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

[GlitterIsMyDrug]

I thought of another! AJs! It's a high end grocery store in my neck of the woods, I rarely shop there cause...fancy/expensive. However for my best friend's wedding we decided to get her bouquet there. First, cheaper then everywhere else we went. As soon as they heard wedding I swear the price doubled. AJs, wedding or not, it was a set price. We know zilch about flowers. So the florist patiently walked us through what she wanted, made helpful (nice!) suggestions and day of had it ready to go for her other bridesmaid to pick up. Looked GORGEOUS. But here's the best part, the next month is my lovely lady's birthday and I decide to get her some nice flowers and fancy bottle of wine she likes cause I like her too. So when I head in I see the same florist working, he recognize me, and asks how he can help. I tell him what I'm looking for and he says "I know exactly what to do, wait just one second here" he calls over another person and says "This is Kate, she's going to help you pick out a bottle of wine while I get the flowers together" and then the wine person helped me get a nice pre-made meal too. I felt very special!

We've already decided to do our wedding flowers from there.

[Piratelvr1121]

Bath and Body Works has redeemed themselves in my eyes with the release of Forever Midnight!  For a long time I was annoyed at how they'd discontinue fragrances that were even a bit more mature and by that I mean smelling like a woman's perfume, not a stick of juicy fruit.   At least many of their fragrances smelled that way to me. 

I like fragrances with woodsy and some floral notes, such as sandalwood, patchouli, and jasmine.  And usually when I found one I liked, it would be discontinued within a year.   But last Monday they debuted a new fragrance, "Forever Midnight" that has sandalwood and night blooming jasmine, as well as caramel liquor. It smells fantastic, and the girl in the store told me that the "Forever" fragrances, such as this one and Forever Red, will never have their formulas changed so they'll always smell the same way, and they'll never be discontinued! Rock on!

Okay so it's a bit more pricey than their usual but if it means having something I can depend on and it lasts? It's worth it!

[HGolightly]

Add me to the list of LUSHies! I got some products years ago for a gift and wanted more! I got the number of the nearest store in another province who sent me their LUSHTimes mailer and would process and mail out any orders I made. The following year they added online shopping so I could keep buying my favourites and they also sent great samples. I was thrilled when they finally opened in my city and have always gotten amazing service. Some of their stuff I have been using for almost 20 years.
I also love Method! My house smells so good when it is a cleaning day. I bought their fabric softener spray and was disappointed that it did not work. I contacted the company to let them know they might want to change the bottles because it was a good product but a lousy spray bottle. I got a response the following day with the offer of a coupon for a free product to replace it. I said it was not necessary I just wanted to offer feedback. They sent me three free product coupons as a thank you!!

[Piratelvr1121]

I've mentioned this in another thread, but I'd gladly visit Fastenal again.  Last Thursday I was converting Little Pirate's crib to a toddler bed which required the use of 3 bolts that could be secured with an allen wrench. Only as it turns out these were special bolts.  Which I didn't know till I went to Lowe's, because there were only 2, not 3.  But they said "You could order them from whoever made your crib, or you could go to Fastenal."

Which I did, and they helped me quickly and while they didn't have the exact bolt in stock, one guy said "Does it have to look exactly like this? Cause we have something in the same size, but it's black, not silver." I told him it really didn't matter to me and asked how much it would be.

The guy said "Don't worry about it, consider it a birthday present for the little guy."  Now, I suppose it wasn't really that much, maybe small enough they could easily write it off but I still thought that was very nice!

[ladyknight1]

I love Method products. They work so well and I find myself having to only clean an area once, not multiple times.

[Ms_Cellany]

Flylady.  Her cleaning products are just amazing. I accidentally overordered her purple rags, and I've been giving them as gifts.

I also loved it when after a visit, my neice emailed to ask, "I hope this isn't weird, but where did you get that purple rubber toilet brush that you had in the bathroom?"

[daen]

Flylady.  Her cleaning products are just amazing. I accidentally overordered her purple rags, and I've been giving them as gifts.

I also loved it when after a visit, my neice emailed to ask, "I hope this isn't weird, but where did you get that purple rubber toilet brush that you had in the bathroom?"

I haven't purchased much from her - just the original purple Rubba Scrubba brush - but I use that for a myriad of jobs. Today it was to get dust off suede-style curtains, clean the cat hair from the dry mop head, and sweep the baseboards. I intend to buy a replacement (or an additional one or six), and I admit to being curious if the purple rags are better than the Simoniz brand my mother-in-law gave me. Well, actually, she gave them to my husband for washing the car, but I appropriated them before they got anywhere near the garage.

[Pen^2]

I'll probably never have a chance to go here again, but who knows?

In Japan on DH's and my honeymoon, I had a bit of a sore tooth. Nothing to worry about. I had a dentist appointment booked for after we got back (the local dentist couldn't get me in any earlier). Well, while we were away, it got much worse, to the point that all the over-the-counter analgesics wouldn't do a thing (maximum safe dosage had no effect), and I ended up spending one night sobbing on the bathroom floor, unable to sleep due to the pain and half-deaf from the deafening throbbing in my head. (DH had gone ahead at this point for logistical reasons, so I was all on my lonesome for 30 hours.) I actually tried to pull the tooth out in desperation several times, but it's a molar near the back and couldn't (fortunately! You absolutely should not do this, as it can make things a lot worse).

So I Googled "dentist" and our hotel's address, and as soon as work hours began, walked to the nearest one, about 3 blocks away. The dentist was very sympathetic--when I said that I couldn't sleep because of the pain, and that I hadn't eaten anything solid for two days, he declared it "emergency treatment" so I'd get to be seen immediately. The tooth was infected, and he was very patient as I stumbled around dental terminology in Japanese that I'd only just looked up that morning. The equipment was like something from out of a sci-fi movie, as well. Nothing close to it in Australia. It was also the only dentist appointment I've ever been to where they actually wait for the anaesthetic to take effect (it takes ~10 minutes) before drilling away, so I never felt a thing. At all other dentists I've seen, they inject, drill/whatever, and you only start feeling numb on the way home.

Locals get an automatic 70% off all medical and dental stuff (government healthcare system), but since I wasn't local, he felt bad that I'd have to pay full price. Students also get 70% off, so he asked if I was a student or anything back in Australia (even though technically I'd need to be a student in Japan...) but I wasn't, so full price it was. He was very apologetic.

The cost of a tooth removal, two shots of anaesthetic, X-ray, filling, two days' worth of analgesics for me to take home just in case, and the other things he did was, in Australian currency, $50.30. And he was apologising!

I was so out of it from pain that I didn't even catch his name--I just called him, "Dr. Dentist." But he was the best dentist I've ever been to.

[perpetua]

Howarth of London. A wee bit more expensive than your average bear music shop, but totally worth it for their wonderful customer service. I went there last week looking for a saxophone stand that I could use while sitting and playing, because I've been having a lot of pain from the weight of using a neckstrap - but the one they had in stock was too high even on its lowest setting. They were about to get someone from the repairs department to alter it for me at no cost - and this thing is metal, so it would have involved metalwork! - right there and then while I waited, and it wasn't like this would have been a hugely expensive purchase either that would have been worth it for them to put the extra effort into; it was about £40.

I ended up deciding to try a harness first - which they said I can *totally* take back, used, for a full refund, after my next sax choir rehearsal - which was over a week away at the time - if it doesn't work for me and my condition. How lovely are they?

[faithlessone]

It was also the only dentist appointment I've ever been to where they actually wait for the anaesthetic to take effect (it takes ~10 minutes) before drilling away, so I never felt a thing. At all other dentists I've seen, they inject, drill/whatever, and you only start feeling numb on the way home.

Seriously?? I'm in the UK, and I have never had anaesthetic without the dentist making completely certain that I'm fully numbed up before they start poking. I thought that was universal!

[Pen^2]

It was also the only dentist appointment I've ever been to where they actually wait for the anaesthetic to take effect (it takes ~10 minutes) before drilling away, so I never felt a thing. At all other dentists I've seen, they inject, drill/whatever, and you only start feeling numb on the way home.

Seriously?? I'm in the UK, and I have never had anaesthetic without the dentist making completely certain that I'm fully numbed up before they start poking. I thought that was universal!

I hope it's only Australia where they tend not to, then. I went to one of the biggest universities in the country, and did a neuroscience subject, which was compulsory for all dentistry students. Basically, the best (or, at a stretch, equal best) dentistry students in the country learnt their trade there. The lecturers (all of them) repeatedly put importance on the fact that dental anaesthetics don't work instantly, and that the students should therefore wait for the drugs to take effect before they start doing stuff to people's teeth, "Unlike all the dentists who are currently working." The students didn't pay much attention, to my disappointment. But the fact that the lecturers (we had about 6 over the semester) all kept harping on about how they should wait for the anaesthetics to work, unlike currently working dentists, makes it clear that this is at least a widespread problem in Australia, if not universal. I'd actually never heard of a dentist actually using the anaesthetic properly before meeting Dr. McAwesome Dentist, and I've lived in half the states of Australia (literally).

[jedikaiti]

It was also the only dentist appointment I've ever been to where they actually wait for the anaesthetic to take effect (it takes ~10 minutes) before drilling away, so I never felt a thing. At all other dentists I've seen, they inject, drill/whatever, and you only start feeling numb on the way home.

Seriously?? I'm in the UK, and I have never had anaesthetic without the dentist making completely certain that I'm fully numbed up before they start poking. I thought that was universal!

Likewise in the US, here. Although a friend from the US who moved to the UK complained to me that she only had X minutes with dentist, so when she had work done, it was usually halfway over before the Novocaine kicked in. Maybe she was just going to a bad dentist, though.

[KB]

It's not just dentists. I was having a lump remove from my breast (benign, thankfully) under local anaesthetic and the surgeon checked whether or not the anaesthetic had begun working by poking me with the scalpel. (News to him: it hadn't.)

[Sirius]

Mr. Sirius and I go to a great local restaurant called the Reedville Cafe.  One thing I like is that they support local food growers (they say so in their menu) and their food is always very good.  Another thing is that it's obvious that they treat their employees well, as we've been going there for close to 9 years and there's been very little turnover in the waitstaff.  Plus, the managers don't let people misbehave.  I've seen shift managers, at different times, corral running kids back to their parents or tell tables to keep down the noise.  The head manager's been there over 20 years, and most of the rest of the managers have been there the whole time we've been going there as well. 

[Minmom3]

In my limited (to me) experience, every dentist I've ever had would give me the numbing shot, wait 10-15 minutes, and run a pick over the tongue in that quadrant of my mouth and ask if I felt it.  Which I invariably DID.  What they used to use (may still do, but I don't get it anymore!) was lidocaine.  At dental strength, whatever that may be, lidocaine does not handle my pain.  Enough of it will make me appear to be a stroke victim, with extensive facial sagging, but the pain receptors work JUST FINE.  Sometime in my mid-20's, I asked a new dentist to find something else to try on me, as I was truly sick and tired of pain every time I got more than a cleaning - and I have horrible teeth, nearly every visit was more than a cleaning.  He used a new-to-me drug and, wonder of wonders, it worked.  It metabolizes out faster than lidocaine, but it works on MY pain...  Before that happened, I got my wisdom teeth pulled at a dental school in Los Angeles.  4 shots of lidocaine later, I looked awful!  Even with an IV of valium and demerol, I still felt the pain, and because I was so drugged up, I cried throughout the procedure.  Talk about a miserable day.  I still cringe and tense up as soon as I hear the drill, even though I no longer feel the pain.