Customer Service HUH?

HUH? : An Occasional Serious on Unbelievable Customer Service.

I tell my staff regularly that it is not difficult to excel at retail customer service, because most of what's out there is so mediocre, if not downright horrible

As a retailer, I shop to experience how my customers might feel in various situations.

This afternoon. Gray, cold and rainy. Pearl District. Corporate retail store selling very specialized casual and workout clothing made of Merino wool. The store has been there for a couple of years and I'd never been in.

I was greeted promptly by both the salespeople. I was the only customer in the store which, I think most of you would agree, can be uncomfortable. I asked to hear the company story and it was thoroughly explained.

I was encouraged to try things on and as soon as I reached for a sweater, the salesperson left the area saying that he was going to let me browse.

HUH? Retail Apparel 101: Get the clothes on the customer and do whatever it takes to make it easy!

Several minutes later, I headed for the fitting room with some tee shirts, again selecting my own sizes off the rack. In mid-trying-on, the salesperson said through the fitting room curtain that he was going on break and that the other salespeople could help me.

HUH? Retail 102: Be available to answer questions and help with sizes; a salesperson's job is to facilitate the sale of product!

I didn't make a purchase because the product fit too snugly against my holiday belly padding, so I left the fitting room and hung up the three items in their respective places. I left the store without either of the two remaining salespeople acknowledging my presence or my departure.

HUH? Retail 103: Treat every customer as a guest that you want to come back for a visit; getting customers in the door is too difficult to not pave the way for a future interaction.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh? Similar experiences to share?

If It's August, It's Sultry

All hands are on deck at French Quarter preparing for our biggest sale of the year.

Our annual Sizzling Summer Sultry Sales starts August 1 and run the entire sultry month of August!

Insider tip: because we've got so much work to do, we're marking things down daily and now is your chance to get first dibs on many one-of-a-kind items.

One Cool Lady

Just the other day I got to chat with one of my retail inspirations.

I was engrossed in a computer project when the commanding energy field from a trim and sharply dressed customer caught my eye.

It was Judith Hofer, former president of Meier & Frank (now....eeek....Macy's), former president of Filene's, Famous-Barr and May Merchandising.

She hails from Portland but has lived all over the country. Where she now resides in retirement, I don't know, but she was window shopping with a couple of friends when she strolled into French Quarter.

I was a buyer at Meier & Frank (a division of May Company) under Ms. Hofer and I have to credit her with my departure from corporate life after six years. I began as a management trainee out of college and worked as a store department manager and assistant buyer before being promoted to a high-volume and fashion-forward buyer for junior girl's knits and activewear (sounds soooooo department store, right?!).

Being young (I was 28 when I left M&F) and independent, I wasn't really cut out for the constraints and rigidity of my position. And these were the days (the '80's) when department stores were struggling for survival and towing the corporate line was de riguer or la mort.

So, back to chatting with Ms. Hofer in the store the other day. I was able to remind her of two things she said that have remained etched in my memory.

The first etching was her speech to buyers assembled in the now defunct 10th floor Georgian Room in the downtown Portland building where our offices were located. She was rallying the forces around markdowns and store presentation and spoke about a silk blouse she had recently bought from a markdown rack at Nordstrom.

When she got that blouse home it was a brand new blouse and an exciting addition to her wardrobe. To staff in most stores, however, markdown merchandise is treated as third class merchandise and relegated to the back of the store and to unruly racks. The lesson was to treat markdown merchandise with the same respect and care as newly arrived product.

And these are words we live by at French Quarter: our markdown product is always organized, tagged and signed to make it as easy as possible to shop.

The second "etching" I got to share with Ms. Hofer the other day, were the words she spoke in my ear at a corporate meeting. While she didn't actually fire me, my bosses had never heard her speak to a buyer that way and I knew that I had better move on, which I did a few months later.

May Company buying staff from around the country were assembled for a few days in upstate New York to sort out the private label program. I wasn't being a team player and my commitments to this important May Company program were weak and therefore glaringly stood out during the president's meeting.

Ms. Hofer took me aside with my two bosses (DMM Norine Metzger and GMM Mark Blankenship for you department store folks!), lowered her reading glasses and quietly growled into my ear, "Who in the hell do you think you are?"

I think I'm still trying to figure that out, but it was the kick I needed to get out and move on!

After I reminded her of these two memories, she left the store telling her two companions that she was too hard on us and that we all hated her.

Not true! We loved and respected her.

Meet the Flock

Chicks are patently unrelated to luxury linens.

But they are so damned cute they trump almost any other subject!

My son Henry and I celebrated Earth Day on Wednesday by catching an afternoon showing of Disney's new Earth.

Still feeling celebratory on the way home we made the mistake (or good fortune.... this is still to be determined!) of stopping by Urban Farm Store just to see what city chicks look like. Proprietor Robert was friendly, patient and encouraging and two hours later, Henry and I were zipping home with four chicks, a heat lamp, 25 pounds of chick feed and miscellaneous livestock paraphernalia.

The first night went well and our pet chinchilla Lucky is thrilled to be getting more attention by being in the vicinity of our chirping chicks.

If you look carefully at this picture, however, you'll see not four chicks, but rather five. And that's only because I cropped one of the six (!) out of the picture.

Yes, we went back two days later and got two more because, well, they are so damed cute!

Our menagerie consists of one each of the following: a Buff Orpington, a Barred Plymouth Rock, a Welsummer, a Black Sex Link, an Ameraucana and a Gold Laced Wyandotte.

Our next project is getting a coop and henhouse, which will need to be super secure as we have very aggressive raccoons in our midst.

Oh, do we live on a farm, you ask? No. Seven minutes from downtown Portland!

And what will we do with three dozen eggs a week? I'm open to your suggestions.

A full video presentation of our new pets can be seen here.

Cheese, Please. And Eggs.

Oregon is home to a great purveyor of luxury linens, but our state is perhaps better known for its bounties of the earth.

Wine, hazelnuts, cranberries, Christmas trees, strawberries and Tillamook cheese just scratch the surface of this vast subject.

I met Chrissy of Kookoolan Farms last year at our Hillsdale Farmers' Market and bought a couple dozen eggs and a fresh chicken.

Since my son is on Spring Break this week (his French immersion school follows the vacation schedule of France!) and the weather in Portland was fine, we decided to stay home for the week and make day trips. Tuesday was country day and we headed out to beautiful and rural Yamhill to visit Chrissy, the farm and the farm store.

Since my cheese making kit had just arrived, I was on the hunt for farm-fresh raw milk to begin my new hobby as a cheese maker. Since Kookoolan Farms has three lactating cows, I found my source for milk. And fresh eggs. And a freshly killed chicken. And more supplies for making cheese.

Chrissy was welcoming and gave us a quick tour of the henhouse and more detailed tour of her hyper-clean and constantly monitored milking parlor. This is important, of course, when dealing with raw milk. We also learned how the self-service farm store works: you pick up the goods, write your own receipt, leave cash or a check or run your own credit card, and be on your way. You've gotta love Oregon!

With our two gallons of milk and assorted dairy treats all on ice, we headed back to sunny Portland so I could begin making some cheese.

After measuring, mixing, heating, agitating, stirring, draining, heating again and kneading, I made myself a pound of delicious mozzarella cheese and half a pound of ricotta cheese. 

Not white like store bought varieties, my fresh cheeses carry both the flavor and color of the pasture to the table. Crazy, huh?

Is all press good press?

Gosh, is it any wonder that newspapers are going the way of dinosaurs?

Thanks to our friends at The Oregonian, we've already received several phone calls asking if we're still in business.

Settled down at home with a double latte this morning, I was looking forward to skimming the Sunday Oregonian. When I saw a pair of articles under the headline "Landlords take their lumps" in the business section I was immediately interested in reading the fine print. 

One of the articles had the heading "Recession spares no place, not trendy Northwest 23rd, not suburban Kruse Way".  I was really intrigued because, hey, I'm a retailer and I used to have a store near NW 23rd.

Imagine my surprise when in the fourth paragraph, French Quarter on NW 23rd is reported as "Gone" as a victim of the recession. Later in the article French Quarter is mentioned as having papered over windows.

Note to the fact checkers at The Oregonian: French Quarter on NW Westover (one block off NW 23rd) had its last day of business on February 28, 2006. 

Yes, 2006. More than three years ago! And the windows have been papered over ever since.

Oh yeah, fact checkers: it has been documented that the current recession began in November 2007.

I closed the NW store at the end of the lease knowing that my store at Bridgeport Village store was going to be opening a few months later. (That's another story!)

From my perspective, it's another example of what The Oregonian considers journalism: time-pressured, lazy and hollow reporting; any hints of something that works for a story is latched onto and made part of the pedestrian coverage.

We're alive and well in the Pearl District. The current economic times are challenging, but we're working on all sorts of new projects and ideas.

With friends like The Oregonian, who needs enemies?

Not Gleeful

Competition is good, right?

It keeps you focused on your game. It challenges you. It keeps you on your toes. It forces creative thinking and problem solving.

And in the world of high-end quality products, competitors help justify the validity of such products in customers' minds.

Everybody wins.

After catching wind of my main competitor's store closing, I dialed the phone and had a long chat with the owner.

Holly Heidebrecht, owner of The Compleat Bed & Breakfast started the company with her mother, Judy, over 20 years ago. Their store on NW 23rd is closing next month.

Over the years we've had our differences and challenges, but I wanted to let Holly know that none of us at French Quarter is happy about the closing and we offer our sincere regret and best wishes to Holly and her mom.

Meanwhile, please drop by Holly's store at 615 NW 23rd Ave  (Phone: 503-221-0193) and check out their final offerings. 

Holly is moving forward in the business world with her own line of loungewear which you can preview and shop at www.becompleat.com

Holly and Judy: we wish you both well and we congratulate you on your 20+ years in the rewarding and challenging business of fine bedding!