On a Saturday a few years back, I was doing some home repairs and needed a specific type of bolt. I went to Ernst Hardware, a regional chain that had been in business in the Puget Sound area for more than 100 years.
The nearest store was conveniently located at a nearby mall and had a large selection of merchandise. When I went there they had a huge array of nuts and bolts so I needed a customer service person to help me find exactly the right one. That created a problem for me. I walked all the aisles looking for a customer service person and there were none. I walked to the front register area and the lone cashier told me he couldn’t leave the register and the only other customer service person who might be able to help me was in the rear loading area receiving an incoming shipment. (This in a big store with lots of other weekend do-it-yourselfers who, like me were cruising the aisles looking for help.)
I gave up in frustration and drove several miles to a neighborhood, much smaller Ace Hardware store. On entering, I was greeted by a squad of red-vested customer service people and asked what I needed. Even though I only needed a single bolt this time, I was personally escorted to the correct section and the customer service person picked out the item I needed. He asked me if there was anything else I needed and directed me to the weekly sale flyer. Being a homeowner, I spotted some other items I needed and purchased them also. All of these same items were more expensive at the Ace store but I was willing to pay more for good customer service.
A few years later, the Ernst Hardware chain closed its doors; citing competition from the big box hardware stores as the reason it was going out of business.
They didn’t go out of business because of competition from the big boys…they went out of business because when revenues fell; they cut back on customer service. If the Ernst executives had paid a visit to the same Ace store and had also experienced great customer service, maybe they’d still be in business today.
