Re: Local Business?

General Forums Prince Rupert Forum
21

It’s all one big circle. You wonder why the prices are higher at local shops? Because people go to Wal-Marts and buy online to get better prices so the local shops lose business, can no longer buy the same quantities, therefor they have to pay more for the product and sell it for more so they can pay the rent. If people didn’t keep going to and buying from AmericanGigantoCorp the local business’ wouldn’t be so expensive.

I still support local. I didn’t have much time today so I went to Wal-Mart to buy two polo shirts for golfing and I felt like kicking myself in the nuts knowing that my money just went to Wal-Mart. I would have gladly spent twice what I spent there to support people who in turn support the community by shopping here. To make communities strong, there needs to be support, not people who buy everything online or at Wal-Mart so they can “save money” (ie; have more money to just go and buy more stuff rather than actually saving the money).

Of course, there are times when things MUST be bought on-line or from stores, which is the case when you can’t find the things at other stores or when the local stores are full of dicks who are trying to take advantage of people. Honestly, some people here are such dicks you just can’t stand dealing with them. But at the same time, there are GREAT people who are losing customers.

22

Had one customer today walk in, tell me to make him up such and such a config, 17" LCD etc. How much, I’ll give you the money right now? I had to tell him pay later, I don’t even know what Canon printers I can get!
The one before called all bitchey cause
"I bot de vife a new HaichPee at suture Flop for goddam near a tousand dollars an it won’t hook up to your fokken internet. So ya bedder get down dare and fix the fokken internet right now. And I’m in da hotel an plogged di thing you sold me in and it wont do Internet eye-dor so ya better hop to it if ya want to see me in yore store again"
Didn’t at first cuz ‘da ole lady’ brought in her new HP (wow it was only $300 more than the one I just sold for same config) and it went instantly onto the Net. She took it home and as I needed to grab my toolbox I stopped in to check her house (same block as me). The fokken iddjutt took the ADSL modem and Dlink wireless router with him, and he was plugging it into the phone jack and he couldn’t conenct to the FokkenRetard CH6 wireless signal…
So I just deeply offended two more locals, not having an ADSL modem to ‘lend’ her and daring to make her cough up $25 when it was all my fault.

Excuse me if I’m not a believer in crap like ‘the customer’s always right’.
:laughing:
BTW Thurs I got a call from someone asked "Do you know that Bob guy on the rez who fixes computers way cheaper than you do? Do you know his number?"
I answered her “Matter of fact I do.” CLICK

23

This rings true everytime I speak to a customer. Though today one customer was right he apologized to me and admitted he was in fact a moron :laughing:

24

Yeah, Dwayne at Entire is awesome.

Even as a competitor of his, I still wholeheartedly recommend you check his shit out.

25

I love being part of a chain. I have nothing to do with markups, buying, pricing, or any of the like, I just follow the directions in an email, and BOOM things are on sale from coast to coast, in every single one of our stores, for the exact same amount.

Sometimes, we end up with an abundance of stock, that just isn’t moving. Rather than send it all away to a clearance outlet, the company marks it all at clearance price, and then we sit back and watch it fly out the store at outrageous prices.

For example, right now Athletes World has an abundance of stuff on sale for 70% off the regular price. That’s boys, girls, mens and ladies clothing, mens and ladies shoes, and also ball caps and BabyPhat purses and bags. Now, we’ve been directed to leave all the 70% off stuff at the back of the store, and focus on selling the newer stuff, but guess what… we have all the 70% off stuff right at the front of the store, so people can see the bargains right away and save a crapload of money. Because we are only selling mostly 70% off stuff, I got in crap from my area manager and a couple other ppl down the line… but I don’t care, I’d rather people see the awesome deals they can get, and hopefully keep them coming back for more.

Ok enough about that… we’re open sunday from 11 till 5 :stuck_out_tongue:

26

[quote=“CrazyMike”]Unfortunately a lot of local businesses set up shop and then proceed to treat you like you have some sort of obligation to shop there. They have no concept of customer service and the price is the price. Then they bitch and moan about people who don’t “shop local”.

When I have the option of shopping local or online for a product I automatically start leaning local. Before I purchase though I ask myself… why should I? Do they provide me with some service that makes up for the inevitable higher price? Are they friendly… eager… and willing to make that sale? If not, then too bad so sad. If I have to deal with some faceless business that doesn’t provide some sort of personal touch, I might as well do it facing my monitor. In most cases I can shop online and get it here faster than the store can for the same price or cheaper.

Mike[/quote]

I remember a few years back I wanted to buy a modem for my computer. Now, at the time Win 95 had just come out, and so had the whole “plug and play” concept. So I had heard about a pretty good PnP USR 56k modem for a pretty good price at a computer shop in Victoria when I had lived there. I don’t remember the price excatly, but it was no more than $200 or so.

I went to that little computer shop just on the corner across from Zeller’s, and asked him if he had a similar modem. I figured, why not buy it locally rather than have it shipped up and wait? So I told him I wanted the Win '95 PnP modem.

He then made the cross with his fingers as if to ward off evil, and said "I won’t touch Win 95. Any real computer user use DOS.

Needless to say, he didn’t get my money, then or ever.

27

Kind of like a lot of customers will sneer at you and tell you what a deal they got out of town, and I’m supposed to feel obligated to hire their kids?
:laughing: :laughing:

28

[quote=“herbie_popnecker”]
BTW Thurs I got a call from someone asked "Do you know that Bob guy on the rez who fixes computers way cheaper than you do? Do you know his number?"
I answered her “Matter of fact I do.” CLICK[/quote]

HAHAHAHA LMAO

29

In another life I worked in an industrial supply place, selling mostly welding gear. If I had a nickle for everyone who walked through the door looking for a ‘deal’ I’d be wealthy now. Margins in that business were small to none to begin with and everyone was always looking for a deal.

90% of what we sold was very heavy. You know what? Freight to get shit here from Van or PG or Calgary or Edmonton was not cheap. Most businesses cant afford to eat most of that cost when your margins are already cut to the bone.

You know how much it costs to freight oxygen and acetylene cylinders around the country? Welding rod? Wanna stock a somewhat basic, thats right a basic, supply of rod? Well ya gotta order at least 1000kg of it for different kinds and sizes, and thats not counting the few hunderd KG of specialty rod that needed to be kept around. How much does it cost to ship 1000kg from Vancouver? If I recall somewhere on the order of about $400 bucks, and that was 10 yrs ago. You do the math.

Would you just eat that cost?

There are people in this town that would ask Girl Guides for a deal on their cookies when they come to the door selling them.

Used to really bug me, I’m so not sorry I left that world.

30

No doubt, the big box stores and the internet has created a more arrogant consumer. If you just do a little research before you shop, you’ll know what a fair price for an item is; you don’t have to be an ass and try and force some small business owner down so much that it’s barely worth his/her while. Most small business owners I know work very hard and don’t see a profit for many, many years.

31

[quote=“VMS”]In another life I worked in an industrial supply place, selling mostly welding gear. If I had a nickle for everyone who walked through the door looking for a ‘deal’ I’d be wealthy now. Margins in that business were small to none to begin with and everyone was always looking for a deal.

90% of what we sold was very heavy. You know what? Freight to get shit here from Van or PG or Calgary or Edmonton was not cheap. Most businesses cant afford to eat most of that cost when your margins are already cut to the bone.

You know how much it costs to freight oxygen and acetylene cylinders around the country? Welding rod? Wanna stock a somewhat basic, thats right a basic, supply of rod? Well ya gotta order at least 1000kg of it for different kinds and sizes, and thats not counting the few hunderd KG of specialty rod that needed to be kept around. How much does it cost to ship 1000kg from Vancouver? If I recall somewhere on the order of about $400 bucks, and that was 10 yrs ago. You do the math.

Would you just eat that cost?

There are people in this town that would ask Girl Guides for a deal on their cookies when they come to the door selling them.

Used to really bug me, I’m so not sorry I left that world.[/quote]

When did you stop working there? What do you do now?

32

[quote=“OMEGA”]I just recently started at a small business in rupert and i have to say that i will never ever work at a big box or chain again. Small businesses treat their
employees as people, not numbers. No stupid uniform, no stupid nametag that sais (forgive me im in training) and no 15 pieces of flair(you know wnat i meen). i used to work at zellers and i dreaded going to work. local business is awsome they dont have those stupid rules that make some customers turn around and walk away. so i urge everyone, shop local, even if it means spending a few dollars more on something. i do[/quote]

Well, let’s not get carried away. A lot of small business people do work hard and provide a good shopping atmosphere and service but they’re just people, which means there are also a few dickheads out there that seem to think they’re entitled to your business, and I’ve heard horror stories about some of them as bosses (Smile’s comes to mind).

33

Whats that store on Mc Bride, Spero’s? Thats got to be the worst store i have ever been in. The owner of that store runs it, he is the biggest #$#$# you will ever met.

34

I’ve heard stories about that guy leaving the til wide open and going for a nap in the back.

35

This is to anyone who isnt satisfied with local business… Have you been in my store yet?

36

Once i was walkin by spero’s and some kid walked out of the store and that old man followed him out down the street a bit and was yellin at this kid, then he pushed him and went back in his store. Maybe he tried to steal.

Another time i saw him staking up on 2L pop at zellers which he then sells at his store for triple the price.

37

Yeah, the Spero’s guy is hardly noted for being either helpful or friendly; he’s usually too busy watching TV. And if you just buy a small item, like a pack of gum, he gives you a dirty look.

38

Remember there are 2 stores on McBride… there’s Speros, which is closer to the Civic, and there’s McBride Street Market by the Greene Clinic, which people didn’t used to have to pay tax at, and the till would usually be open.

39

Danny McCoy…great guy. Ive been going into that place since I was knee high to a grasshopper. I feel bad for him. It used to be a thriving and popular place to shop in town. Had a full time butcher and meat market, produce and alot of groceries. Its too bad that this type of store has gone the way of the dodo bird. When I was young, Safeway closed at 5 or 6 and was closed Sundays. Gave the little guy a chance to make a buck. Danny really is a great guy but you’d be grumpy too if you spent 35 years looking out the store window at the demise of this town and your own business.

40

I bet all business’ would be better (chains + locals) if the customers were less of dicks. Seriously, I had a recent experience at Wal-Mart (I only have 12 days left of working there and then I’m off to a local business :smiley:) where the customers came in completely looking for bad service. The two came up to me with surly looks on their faces saying they needed to find a specific shoe. Easy enough, I went over there with them.

Customer: “We need one of these shoes here, but not these ones because they’re dirty so we can tell that someone bought them, walked around with them, and brought them back, so we want brand new ones.”

Me: “Ok, I just need to see the shoe so I can identify which shoe it is” (all shoes are arranged by brand name, then model name.)

Customer: “Well we found a box of them somewhere around here”

Me: “If we have any more of these, they’ll likely be over here” (heading down the aisle)

Customer: “NO! We’ve been over this. I found a box of them in here!”

Me: “Well, you’re looking at 725 Originals boxes, this big tag here that says B.U.M. Equipment means the shoe will be in a brown B.U.M. Equipment box over hear.” (head down aisle again)

Customer: “Oh…”

Me: “Here’s a pair, brand new.”

Customer: “Oh… thanks…”

Me: “Your welcome” (walk away)

These customers were so snappy and I was surprised when he pretty much yelled at me while I moved 4 feet away to reach for the right box with the shoes he wanted in them. And, even though the customers got what they wanted, because I completely proved the guy wrong and left him feeling like a moron, he’s still going to think of that as a bad Wal-Mart experience and not want to shop there anymore. But then again, if less people shopped at Wal-Mart, that’d be a good thing.

I can’t wait to start my new job, it’s going to be great working for a company I respect, working for managers who know my name, and working with businesses rather than arrogant consumers.