Poor retailer experience.

[PaulF]

I think it's important to pass along retailer experiences, both positive and negative, to my fellow wine lovers. Here is a negative one.

I was in Springfield, MA last Friday visiting relatives. On the way back East we stopped at Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge, MA. I've been there before and they carry a very large stock of wines that I sometimes can't find locally. It was 8:40 when we stopped and I noted that the door said their Friday hours were until 10:00 so I had time to browse.

I had been in the store for 10 minutes when a voice came over the intercom saying that the store was closing in 5 minutes. I thought that perhaps I had read the hours incorrectly. I had wine in my carriage and so I headed to the registers. There were 3 registers manned by people and the store was empty save for myself and my wife. I stopped at the first register which was manned by a woman who was speaking to another woman at the next register. They were going over the store procedure to close a register.

I unloaded the bottles I had picked up and waited for the 2 woman to finish their conversation. After what I guess to be 2 or 3 minutes of conversation, the woman at the register turns her attention to me and says, "I'm sorry but I'm closed." I also knew from their conversation that the next register was now closed. My immediate response was, "Couldn't you have told me that before I unloaded my entire carriage?" To which she replied with a laugh, "Well yes, I could have."

I was a bit taken aback and at this I simply walked out of the store. On Saturday morning I checked the store website and the Friday hours are indeed listed as Friday - 9:00 a.m. to 10:00p.m.

I contacted the store manager by email and relayed the above narrative with the additional comment that I don't need to do business with retailers that treat their customers like this.

It's now the following Friday and I have heard nothing from the store. I will not do business with them again.