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

[nuit93]

I also love Lane Bryant, but the one closest to me just closed down.  Luckily, there's an LB outlet store not too much further away

[mmswm]

This isn't actually a store, but still a business.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to go see Cirque de Soleil's "Totem".  It was an amazing show, but that isn't the only reason I'm gushing about them.

Since this is a famous acrobatics show, I was expecting to see an entire cast of skinny, fit, young people, and while there were plenty of those, there were also quite a few performers who didn't have "perfect" bodies, but boy did they have talent. Here's just a few examples:

-The "too skinny" geek who played the part of the tourist.  His comedic acting was superb.

-The "fluffy" unicyclist. Her balance and ability with the bowl tricks were spectacular.

-The overweight female singer.  Cirque put the musicians on the stage with the acrobats. Her voice seemed to come straight from the angels.

-The man who looked like he would be more comfortable in a sumo wrestling ring than in an acrobatics act.  His balance and strength were essential to the Russian Bars. He was probably the least graceful of all the performers, which was evident in the final dance number, but he didn't look like he cared one bit.  His contribution to the show was essential, and the choreographers saw fit to include him in the dance number, even if he looked like the awkward teenager at the Homecoming dance.

I am so impressed with Cirque de Soleil's ability to see beyond body type and cast the people with the best skills and the most talent. Every child in that audience saw a performer that looked just like him or her. I'm pretty sure every single body type, size shape and color was represented somewhere in the cast.  I would have enjoyed the show regardless, but their refusal to give into society's dictates of what "perfect" looks like makes me want to see the rest of their shows whenever I have an opportunity.

[Piratelvr1121]

A camera store a few minutes drive from the house.  I just was putting my relatively new camera into it's pouch but it slipped and fell to the ground, causing the automatic lens cover to separate and get stuck so that two of the pieces were in front of the lens and wouldn't budge and I didn't want to break it.

I took it to this camera store I'd seen but never been in to see if they could tell me if it was fixable.  I didn't have enough $ to have them fix it, I just wanted to know if it was in fact fixable.  Well the woman looked at it and said "Oh sure, it's fixable and you can send it to Canon and they'll give you an estimate...or...hmm, let me get another one like this out to see how it comes together..." well she gently played with it a bit and didn't even charge me for it, whereas I would have had to pay Canon just to send it there, I'm sure.  I will DEFINITELY be going back there for any future camera accessory needs!!  I was just so grateful that she was able to fix it and didn't charge me a cent.

I love this camera and since I just got it for Christmas and it was my only Christmas present from DH I would have been very upset if it wasn't fixable.

[StarFaerie]

Amazon - a few months ago I dropped my bag with my Kindle in it. Of course the screen broke but it was my fault as I should have been more careful. Yesterday I decided to ring them and see if they could fix it before I threw it out. Well no they can't fix it , but they can replace it and do so under warranty too as it was in my bag at the time . So they are replacing it, including shipping to Australia. And even if they couldn't replace it under warranty, they would have done so for just $85 including shipping.

Great customer service. I am so staying with Kindle when I upgrade.

[ladyknight1]

Amazon is my go-to for books, kitchen wares, games, movies, etc.

I ordered my Kelty internal frame backpack and a rain cover, the pack came the rain cover did not. When I reported the rain cover missing, they sent it one-day shipping with no questions.

They will always have my business.

[HoneyBee42]

Kohl's.

I was in the store here with my daughter yesterday, and I bought a pretty cute little dress for her that was intended as her Easter dress.  Well, after we got home, she was having a friend spend the night (no school today), and went in to put on the dress to model for her friend.  Which was when we realized there was a rip in the lace sleeve around the armpit.

So today we returned ... that dress happened to be a hot seller.  In the store, it came in three colors--black, a cream/almost an oatmeal, and coral (the one she got was the coral one).  While there were still plenty of the other two, there was *one* coral dress on the rack, and it was a size XS (daughter is going to be 12 shortly, she wears a size S).  Daughter didn't want either of the other colors, I happened to see two more of the coral on a return rack, but they were both the wrong size also (both were size L).  No way was she going to fit into the XS.  Well, the clerk didn't give us any grief about the return, called back to the person working juniors just to make sure that they didn't have any other size S coral because we obviously wanted the dress more than the refund.  No luck there, so I got the refund.

Came home, and they did have it in the right size and color on line.  So I've ordered it, and it should be here within a week or so (so plenty of time for getting here before Easter). Tomorrow I'll have the email with the tracking so I'll know for sure.  But Kohl's always is like that--most everything I've bought there was worked great, but on those occasions when I do have a problem, they'll try to make right with the merchandise if possible and a cheerful refund if not.

Of course, I have to deal with the fact that my almost-12yo daughter looks more like 14 in that dress.  It is cute--I'd totally wear it myself if I were 25-30 years younger, but wow, my baby is growing up.

[ladyknight1]

My mom has lost the plot when it comes to gift buying, particularly clothes for DS, DH and myself. Two years ago, for Christmas she bought clothes for us.

DS: size Small mens
2 XL men's tee shirts
1 S boy's tee shirt

DH: XL mens
3X chambray shirt
2x pants
L three wolf moon t-shirt

I love purple, but am not fond of synthetic fabric or clothes that come with jewelry. I ended up with three tops, all purple, all synthetic, with jewelry attached to them.

I felt bad for my mom, since she had gone to a lot of expense and effort. She had included a gift receipt for another store, but all of the clothes had been bought at Kohl's in mom's state. I went to Kohl's and they took it all back. Gave us a store credit, which we used to buy much needed things for our kitchen. Kohl's is awesome.

[Thipu1]

Again, not quite a business but very useful. 

Bookfinder.com

This isn't a book dealer.  It's a clearing house for book dealers. 

You type in what you want and you get a list of dealers offering that title.  The lists of new and used books are arranged by price with the cheapest first.  Clicking on the price then connects you to the dealer and you order directly.

It was our first choice in the library and we use it all the time at home. 

[Miriam]

Kohl's.

I was in the store here with my daughter yesterday, and I bought a pretty cute little dress for her that was intended as her Easter dress.  Well, after we got home, she was having a friend spend the night (no school today), and went in to put on the dress to model for her friend.  Which was when we realized there was a rip in the lace sleeve around the armpit.

So today we returned ... that dress happened to be a hot seller.  In the store, it came in three colors--black, a cream/almost an oatmeal, and coral (the one she got was the coral one).  While there were still plenty of the other two, there was *one* coral dress on the rack, and it was a size XS (daughter is going to be 12 shortly, she wears a size S).  Daughter didn't want either of the other colors, I happened to see two more of the coral on a return rack, but they were both the wrong size also (both were size L).  No way was she going to fit into the XS.  Well, the clerk didn't give us any grief about the return, called back to the person working juniors just to make sure that they didn't have any other size S coral because we obviously wanted the dress more than the refund.  No luck there, so I got the refund.

Came home, and they did have it in the right size and color on line.  So I've ordered it, and it should be here within a week or so (so plenty of time for getting here before Easter). Tomorrow I'll have the email with the tracking so I'll know for sure.  But Kohl's always is like that--most everything I've bought there was worked great, but on those occasions when I do have a problem, they'll try to make right with the merchandise if possible and a cheerful refund if not.

Of course, I have to deal with the fact that my almost-12yo daughter looks more like 14 in that dress.  It is cute--I'd totally wear it myself if I were 25-30 years younger, but wow, my baby is growing up.

I was at Kohl's last weekend for the first time in years and I could not have been happier. I recently was hired for a professional position, so I needed some nice slacks since all I had were nice tops and skinny jeans that I usually wear at my casual part time jobs. Kohl's was PACKED, the aisles were full of clothes, and the workers were all over the place picking up things people just carelessly tossed. I decided to wait for the lunch crowd to die off, so wandered into the bra section. For two hours I tried on bras with a Kohl's worker, and a Werner's bra rep who was there passing out coupons. I'm an awkward size, small band but big cup, and together they helped me find age appropriate bras (I'm 23) that were supportive and comfortable. The Werner's rep didn't even care some of the bras she was selling weren't ones I was going to purchase, she walked around those racks and gave her professional opinion about all of the brands. Luckily I was able to get the last in my size in one of their full coverage bras, so I got to use a coupon! I'm very impressed with the workers in that section, and even went to customer service to tell them how wonderful their worker was to me.

Then, I had to venture in the chaos to find some clothes. I was very intimidated by the disheveled racks and frantic looking women trying to snag deals out from under each other.  Every aisle I went down, I stopped to pick up pieces of clothes from the floor and hang them back up. It was sad, they were all nice, designer pieces that were just left on the floor to be stomped on. After 30 minutes of this, another Kohl's worker approached me. She led me toward the Plus Size section where some clearance racks were and told me many women were avoiding these racks, but a lot of clothes are mixed in there too that are regular size. Imagine my surprise when hanger after hanger were $3 Lauren Conrad, Vera Wang, and Rock & Republic tops. They all were my size, were very professional looking, and beyond adorable. I found a beautiful crochet a-line skirt, Daisy Fuentes slacks, and a steely gray wrap dress. I walked out of Kohl's with 15 pieces of clothes, did not pay more than $50.

Many customers probably would complain about the crowd, the mess, and lack of available service but I'm very happy that through the dysfunction Kohl's employees were able to find the time to help me.

[ladyknight1]

Chik-fil-A

Today, I went through the drive through and ordered a chicken nugget meal with an unsweetened iced tea. When I got to the window, after paying, I told the cashier that I never order sandwiches in the drive-through because pickles always end up on the sandwich (even when requested without them), and I don't want them and don't have time to wait for my order to be fixed. I get my food, leave and once I arrive at my office, I find that instead of nuggets, I received a sandwich with extra pickles. I call the restaurant to explain the problem, and they delivered the nuggets to my office, three miles away.

[Coralreef]

A building material / renovation store near my home, small local chain.  Service is awsome!  If they can't help you, they will find someone who can.  When I was changing the light fixture in my kitchen, they explained in detail how to do it.  Of course, I was confused once the old one was down and I had a bit of a problem with the new one.  The gentleman in the electrical department walked me through it on the phone.  Some of the things may be a bit pricier, but they are my first stop for house stuff. 

[afbluebelle]

Chik-fil-A

Today, I went through the drive through and ordered a chicken nugget meal with an unsweetened iced tea. When I got to the window, after paying, I told the cashier that I never order sandwiches in the drive-through because pickles always end up on the sandwich (even when requested without them), and I don't want them and don't have time to wait for my order to be fixed. I get my food, leave and once I arrive at my office, I find that instead of nuggets, I received a sandwich with extra pickles. I call the restaurant to explain the problem, and they delivered the nuggets to my office, three miles away.

I'm sorry... you got my mental sandwich. All day I was totally jonesing for a Chik-Fil-A samdwich with extra pickles.

[snowdragon]

I really love Wegman's. [grocery chain]

The produce and meat are incredibly fresh, there is a gourmet bakery and a food court in my store, and many brands are carried.  The prices of the things I like are comparable to Walmart, and the customer service is supreme.

The only downside - I haven't found Alex Baldwin in there, yet.

Love Wegman's  although some are better than others for service, their prices are great and they are committed to local foods as much as possible.

[snowdragon]

Chapters. They are my go to store for books, and always will be.

Love them.  There are none in my area so I drive from Buffalo to St Catherine's ON to go to one. I can get my Dear Canada fix and get great service

[mmswm]

I think Publix grocery store has already been mentioned, but I'm going to mention them again.  My mother and I went to the store, and while checking out, my mother realized she didn't have her little purse with her, which means she didn't have her debit card or ID, though she did have her checkbook.  I didn't have enough to cover the entire bill.  Instead of taking off items until we were down to how much I could afford, the manager, who recognized her as a regular customer, let her write the check using my ID to get the register to take it (they have to type in an ID number or the computer won't process the check).  They could have easily said no and sent my mother back home to get her ID and/or debit card, but they were pleasant and made it work for her.