Persons of color: be warned-- if you'd like a pleasant shopping experience shopping in Cold Spring, you'd be better served at any number of other stores in the area. This is my second time visiting this store in one year, and although I hesitated to write this review and wondered if my experience was unique, after reading several reviews and finding others experiencing the same thing, I thought I'd throw my two cents in.
The store should be commended for its thoughtful sourcing and displaying of excellent products, many of which highlight local makers. The service, however, leaves much to be desired. I walked in this past Sunday on a very busy Sunday morning and took my time looking through the products both in the front and back of the store, and (as was the case the first time I visited)-- noticed that the owner/manager seemed to very enthusiastically welcome all non-minority individuals with a "good morning, welcome, how are you doing today, etc etc."-- but failed to do that for any minority-presenting customers, black, brown, or others, for over 20 minutes. I was not, thankfully, followed around like I was the first time I was in the store, but attribute this to the amount of customers present in the store.
I've looked at Google and Yelp reviews and notice the owner putting in a lot of time to trying to dispel customers' experiences which is both not constructive and also patronizing/dismissive if nothing is done over time to address this group of customers' complaints. In the amount of time the owner will likely time to dissect and respond to this review, they could instead 1) educate themselves on the minority shopping experience (try reading "Shopping While Black" by George E. Higgins and Shaun Gabbidon) and/or 2) implement some very easy/practical strategies to address these complaints, which may include: a) stationing someone at the front of the store who instead of selecting a few choice customers to follow around and intimidate, devotes a good deal of their time to greeting every customer that comes in with a warm welcome and letting them know there's an additional floor above or any specials they're having 2) letting everyone know to *** "Please let us know if you have any questions!*** instead of following them around like a ball and chain. I've seen the owner address these complaints by saying that this (ball and chain) is a tactic that has been warmly received by the community and that contributes to a feeling of good customer service, but this has been disproven by the feedback and reviews, so....? If letting the customer know that employees are there to help them is the priority, why not articulate that directly and let the customer browse on their own terms instead of continuing to blindly follow the same practices that distances and makes uncomfortable a large group of your customer base?
So, persons of color: beware, go in here for gifting inspiration (and maybe do as I did and note the title of a cookbook, march right across the street to the neighborhood bookstore and gave those lovely welcoming folks my dollars instead)-- but don't expect to go in here and have a fun shopping experience. read more