This family owned supplier has a fifty five store chain of stores and showrooms in the Northwest…read moreand West specializing in plumbing products of all kinds for kitchens and baths. Keller's spacious, well organized and bright showroom in an industrial area on Bend's eastside is a great place to shop for those products in many price points, as example from Moen to Grohe to Jado in faucets, and specializing in Kohler for bath fixtures but with others, like Toto, in the mix too. They really do have everything including the proverbial kitchen sink in plumbing fixtures of all kinds.
When we were selecting plumbing fixtures for our home a few years back, we spent time in Keller's showroom. When I popped in yesterday for the first time in several years I also remembered how helpful and knowledgeable are the friendly folks who work there. It is a pleasure to find people who actually know the feature - functions of the product lines they are selling.
It is probably easiest to introduce you to Keller's inside showroom sales guy, Tom, and let him do the talking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYlfAU511l0. He was away yesterday so I worked with one of the outside guys, Ray, who was equally as helpful.
I'm currently looking for hardware for custom furniture and finding samples of hardware in our little city, outside of Home Depot kind of brands, is tough to do. Keller has a small selection of cabinet hardware sample boards of middle range to upper middle range in price point and of high quality. Very helpful to see those samples for things my hubby and I had been looking at on line. And as is always the case at Keller, it is delightful to work with sales staff who can do more than just point you to product displays in the store, but who really can answer questions. Hooray!
BUY LOCAL SPEECH:
Perhaps in inverse to many buyers, my hubby and I prefer to browse globally but buy locally. We orient ourselves through online images and information, then go try to find a local company that sells what we're looking for.
Given Keller is willing to make the investment to have samples on premises for customers to see (it is an investment for retailers to maintain physical sample displays), the comfort of using the showroom and the quality of service we received we'll buy our hardware from Keller. And, yes, we'll pay a couple of bucks more for it all over what it would cost through a non bricks and mortar vendor on line. But my hubby and I think if you believe in buying local, as we do, you also have to put your money where your mouth is. In return, we expect the great service like we received at Keller and fair pricing. But bricks and mortar stores have overhead costs the on-line retailers do not. If you want them to stick around, local stores, you've got to use them or you will lose them. Just sayin'.
THIS N THAT:
1.OPEN EARLY: Open at 8a.m.! Great for we early birds and if you go in that early, as I did yesterday, the store is pretty empty of home shoppers with only the occasional building professional coming in to pick up an order.
2. APPOINTMENTS: Perhaps the only drawback of Keller is that they do have a limited staff on premises. If you're looking for fixtures to do an entire house, as was a woman who came in yesterday, they take appointments for providing dedicated attention and it is best to make an appointment.
3.PARKING & ACCESSIBILITY: Ample parking in an associated paved lot, including accessible (aka ADA) parking. Accessible throughout with lots of space between product displays. Big applause for the fact that the seating at the well lit customer counter for laying out plans and looking through product binders is at universal seating table height and not bar height
