Sometimes, Supporting A Brick & Mortar Is Hard To Stomach

[TheGreatRoe]

I'm certainly not going to name, and I'll do my best not to shame, but I've had it with my brick & mortar choices in the area. I just got off the phone with the only b&m in the area that has a decent selection.

 

The store's selection: Plenty of paper choices, as long as it's bound Rhodia or Clairefontaine. PR (all), Lamy (all), Waterman (some) and Parker (some). Pens: Lamy, a few Pilots (mostly VPs and a selections of cheapies sold in cardboard POS displays), a lot of Laban, and maybe a few Parkers. The other 90% of the store is general office supplies, with some artsy greeting cards thrown in. So, overall it's got a good, though not a great selection. The prices are good for a b&m, and it's nice to be able to get some paper without paying shipping and handling.

 

So why is it so hard for me to shop there? I'm so sick of the hard sell (you can read that as LIES) that when I get off the phone or out of the store I feel like I need a shower.

 

Today's Phone Exchange:

Me: Do you carry the Pilot Prera?

B&M: I've got 2 left.

Me: What colors?

B&M: Just the clear. What color were you looking for?

Me: Just one of the clear pens with the colored ends...not picky about the exact color.

B&M: Well we have just the clear.

Me: OK. Thanks for your time.

B&M: Have you ever been to our store?

Me: Yeah, a few times. Mostly for your paper selection.

B&M: I was just surprised. We're the largest pen retailer in the country.

Me: (at this point I'm silent because frankly the magnitude of that lie left me struggling to not laugh)

B&M: So I was surprised that you would ask if we carry Pilots. I mean we're the biggest pen retailer in the country. We carry almost everything.

Me: I knew you carried Pilots, I just wanted to know if you had a specific one before I drove across town.

B&M: In the future you don't need to call, just come on over.

Me: (by now I'd recovered from his audacity and decided to have a little fun)...Do you have the Custom 74?

B&M: Um.....No.

Me: Pilot Metropolitan?

B&M: No.

Me: Heritage 92?

B&M: (silence, then...) No.

Me: Parallel?

B&M: Yes. But only one left.

Me: So, only 1. So I won't be able to do the custom color fades.

B&M: Right. But it's a nice pen.

Me: Let's do this a different way. What do you have?

B&M: Vanishing Point, a bunch of those. Varsity, Parallel and those Preras.

Me: That's why I call first.

B&M: But you should come in. We're the biggest pen retailer in the country.

Me:

 

I'm feeling better and better about my favorite online shops.

[docker]

The only B&M store close to me that sells "those pens" (fountain pens- to us) is a Staples that has the new display. No bottled ink, but some cartridges. Nothing exciting, but nice to see some fountain pens in a store.

[Paul Raposo]

B&M: But you should come in. We're the biggest pen retailer in the country.

Me:

 

 

I greatly respect your ability to remain calm, and coherent in the face of absurdity

[Sblakers]

Probably meant the size of the building the store is in

[GabrielleDuVent]

I have a few pen retailers in my neighbourhood, including Levenger and Paradise Pens (which, incidentally, has their own ink line... I never knew). They don't really stock very well in terms of fountain pen paraphernalia, but I suppose they're better stocked than, say, Staples.

 

You have to keep in mind that those pen retailers generally tend to cater more to pen buyers than FP buyers. Out of the past six or so times I have been in Paradise Pens, I have seen 3, 4 people purchase items, and they were all ballpoints. I talked to the shop-person yesterday while I was purchasing a converter and it seems that I am one of the very few who come into the shop with fountain pen things in mind.

 

"Biggest" does not mean "well-stocked". Best Buy is the largest retailer chain in the country for electronics, but my local electronics chain - Microcenter - is far better stocked than Best Buy (and far more knowledgeable). And there are far more niche brands in Barney's and Bergdorf than Macy's. Border's had far more books than Barnes and Noble.

 

Out of the four local pen retailers in town, the tiniest also had the most variety. It's usually the smallest, dingiest shop with a curmudgeon sitting at the counter which has the best varieties.

[MisterBoll]

Convenience has done away with decent local shops.

 

Kinda like amazon and your now defunked favorite book store.

[GabrielleDuVent]

Convenience has done away with decent local shops.

 

Kinda like amazon and your now defunked favorite book store.

 

As much as I love amazon, the death of almost ALL local bookshops in my neighbourhood is aggravating. I also dislike Barnes and Noble's.

 

"Hello, do you have John Steinbeck's East of Eden?"

"Lemme check... no. We can order it for you!"

(if I buy it on Amazon, I can probably get it for 99 cents) "No thanks."

 

C'mon. What sort of a bookshop doesn't stock Steinbeck? And it wasn't like someone bought a copy and so I couldn't get it... they simply just don't stock it. Argh.

 

My local Mitsuwa has upped the stock of fountain pen things. They now sell Preppies, Varsities, Platinum Plaisir and Pilot ink. I guess fountain pens have really entered the realm of "hobby", now along with espresso machines, paperweights and vinyl players.

[TheGreatRoe]

"Biggest" does not mean "well-stocked". Best Buy is the largest retailer chain in the country for electronics, but my local electronics chain - Microcenter - is far better stocked than Best Buy (and far more knowledgeable).

 

I don't think there is any defiition--even if you're playing fast and loose--that this shopkeep can claim that he is the biggest retailer of pens in the US. It's a small store, with maybe 20 models of pen, half of those being Laban. If I left the boxes behind I could carry his entire stock of fountain pens in my shirt and pants pockets. He might be the biggest pen retailer in the city, but he's not even the largest in the state.

 

My issue isn't that he's not well-stocked. My issue is that he will flat out lie to a customer just to get them in the door, even after he knows he doesn't have the pen they want. Heck, if he'd offered to order it I might have taken him up on it. That is, until he started in withthe used-car salesman schtick.

[bluejay]

The car salesman technique must be something that works for the filthy rich. I've seen it in most pen stores. My favourite line is how everything you ask for is "the best" Ask for sailor gentle blue "thats the best ink" Ask for the pebble on the floor "thats the best pebble in the world" I stopped communicating with people in pen stores. I just go pick my item and walk to the cashier.

[gfoster]

That's too bad. I went to Flax here in San Francisco and was greeted by extremely knowledgeable helpful people who insisted on making sure I tried every pen I even remotely showed an interest in. They even took extra time to show me how the Noodler's flex pens worked and to give me some writing samples when I asked questions about Spencerian and copperplate. I explained I was new, didn't know a lot, and they went out of their way to help me figure out exactly what type of nib in which particular pen body would serve me best and to give me recommendations on which inks would work best with them. They seemed to have a pretty good variety of both ink and pens to my completely uninformed eye and I didn't even venture into the paper section which seemed quite large.

 

I definitely felt encouraged to go back and will be shopping there again I'm sure.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I really miss Huntington Business Supplies.

[barleycorn]

Well boo hoo! just kidding...
The nearest b&m store is over an hour away from me. I live in a city of 360 000 people. I do not count Staples or whatever because they do not bother with FPs or ink.

However, that one store we do have is small but mighty. Recently they celebrated their anniversary with a 30% off sale and some of the pen club went - I was working so I missed out. Some 70% of their business is out of town. People who drive out of their way to shop there. Mind you the staff is the couple who run it and they are passionate about selling pens and helping you find something you will enjoy. They may charge retail prices but by the time you add shipping and duty online it is about the same.

Obviously, the management and staff at your store do not understand the concept of customer service.

[Christi0469]

That's just sad. There is one B&M way on the other side of town and I would rather drive all the way to Dromgooles in Houston than waste the time to go there.

[GabrielleDuVent]

Well boo hoo! just kidding...

The nearest b&m store is over an hour away from me. I live in a city of 360 000 people.

 

Out of curiosity, is a city population of 360000 big? The current city where I am is the smallest I've ever lived in with 2.7 million so anything below 2 mil and I can't even imagine.

[logantrky]

I can understand your frustration. I worked in retail for a good portion of my young adult life. I could never understand why some employees chose to be smug to customers for no apparent reason. There seems to be very little common sense in the individual you spoke to.

 

If your B&M is slipping, we all know of great independent FP businesses that started here on FPN!

[thedeacon]

I like the "have some fun and see how far they would go" approach. I haven't been in your neck of the woods in a few months, but I have a pretty good guess which store this could be. I've had a couple of similar interactions in a store in the Raleigh-Durham area. If it is the same store, the selection is not that impressive overall, not even close to Artlite in Atlanta. Which, correct me if I'm wrong, Atlanta is still in the same country as Durham. I do like going in b&m locations, but sometimes the good old interweb thingy works better. Again, another sad commentary on customer service and decline in integrity that many consumers have come to accept as the norm. I don't care how big you are, just the quality of your service. Yep, practicing my skinemax writing skilz.

[TheGreatRoe]

If your B&M is slipping, we all know of great independent FP businesses that started here on FPN!

 

+1 to this. I'd much prefer to support a small business--and if they give me good service they've got me hooked. It's one of the reasons I make sure anytime I'm anywhere near Asheville, I will fight my way to Origami Ink. In fact, tomorrow, a friend of mine will be in Asheville, and I coercedconvinced her to pick up a couple bottles of Visconti for me.

[fpconverted]

I'm certainly not going to name, and I'll do my best not to shame, but I've had it with my brick & mortar choices in the area. I just got off the phone with the only b&m in the area that has a decent selection.

 

The store's selection: Plenty of paper choices, as long as it's bound Rhodia or Clairefontaine. PR (all), Lamy (all), Waterman (some) and Parker (some). Pens: Lamy, a few Pilots (mostly VPs and a selections of cheapies sold in cardboard POS displays), a lot of Laban, and maybe a few Parkers. The other 90% of the store is general office supplies, with some artsy greeting cards thrown in. So, overall it's got a good, though not a great selection. The prices are good for a b&m, and it's nice to be able to get some paper without paying shipping and handling.

 

So why is it so hard for me to shop there? I'm so sick of the hard sell (you can read that as LIES) that when I get off the phone or out of the store I feel like I need a shower.

 

Today's Phone Exchange:

Me: Do you carry the Pilot Prera?

B&M: I've got 2 left.

Me: What colors?

B&M: Just the clear. What color were you looking for?

Me: Just one of the clear pens with the colored ends...not picky about the exact color.

B&M: Well we have just the clear.

Me: OK. Thanks for your time.

B&M: Have you ever been to our store?

Me: Yeah, a few times. Mostly for your paper selection.

B&M: I was just surprised. We're the largest pen retailer in the country.

Me: (at this point I'm silent because frankly the magnitude of that lie left me struggling to not laugh)

B&M: So I was surprised that you would ask if we carry Pilots. I mean we're the biggest pen retailer in the country. We carry almost everything.

Me: I knew you carried Pilots, I just wanted to know if you had a specific one before I drove across town.

B&M: In the future you don't need to call, just come on over.

Me: (by now I'd recovered from his audacity and decided to have a little fun)...Do you have the Custom 74?

B&M: Um.....No.

Me: Pilot Metropolitan?

B&M: No.

Me: Heritage 92?

B&M: (silence, then...) No.

Me: Parallel?

B&M: Yes. But only one left.

Me: So, only 1. So I won't be able to do the custom color fades.

B&M: Right. But it's a nice pen.

Me: Let's do this a different way. What do you have?

B&M: Vanishing Point, a bunch of those. Varsity, Parallel and those Preras.

Me: That's why I call first.

B&M: But you should come in. We're the biggest pen retailer in the country.

Me:

 

I'm feeling better and better about my favorite online shops.

I would definitely not shop at a retailer like that...its almost a joke!!! I have had great customer service and support from Goldspot and have never had any issue whatsoever ordering a pen. THey have a huge selection and since Im in Canada, I often wondered what delivery would look like. Ive place numerous orders and always have had awesome customer service and as far as I know they HAVE the largest selection out of any company ive every dealt with in the US. CHeck out goldspot! I think you'd be very happy at their selection.

[Vendome]

I've given up on general stationers such as WH Smith and Ryman. I take my custom now to a specialist writing instrument shop.

[MisterBoll]

C'mon. What sort of a bookshop doesn't stock Steinbeck? And it wasn't like someone bought a copy and so I couldn't get it... they simply just don't stock it. Argh.

 

And what they do stock is questionable.........at least to me.

 

I still remember, quite fondly, walking into a bookstore and asking for something and the salesperson knowing exactly where it was and telling you interesting stories about the author. These days are gone. I miss looking at a book before purchasing and wandering through the aisles waiting for something to strike my fancy.

 

Today we have amazon - that great giant corporation we are, more or less, forced into supporting and worshipping. Of course, you can buy a lovely 'kindle' (book burning, anyone) and 'have' virtual books they control (even after purchase). Fun.