we all do to each other, if unconsciously, all the time. Several black friends who are not known for being paranoid admit they still feel not so subtle stereotyping or “sizing up” especially when they walk into a bank or jewelry store. A friend’s mother, one of the first ever computer science graduates from an American University, so now in her 60s, says she experiences condescension from clerks which she attributes to ageism, nearly each time she goes in to purchase technology products.
The solution many buyers have found to combat these indignities–online shopping.
Granted, I have no experience of the snooty boutiques in New York, and precious little in LA. But I do hear comments about snooty service at Saks and Neiman-Marcus, and some other high-end boutiques, here in St. Louis, and I’ve never experienced it.
I’m never shopping at the high end of their price points and rarely in there at all without a very good reason. I’m plus-sized. And I walk in straight from tennis, usually, because they’re all on the way back here, so I don’t look too great. If the staff were going to snoot, I’d think they’d snoot me.
On the other hand, if this is a profiling issue, and I’m throwing off class symbols–tennis skirt instead of mom jeans, for example–my experience is unhelpful and possibly counterproductive.
In fact, this sounds more like a diversity issue: we don’t know who can spend until we engage them on the selling floor. How is it different, really, to profile a big spender by their Rolex or diamond earrings, from a previous generation’s profiling of the wrong color skin?
Now, I’m certainly not advocating wasting time on obviously unqualified prospects–shoppers who are clearly not ready to buy. But if these clerks have had any sales training at all, they can certainly find out in five minutes if that kid in shorts with the backwards baseball cap is there to buy a suit–or the store.
It isn’t just the luxury store salespeople. I think as the economy slows, possibly everyone might become less abrasive and nicer to each other–less business around so you don’t want to turn off the spenders no matter how they’re dressed–“a king dressed as a beggar” is a good simile.
Actually that reminds me of a story someone told about 20 years ago about an Indian farmer walking into a car showroom and being treated patronizingly by the salesman. The salesman saw a more urbane customer walk in and handed the farmer off to a less aggressive colleague, only to see 4 cars being driven off by the farmer’s sons after an all CASH payment.
Maybe the image is not as evocative as Julia Roberts’, but a pretty powerful one, nevertheless.
The high-end snooty salesperson has been on the decline in recent years. High-end retailers and sellers have been working hard on identifying and converting their target customers. It takes time to establish that personal, trusting relationship. The decline is more likely an issue of “did we miss this one?” It will never completely go away, but during this economic time, when consumers are cutting back on showing their money, potential customers may simply not look the way they did.
Sad to say, it’s everywhere and always has been. Never forget the day 30 years ago that my wife and I walked into a realtor’s office in Irvington, NY, with $150K cash and very good incomes for the day, but we were in blue jeans and sneakers. The lone realtor in the office looked up from her papers, said “You couldn’t afford anything here,” and went back to reading. So we bought a house in Rye, NY, instead. Or the day a few years later when the used car salesman greeted me lovingly and even put his arm around my shoulder (yuk!) as he walked me and my toddler son into the lot. “How much you looking to spend?” Having always been conservative and into paying cash, I said “Oh, about $2,000.” I felt the guy’s arm fall off my shoulder and he turned around, without a word, to go back into his office. People like this will put on a decent “act” during a recession, but they’re still the same at core. All of this is one reason I now live in Vermont, by the way.
The snooty attitude that has been so prevalent in high-end stores around the world has been the biggest turn off for attracting and selling to customers. The “that’s just dumb” side of this is that those staff with the bad attitudes can’t even afford the product they sell in most cases, yet they’ve come off as being ‘above’ their customers.
I know this is stereotyping, and not all boutique staff should be swept under the rug. But, it’s been the most ridiculous behaviour of all in retail.
Is it getting any better? I went shopping the other day in Toronto’s high-end district and was for most part unimpressed with the service. Maybe we haven’t been hit hard enough by the recession…yet!
It’s not only high-end stores, the whole retail industry now (more than ever) needs to change their approach to customer service. How many times, after buying something do you even get a simple “thank you”? My wife pointed out to me that most sales people will say, “there you go” and hand you your bag–she’s right, “there you go” is the new “thank you.” Wow, that’s a reason to come back!
Out of all bad comes good and this downturn will be no different. Perhaps, with cutbacks and fewer people in the stores, only great sales associates will remain or be trained (if management remembers what that constitutes, of course)…and hopefully, retailers will make excellent customer service a priority again.
Their survival now depends on it.
The snooty rep is well honed and well deserved. But the real shame here is that it took the recession to get some luxe stores to rein in their bad behaviors and start offering good customer service to all who pass through their doors. One important fact that seems to be lost on these (and other) merchants is that the way a consumer dresses or presents themselves initially is not an indication of the size of their bank account. In today’s urban environment (where many luxe stores are located) the person in the jeans and cool kicks could be worth several million dollars or several hundred dollars.
To be fair, I think salespeople who stand on their feet waiting on the general public 8 hours a day deserve to be called “associates,” as opposed to “clerks.” And for those who haven’t actually worked as retail associates, the perceived slights that you experience pale in comparison to the way some members of the public treat “clerks.”
By and large, I think the more expensive the store, the better the customer service, for all customers.
Don’t think it’s overblown at all. I experience it a lot. If I’m dressed in my business suit, I get lots of attention and they’re all over me. If I go in on my off days in jeans, tennis shoes and no make up. Well, it’s impossible to get help. Very true at high-end boutiques and you would have thought the movie “Pretty Woman” would have changed their attitude!
High-end retailers need to find some way to separate the buyers from the tourists. That said, one of the characteristics of high-end retail is good service and, judging from my own forays into higher-end retailers, there’s still plenty of snooty behavior to go around–even in a recession.
This story demonstrates an old biblical adage: “Beware how you treat the beggar, he may be a king in disguise.” Or if you are not inclined to study ancient writings you can always watch “Pretty Woman” again. Haven’t we noticed that really rich people tend to wear anything they want and have no need to impress anyone?
I’d like to think that people are becoming kind, respectful and considerate toward everyone because it is the right and human thing to do…and that it has nothing to do with economic opportunism. I know, I know…you have a bridge you want to sell me.
I hate to blame the customer, but sometimes shoppers open themselves up to abuse from these snooty salespeople. Like vampires, salespeople at some of upscale stores can smell good blood and bad. They think they can determine who has money and who is wasting time. They’re not always right and the problem for the store owners is that the clerks tend to err on the side of thinking most shoppers can’t afford their goods.
Judging people has always been in fashion for retail; high end or not. I used to be a DM for a western wear store in the 80s in South Coast Plaza, the #1 per sq ft mall in the US. The way clerks looked at the guys who worked for me at these stores was always funny–my guys made more than they did yet weren’t given the time of day.
Now that the economy is hurting, we’re seeing a lot of “upscale” retailers getting PR on their mea culpa moment and how they have now embraced everyone “We are the world” style.
Doesn’t it strike you that this is like the 70% discounts Saks did last fall on high-end fashion? Too little too late. Shop ’em in 6 months after their PR campaigns are over–they’ll return to their ways–if they are still around.
Anyone in retail/sales who hasn’t already figured it out simply needs to read ‘Minding The Store,’ by the late and great Stanley Marcus.
Or…. “You work on commission, right? Big mistake, big, huge! I have to go shopping now….”
–‘Vivian Ward’ (Julia Roberts)
Retail salespeople are trained by the public. They react to their experience. Experience is a wonderful teacher, but often not a kind one. If you are selling Prada, you get an idea very quickly about your customers. What they look like, how they dress, how they carry themselves, etc. To make a living, your experience tells you where to spend your time and efforts to produce the greatest return. The Prada customer demands service and gets it.
A salesperson can spend a thousand hours showing Prada to tenement dwellers but the return will be pitiful and the salesperson will be forced to seek employment elsewhere. What the less professional salespeople do is they end up working at retail jobs that are less salesperson and more clerk. While the well heeled may be slowing their purchasing patterns, they will return and they will again demand service.
The responsibility of trained colleagues covering the retail floor is firmly on the shoulders of management. The sweet spot in the continuum between arrogance and assuming familiarity is the Holy Grail. It’s why selecting for DNA and then training daily as an integral part of your culture is so important.
I work closely with (read: train) sales associates from many of the finest luxury brands in the world. We understand that sales associates define the brand and experience. Arrogance reflects incompetence and must never be tolerated. Furthermore, extraordinary service is more than, as the article suggests, asking if they can help. The best managers expect their sales associates to tease-out the needs of their customer to create desires they didn’t know existed. Anything less is a clerk.
I never have worked retail in my life, but pre-judgments by clerks makes sense. Stereotypical, but probably understandable in the grand scheme of things. I’d probably do the same to a certain degree.
The worst experience I had was when I was young (mid/late 20s)and ready and willing to buy my first car after a few hand-me-downs from brothers. I was planning on buying it outright with cash (~$25,000).
I went to 4-5 dealerships by myself just dressed casually. Likely jeans, a light jacket and golf shirt. Nothing spectacular, nor nothing grubby.
4 of the dealerships had many salespeople just standing around doing nothing. Only a few would be working on selling to other customers. I’d wait around forever. Zero customer service. I had to approach them to ask for info! And after endless stereotypes in TV and movies of the over aggressive shady car dealer who won’t leave you alone, I didn’t see that at all!
At the last place I went to, a nice guy did come up to me. Not only was he not pushy but he also gave me the best price out of them all. Easy sale.
I just watched Pretty Woman again the other day. I loved the scene where she goes back to the first boutique where she was snubbed. She has an armload of packages. Of course, they don’t recognize her as she is all dressed up. She makes a point to tell them how many $$$ they missed out on–big,big mistake.
The look on the clerks faces was priceless. What a classic. Loved it.
I have been fortunate enough to shop, from time to time, the best retail establishments in New York, Chicago, Miami, and the D.C. area. (This is almost always for gift purchases.) For my own personal needs I always used to shop–and did a LARGE amount of gift purchases also–at Marshall Field’s in Chicago. I now rely on Nordstrom, Dillard’s Penneys, and a number of ubiquitous other stores (Banana Republic, Target, etc) for myself.
This shopping has spanned the late 80s to last Christmas season and I MUST admit it never ceases to disappoint me–the “snooty factor” in sales associates attitude! I agree that If I am in Armani, my service is superb but if I am off that day, depending on how I am dressed it varies greatly –EXCEPT at Marshall Field’s. Their service was ALWAYS EXCELLENT and lacking of judgement!!! It is one of the attributes that I most miss and will always miss from that wonderful store. Their sales associates were uniformly the BEST.
Although of late things aren’t as good as in the past–especially for Christmas shopping–I was fortunate in the past, to drop a fair amount of $$$ in purchases. I have experienced some attitude that is very disappointing and rather than let it upset me, when that occurred, I simply informed the associate that unfortunately they were not going to be able to help me and I left. I am sure that they all thought that I simply could not afford whatever I was looking at. However, I left and went to another store and repeated the experience until I found someone who was helpful instead of judgmental and I purchased from that person.
They may be changing their tune of late but I have NO doubt that when the economy rebounds, they will rapidly return to their traditional ways of judging potential customers.