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Every jewelry store of the gold and diamonds and stuff variety in the local mall is located across from another jewelry store. Gordon's across from Kay's, Ben Bridge across from Zales, Harry Ritchie's across from Fred Meyer, Weisfield across from Crescent. Without fail; if you stand in front of one store and turn to face away from it, you'll see another.
I am currently eating a boca burger. They're goood.
Visiting these stores for a price check (except Weisfield whose price I knew, and Crescent whom I was too tired to bother with by the time I passed it) displays a stunning array of customer service. One store had a nervous little middle aged woman who had the handshake of a dead fish, repeatedly called me by my first name as if we were bestest friends ever, and seemed desperate to make a sale.
One had a young girl who was pleasant to talk with; she asked for my name but didn't overuse it, told me about their lifetime jewelry service, and recommended we get small cheap rings to start with, as 'training rings' to get used to wearing them (on one hand, good advice; on the other, more commission for her).
One store had a sale, and the girl that noticed me after a couple minutes responded to my price check by asking what my range was, upon which I pointed to the rings right under her nose and said I wanted to know what those particular ones cost. She couldn't find the exact thing I wanted, seemed to have her mind elsewhere while attending me and actually ran off to do something else while still talking with me.
One woman, upon my mentioning that I didn't care for diamond rings, asked what my birthstone was (which did give me a chance to display my Australian superior knowledge of opals).
The second most off-putting one (after the dead fish handshake) was a guy who wore three giant gold rings, had 'been in the business for 40 years and knew nobody would be better suited to get me exactly what I wanted than his store', waxed lyrical about their stock and how the diamonds on display were only a small example of what they had, how their prices were adjusted to bulk gold prices and how if I asked for him when I came back, he could get me 10% off the store price. For all this, his store could not do the engraving for us (but he did know a good engraving store in town!) AND his store did not have the type of ring I requested in stock in any size or width at all. Nor could they give me an exact quote without asking their NYC retailer (who had closed for the weekend by then) and thus could only give me a guesstimate. 40 years should have told you to show, not tell, mister!
As it is, we won't be shopping with any of the above, nor with JC Penney, who did have ok prices and pretty good, non pushy customer service but inflexible sizing, few examples of what we want, and could not do the engraving. (They circumvented the jewel store rule by their department store-ness.)
We found a jewelry store a few blocks from the mall, with several large displays. We were attended by a polite man who, upon hearing our request, immediately went to a safe and got out an entire tray of the rings we wanted to look at, in a variety of widths. He didn't offer his name till he was asked, answered everything we asked, let us try on multiple rings in an attempt to find the best fit for us non ring people (a task indeed!), demonstrated the different prices and was genuinely helpful in addition to offering interesting banter.
While it would cost us half as much to just order rings online, we'd be left trusting faceless strangers and the postage services, and wouldn't even really know the fit and feel before we bought.
Ring buying is scary business.
In other events: On our way to town in the morning, we saw a ring around the sun and some polarized clouds, both caused by ice crystals in the higher atmosphere.
I am currently eating a boca burger. They're goood.
Visiting these stores for a price check (except Weisfield whose price I knew, and Crescent whom I was too tired to bother with by the time I passed it) displays a stunning array of customer service. One store had a nervous little middle aged woman who had the handshake of a dead fish, repeatedly called me by my first name as if we were bestest friends ever, and seemed desperate to make a sale.
One had a young girl who was pleasant to talk with; she asked for my name but didn't overuse it, told me about their lifetime jewelry service, and recommended we get small cheap rings to start with, as 'training rings' to get used to wearing them (on one hand, good advice; on the other, more commission for her).
One store had a sale, and the girl that noticed me after a couple minutes responded to my price check by asking what my range was, upon which I pointed to the rings right under her nose and said I wanted to know what those particular ones cost. She couldn't find the exact thing I wanted, seemed to have her mind elsewhere while attending me and actually ran off to do something else while still talking with me.
One woman, upon my mentioning that I didn't care for diamond rings, asked what my birthstone was (which did give me a chance to display my Australian superior knowledge of opals).
The second most off-putting one (after the dead fish handshake) was a guy who wore three giant gold rings, had 'been in the business for 40 years and knew nobody would be better suited to get me exactly what I wanted than his store', waxed lyrical about their stock and how the diamonds on display were only a small example of what they had, how their prices were adjusted to bulk gold prices and how if I asked for him when I came back, he could get me 10% off the store price. For all this, his store could not do the engraving for us (but he did know a good engraving store in town!) AND his store did not have the type of ring I requested in stock in any size or width at all. Nor could they give me an exact quote without asking their NYC retailer (who had closed for the weekend by then) and thus could only give me a guesstimate. 40 years should have told you to show, not tell, mister!
As it is, we won't be shopping with any of the above, nor with JC Penney, who did have ok prices and pretty good, non pushy customer service but inflexible sizing, few examples of what we want, and could not do the engraving. (They circumvented the jewel store rule by their department store-ness.)
We found a jewelry store a few blocks from the mall, with several large displays. We were attended by a polite man who, upon hearing our request, immediately went to a safe and got out an entire tray of the rings we wanted to look at, in a variety of widths. He didn't offer his name till he was asked, answered everything we asked, let us try on multiple rings in an attempt to find the best fit for us non ring people (a task indeed!), demonstrated the different prices and was genuinely helpful in addition to offering interesting banter.
While it would cost us half as much to just order rings online, we'd be left trusting faceless strangers and the postage services, and wouldn't even really know the fit and feel before we bought.
Ring buying is scary business.
In other events: On our way to town in the morning, we saw a ring around the sun and some polarized clouds, both caused by ice crystals in the higher atmosphere.
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