S/O I'm Never Shopping There - What Businesses Will Forever Have Your Patronage?

[Just Lori]

Many years ago, our overhead garage door mechanism broke.  We called a locally owned company, and the owner came over to take a look.  He diagnosed the problem and told my husband that, while he could fix it and charge us, my husband could probably buy a part for a couple of bucks and fix it himself.  He gave us the part number, didn't charge us and went on his way.

My husband attempted to fix the garage door himself, and it just didn't seem to work.  He called the original company and asked if they had any suggestions, and if not, could we get a service call?  The owner said he was going to be in the neighborhood later, so he came by to take a look.  He figured out the problem, walked my husband through the fix and did not charge us a thing.

Suffice to say, we hired them to install a new door when it was time.  We called them when someone (cough cough) decided to try to back out of the garage without, um, actually opening the garage door.  We recommend them to everyone, and we cringe when we see some of the bigger names working on neighbors' garage doors.  They're awesome.

[Twik]

Hertz Rent-a-Car at Hartford Airport. I was late for my flight (my fault entirely), and they not only were nice about not having refilled it, they drove me to the airport directly, because the van wasn't there. Super service.

[BabyMama]

Starbucks, Victoria's Secret online, LL Bean, and Zulily. Great customer service. I like knowing that when I have a problem, someone will be there with a solution

[ladyknight1]

I can't promise eternal patronage, but ANY place that employs handicapped lower-level employees (baggers, etc) gets many extra points from me.

One regional grocery chain can be depended on to do this, without making a big self-promoting "thing" out of it. Once I understood what was going on, I made a point to adjust my "how ya doin, and thanks" conversation to a simple and direct level, and usually our parting few words of banter puts a smile on my face for the day.

In my area, Publix and Five Guys Burgers go out of their way to hire the disabled. The managers at Five Guys always make sure their disabled employees get their favorite food to take home with them too, as most live in group homes and may have missed dinner by the time they get there.

[Miriam]

Aerie from American Eagle.

Had to buy presents for a lingerie party, so I thought I would go down the comfortable and conservative route. There is a 7 for $26 special that would not automatically change in my checkout, so I called customer support to see what I could do to fix the overpricing. The gentleman on the other end had to take my order over the phone, something that could have been uncomfortable but he remained professional and polite throughout. He even threw in free 2 day shipping since my computer was having difficulties changing the price, which is very generous. I've never owned Aerie products before, but I'm thinking of buying something for myself now thanks to the wonderful experience with their company.

[misha412]

The one business I absolutely miss from Florida is Publix. I live in NC now and the closest Publix is 40 miles south of me in SC. So close, yet so far!!!

I also miss Cuban food in Florida. In Tampa, the best place for authentic Cuban is La Terasita's.

I love a local Mexican place near where I live. Flavorful food, great staff, and good prices.

Home Depot. The closest home improvement store to me is Lowe's. But when I can, I go to HD for the service.

[jedikaiti]

I did a summer internship at Kennedy Space Center a few years ago, and I looooooved the sandwiches at Mr. Cubano in Cape Canaveral. Even tried to get them to ship me one in CO. :-)

[Mad Goat Woman]

This fantastic bakery in Canberra city called Dobinson's. It's fantastic, the food is lovely, and the staff are efficient, and it's almost never quiet that's how popular it is. I've been getting my quiche lorraines there for well over ten years whenever I'm in the mood for it.

[Piratelvr1121]

US Cellular.  By and large the best cellular service out there.  They are not pushy when you go into the store, but rather very helpful when you have questions about phones and plans.  I was going in a few times before I was able to drop Verizon and go to them to get an idea for what phone I wanted and the best possible plan and they didn't try to get me to join then. 

And I've been going in a few times recently to play with various smartphones to decide which one they want and once asked one of the sales ladies what she had.  She said that right now she had a more basic phone they were all given, but when she was going to upgrade she was going to go for the Samsung Galaxy II, not the III even though it was more pricey and newer and had 4G.  That impressed me that she wasn't trying to push the newest and the greatest but was honest about her own preferences. 

They also do not give you the runaround, will explain anything that confuses you without being condescending, are very helpful and polite. (They will always walk you to the door and hold it for you when you're on your way out)  That and you only have to sign a contract once when you start with them and you get Belief Points which you can use to upgrade before you're actually eligible and if you have enough points you can sometimes get some of the nicer pricey phones for just a penny.

[ladyknight1]

I did a summer internship at Kennedy Space Center a few years ago, and I looooooved the sandwiches at Mr. Cubano in Cape Canaveral. Even tried to get them to ship me one in CO. :-)

I'll be over there next weekend, do you want one airmailed? 

[artk2002]

I did a summer internship at Kennedy Space Center a few years ago, and I looooooved the sandwiches at Mr. Cubano in Cape Canaveral. Even tried to get them to ship me one in CO. :-)

I'll be over there next weekend, do you want one airmailed? 

There are some (possibly apocryphal) stories of people shipping Tommy's chili burgers from SoCal to Canaveral. Tommy's isn't that far from JPL and CalTech so people working there would develop a taste for it, and then get a craving when on assignment in Florida.

[Outdoor Girl]

There is a little shop near me called 'The Bird House'.  It is a trendy little place with bird feeders and some seed, as well as other things for home and garden.  Their prices are comparable to larger stores, it is incredibly handy and the service is great.  I bought a feeder for my Dad and when we went to put it together, it was missing a couple of pieces.  I took it back and not only did they exchange it with no issues, he put the new one together for me!  And when I buy a 40 lb bag of sunflower seeds, they'll carry it out to the car for me.

The only issue is that it is a Mom and Pop store 'chain' where this is the second store and their son runs it.  He is still in college so the shop is closed one day a week when he has most of his classes.  And occasionally, it is closed on a day they are supposed to be open because he is trying to get registered or has exams or something.

[mmswm]

I had to come back to this thread to add another place to this list.  I haven't been back "home" in years.  Before I moved, I was a regular at one particular bar.  I went there once or twice a week for years.  Tonight, I met a couple friends there, as I'm back in town.  I walked in and the bartender immediately went to the beer cooler and pulled out the right beer (well, after picking his jaw up off the floor, since it had been so long since I've been there), then proceeded to harass me about "two Killians and a Diet Coke", which had been my pretty standard bar tab for all those years.  Funnily, it was also my tab tonight. .  I suppose I'm a creature of habit. You just can't beat a bartender who can remember what you want after an absence of at least four years.

[Kaora]

A small, local business, which deals in comics and other nerdery, along with teaching supplies.  We only found out about it when my mum was a second grade teacher (for one year!) and got her supplies from there.

I think my first experience there, I was looking for Pokemon Fossil cards, which were new at the time.  Imust've been 12.

I asked the owner about him, since he was working that day, and he said they hadn't come in just yet, but that he would hold a deck for me and we could come in and get it when we were ready!

When the owner is not in, there is an ultra-nice lady working the desk.  She's a thrill to talk to, and we, BF and I, are allowed to just come in and chat now, we've kind of spent so much money there.  But due to the awesome staff, we'll be there so long as they are!

[Piratelvr1121]

JcPenney's. Haven't had a bad experience with any of their goods to date, sometimes I can find things cheaper there than at Target when they're having a sale. ($12 turtlenecks, when Targets were $18 which was the usual price for JcPenney's)

And I was rather impressed when, despite being given some backlash on choosing Ellen DeGeneres as their spokesperson, they stood by her. I adore her and am glad that JcPenney's stuck by her and didn't ditch her because of said backlash.