Searching For The (Retail) Light.

This weekend I watched a woman visit seven stores looking for office chairs: Pier 1 Imports, Broyhill, Copenhagen Imports, HomeGoods, Kanes, Bacon’s Furniture and Havertys. Being an omniscient feline, I knew she was hoping to buy a lighting fixture as well.

The woman was casually dressed. Summer shorts. Sleeveless blouse. Ponytail. She certainly didn’t have to worry about being accosted by salespeople, especially the well-dressed ones at Bacon’s (although she was only one of three customers in the entire store). Her Pier 1 Imports’ experience was by far the most enjoyable. The sales associate went out of his way to help her, although she still didn’t see exactly what she was searching for.

Thirty minutes later, she found a black chair she liked (at Broyhill), but she needed two and they only had one in stock. The salesman said she could take one home that day, and the other would be delivered in six weeks.

When she said she wasn’t willing to wait that long, he tried to sell her brown chairs, which, of course, were in stock (the dark expresso brown was “identical” to black, he said.)

The woman left. But on the way home, she stopped at a lighting store and purchased a ceiling light that wasn’t even on her list to buy – a George Kovacs chrome-and-glass number that she knew would transform her kitchen. No heavy sales pitch. A good price point. And simple, direct answers to her questions, ponytail and all.

Now if only she can find her non-expresso black chairs.