Extraordinary Service is the
Hallmark of Craft Retailers

ustomer service is how we specialize,” says Vicki Schwager, gallery president of Details & Green Shoelaces.

For this Arizona gallery, and many others across the country, personal service tailored to a customer’s specific needs is what sets retailers of handcrafts apart from discount and department stores. Buying clubs like Costco are now selling original fine art, but it’s unlikely that their customers will ever be able to take a piece of art home to try in their living room before purchasing it, or find a salesperson who has intimate knowledge of the artist and his or her work.

A study done in January concluded that discount stores did poorly during the 2003 holidays due to deficiencies in three customer service areas: ease of finding products, ease of finding help and amount of courteous employees. Retail consultant Anne Obarski, executive director of Merchandise Concepts, reports that 70 percent of customers’ buying decisions are based on positive human interaction with sales staff. At the bare minimum, Obarski says that any retail store should expect salespeople to “Strive for the Positive 5: positively greet customers, positively speak to customers, positively listen to customers, positively inform customers and positively invite customers back.”

Personal attention, tryouts of artists’ works, and establishing a connection with the artisan are just a few of the many customer services offered by craft retailers and galleries. Gallery owners say their customers often expect, and get, much more.

“We always encourage people to take things home on approval and try them in their own space,” says Connie Lior, owner of CBL Fine Art in New Jersey. “We’ll also come to the house if they’d like us to help them with suggestions and placement of items.” Lior also offers a “warm and friendly” environment in her gallery, including a corner of the store where customers’ children can watch videos while the parents are shopping.

Ruth Lane, owner of The Purple Pomegranate in Whitefish, Mont., a tourist area popular with skiers, says she strives to treat customers as she would any guest in her house. “One male customer in my gallery stated, ‘This is the most fun I’ve ever had shopping and I usually hate to shop.’”

In addition to amusing shoppers, Lane has a personal shopping service for the area’s mountain homeowners and assists them with personal décor questions. She also serves as concierge when gallery visitors are looking for a good restaurant or other gift stores. And during the off-season when the gallery’s normally closed, she’s happy to open by appointment.

Nearly all the gallery personnel we spoke to offer complimentary gift-wrapping or packaging suitable for gift giving. At Purple Pomegranate, Lane wraps gifts in purple boxes and gift-wrap and includes a real pomegranate on each box. At Details & Green Shoelaces, Schwager uses recycled things, like mugs, coffee cans, and even men’s ties to wrap gifts. For travelers, they also have a special wrap that can be easily disassembled for security checks in airports.

At galleries such as Artcraft Collection, a focus on sales of furnishings and accessories leads to plenty of customer interaction, and makes good customer service all the more important, according to Artcraft's Jay Winer.

A major service that galleries try to provide is information about the work and artists represented in their stores. But, what should be a “given” is often lacking, Obarski says, because few stores keep their staff educated and updated about the unique items on their shelves and walls. In many small galleries and gift stores, only the manager or owner has informed knowledge of the store’s merchandise and its makers.

Jay Winer of Artcraft Collection, with locations in Virginia and Maryland, says all his staff members are “knowledgeable and friendly” and willing to listen to customer requests. “Because we focus on furnishings and accessories [and custom orders],” says Winer, “there’s even more customer interaction.”

Lane echoes Winer and adds that her staff tries to educate the customers on the artists’ work and the materials used for each piece. She also strives to teach her clients about American craft in general.

Personal touches extend to every aspect of the customer’s visit to these galleries and many offer free local delivery, layaway, and 30-day return policies.

When a visitor breaks something at CBL Fine Art, Lior asks them to make a donation to a charity of their choice rather than pay the store for the merchandise.

In Canton, Md., customers stop by 2910 on the Square gallery to see the owner’s four-legged friends. “My three dogs come to work every day and customers seem to love them and many times just come in to see and play with the dogs,” says Stephanie Yesko. “When the pups aren’t here, the customers want to know where they are.”

Floridays Gallery in Florida hosts two, invitation-only customer appreciation parties each year with live music, food and open bar. During these events, 10 percent of the gallery’s sales go to a local charity.

Gallery owners admit that “bending over backwards” to assist customers can be costly, but is necessary to maintaining the quality of their business.

Winer will go to a customer’s home or office to repair or replace a piece that is too big to return his gallery. “As for complaints, we try to handle them immediately,” says Winer. “If they cannot be resolved by staff, then management will step in. We work hard to develop good relationships and customer loyalty with extraordinary service.”

Schwager recently dealt with a client who put a piece on hold for several months. When she came to pick up the item, which she’d eventually secured on her credit card, she wouldn’t take it home because, despite being wrapped securely in bubble wrap, there wasn’t a box for it. At the same time, she tried to return two items without a receipt that were over a year old.

Schwager says they created a custom box for the piece the next day and waited a week for the customer to pick it up. When they called the client, she said she no longer wanted the item and threatened to sue if her credit card wasn’t credited. “It doesn’t matter if we were right or wrong,” says Schwager, “we lost. We did take her off our mailing list; she’s not worth the stamp.”

Megan Patrick from Floridays gallery recalls a mother-of-the-bride who took a “painstakingly” long time to choose some small ceramic pieces to go atop her daughter’s wedding cake. Since the wedding was in a week, the mother picked the more expensive ones and told Patrick they were “perfect.”

Three days after the wedding, the bride returned the pieces and said they were not used. “I wanted to say, ‘your Mom thought they were perfect,’” says Patrick. “Of course, I didn’t, and cheerfully refunded her money. I have a feeling she used the pieces for her special day and then brought them back.”

Gallery owners like Patrick routinely invest their courtesy and patience in these difficult customers as they do all visitors to their stores. “I can only hope [they’ll] be back as a result,” says Patrick.

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