Have you gone into a store and found what you came for, but when you were ready to pay, couldn’t find anyone to take your money? That’s what happened to me this evening when I visited the Land’s End store inside of Sears. As I stood at the counter with my hands full of back to school clothing, I noticed two Sears employees: one was folding sweaters while the other organized shoes. Both  noticed me but kept on folding and organizing. After a few minutes the employee organizing shoes told me to look for help at customer service.

Do you want my money or not?

As much as we like the quality and guarantee of Land’s End clothing, the poor customer service is the last thing I will remember about my visit. Is that fair? Probably not but that’s how I feel. I shouldn’t have to spend much energy or time looking for someone to pay. Maybe we should use the Lands’s End website next time although we like our kids to try on clothing given how fast they are growing.

We left Sears and walked to the Nordstrom wing of the mall. I pushed our stroller through the cosmetic department full of women sporting white jackets and impeccable skin. I’m always a bit uncomfortable wandering into this area in a Stepford Wives sort of way. As we made our way through hundred dollar wrinkle cream, my kids decided to touch every display case, box and perfume bottle. We eventually made our way to the Clinique counter.

It would be easy to ignore a guy herding three kids through the store who appears punch drunk on way too many overlapping scents. I don’t look like I’m on the verge of dropping Franklins on exotic cosmetics I can’t pronounce.

But I wasn’t ignored.

Before I could bring the stroller to a stop, a friendly woman approached me and asked if she could help. I told her I wanted a large bottle of liquid facial soap which she grabbed and rung up in less time than I spent waiting for someone to help me at Sears.

I left Nordstrom feeling like they value my business and my time.

I also smelled really good!

While attending the University of Utah, I visited my grandparents one afternoon to use their computer. When I tired of homework, I’d retreat to the study to browse my grandpa’s stack of Consumer Reports magazines. I’d thumb through them for hours. Especially the Annual Auto Issue.

On this day, my grandfather asked me to look up ratings on refrigerators and tell him which he should purchase. I eventually gave him a list of the top 5 models. I figured he’d make a trip to Sears or other large appliance store in Salt Lake City to compare many of brands and models.

But he wasn’t interested. He and my grandmother lived in a small city called Bountiful, located 20 minutes north of Salt Lake. He made one call to a local, family owned appliance shop just a few blocks away. The owner agreed with the ratings and quoted a price over the phone for the top rated model. No low balling tactics. No tricks. Just straight-forward, honest service.

I suggested he call around to the larger stores in Salt Lake looking for a lower price.

Again, he showed no interest. He said, “I could find it for less, but I’d rather support this local business. I trust the owner and he’s treated me well over the years”.

He purchased his cars the same way. He trusted a local mechanic who kept his eye out for specific models that would work well for my grandparents. The mechanic treated him well for many years and my grandpa trusted him. No need to look elsewhere. 

In today’s age of specialized search engines focused on sniffing out the best deals it’s hard to imagine intentionally paying extra to support local businesses. Now it’s as simple as typing a model number into Froogle to locate the lowest price. If that’s all your care about.

Does it matter if the local shops disappear and we’re left with Costco or Best Buy or whatever category killer moves into town? Will we replace trusted advice from the small business owner with online product reviews from people we don’t know?

When my grandfather wanted to purchase a book he did so at the family run bookstore. My generation made a trip to Barnes and Noble. Will my children assume they only place to purchase a book (or anything else) is Amazon?