More for Less?

Does the American consumer want to be lied to?

This is a serious question, though it would seem at first glance that the answer is obviously "No way!".  We want truth in advertising, we want to know for sure what's in our food, we want to know what to expect from the products we buy.

So why do we fall for offers of 60% or 75% off furniture, rugs, appliances, business suits and just about everything else?  Why do we think we can get two suits free when we buy one at the regular price?  What's up when the marked price of soda pop is ostensibly competitive, but you can get three 12-packs free when you buy two?

A business associate of mine recently said with both the conviction and despair that come from bitter experience, "I guess people just want to be lied to."  And so there are those in the home furnishings business who shout about deep discounts on furniture every day.  More furniture for less!

If you want to be lied to and want to believe the lie, straight-faced swindlers are seldom in short supply and are eager to be "your friend."  You'll never hear that language from Port Madison Home.  We work hard to be certain our prices are honest, fair and competitive and we guarantee the low price every day on the things we sell and, yes, we occasionally mark prices down to liquidate goods that apparently didn't just excite our customers.  We offer only quality merchandise and never mark it up high enough to permit those ridiculously deep daily discounts you hear in high decibels with multiple exclamation marks.

Think local, buy local and retain the lifestyle we enjoy here for the next generations.

$50 Parking Fines?

Our Mayor and City Council seem determined to put our downtown out of business.  After three years of the most difficult economy since the Great Depression and now, when faced with the specter of Winslow Way main street dug deep with trenches and piled high with dirt and asphalt, do they really think it prudent to raise parking fines from $20 to $50?  This strikes us as one more obstacle deliberately placed in the way of recovery.

Mayor Scales was quoted as saying “Parking tickets may go down if people stop violating parking (rules), and hopefully it has that effect.”  If he were not away from the island at his job on the other side of the Sound most days, he might know that a shortage of parking is not a problem we’ve had recently.  The effect he hopes for is a near certainty, because after their first ticket people will simply stay away and our commercial center will take another hit.

Already we have a parking enforcement officer issuing citations right up to and after 6 pm for overstaying the limit in spite of an abundance of unoccupied parking spaces.  Now, because the City is broke, should we hire an additional officer to more efficiently nail both our local citizens and visitors who have the temerity to spend more than 2 hours in our downtown?

Our merchants have plenty of competition in Seattle, on the web and at the big box stores with big paved free parking lots.  At a time when everyone else is thinking sustainability, our City Council is happy to drive people out and compel them to drive to a more welcoming emporium owned by investors who live very far away and care not a whit about this community.

Post Script, April 2011
The city council changed the time limit on our main street, Winslow Way (but not on other downtown streets), from 2 hours to 3 hours and retained the $50 fine.  We think this is an incomplete solution.

Tell Bainbridge Merchants What You Want

Substantive merchant cooperation is difficult to achieve on Winslow Way.  While the following are practices that typically set individual merchants apart from others, we think that, to sustain the kind of neighborhood commerce we've enjoyed for many years, Island merchants must think of their downtown as a single shopping destination, and in so doing, make it our population's favorite.  Here are some practices we'd like to see Bainbridge merchants adopt in common:

Uniform Retail Open Hours 
Shoppers must be able to rely on businesses being open when they’re ready to shop.  If they have to remember every store’s open hours or go out of their way to find out if a particular store is open, they simply won’t bother and will go where they have confidence that their destination is open for business.   Ferry commuters routinely shop in Seattle because so many Winslow Way stores are closed when they arrive on the Island after work.

Low Price Guarantee
Under a low price guarantee, the merchants do their best to assure  their prices are competitive or lower than the competition's in brick and mortar stores, online sites and catalogs.  But because it’s impossible to keep up with all the prices being offered out there, a 30-day guarantee gives our customers confidence.  Here's ours:

“If, within 30 days of your purchase, you find the identical product offered by a nearby authorized dealer under the same terms and conditions and at a similar level of service and warranty at a lower     price, we’ll confirm the offered price, terms and conditions and happily refund the difference.”

Customer Service Training
Every place of business should actively greet and welcome guests and make them at ease shopping and asking questions.  Product knowledge and demonstrated helpful attitudes go a very long way.

Merchandise Return Practice
Returns should be accepted on full-price purchases within a period of time reasonable to both the customer and the merchant.  The merchant is free to sell at final sale/no return terms on special orders (goods not from store inventory), when liquidating merchandise at deep discounts or making other special offers at unusually low prices.

Satisfaction Guarantee
Merchants need to care enough to take care of problems, if/when they arise, to the customer’s satisfaction.  This may mean bending the normal rules.

Home delivery service
Delivery of purchases large or small will make it possible for customers to buy when they have no capacity to get the goods home or when they simply can’t carry them due to time constraints or other burdens. Those merchants who have no delivery vehicle can contract with those who do.  This must be available without fear of customer “kidnapping.”

PLEASE TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!

Downtown Parking

How often have you circled our downtown and given up, unable to find a parking space in satisfactory proximity to your destination? We've lived here 27 years and have never been shut out, but parking can at times be a challenge.

In 1995 the City of Bainbridge Island, eager to avoid building a parking garage at a cost of millions, designated three city-owned parking areas for downtown employees whose cars display permits issued under a program administered by the Chamber of Commerce and paid for by merchants. The program has worked beautifully for 15 years.

We try to pay our people a rewarding amount and share profits when we have them, but most downtown hourly employees are working for a wage not far from this state's minimum. Many of them live somewhere other than Bainbridge Island, public transportation only runs at peak ferry commute hours and bicycle travel is only occasionally suitable for well-dressed workers, so they drive cars to work, presently about 170 of them, but not all at once. If all these cars were parked on the street, there would be precious few spaces left for shoppers.

Now some members of the City Council think this constitutes a "gift of public funds for private purposes." To the extent that this program helps preserve our downtown as a viable local hub of commerce and community activity, we believe it to be a legitimate public purpose. Usually we think of sustainability in terms of earth, air and water. We hope the City Council will also consider continuing this minor but beneficial investment in economic and community sustainability.

Many downtown businesses have recently failed under the pressure of withering competition by mega-marketers, internet commerce and the beating endured under the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Many survivors are hanging on by their fingernails. We encourage local government to acknowledge that our community life, including the substantial value of neighbors doing business with neighbors, is a matter of public stewardship.

$398 Leather Recliners?

Port Madison Home offers home furnishings mostly in the middle to upper middle range of quality and price. When you pay more, you can expect more. When you pay less, you can adjust your expectations accordingly. Seems like a mature viewpoint. Most of us have learned by now that if you expect to have your cake and eat it too, you're headed for disappointment and resentment.

But there are those that blatantly tell us, "don't pay more -- just get more!" Doubtless you see the same full-page ads we see in the newspapers for $398 leather recliners and $598 leather sectional sofas. More furniture for less! Why wouldn't everyone buy one? And why doesn't Port Madison Home offer them?

And how about those ubiquitous imported shiny espresso "leather" chairs, sofas and benches sold at A____, P_____ B___ and elsewhere for what seem like bargain prices?

It's a truism that nearly all furniture looks good when it's new (if you like shiny brown reconstituted leather or those giant folds that typify so many recliners and put us in mind of Jabba the Hut). And in times like these, a sweet price can be compelling.

But does it bother you that those cheap leathers from China come from some environmentally nasty processing plants or that the shiny espresso finish betrays multiple layers of petroleum-based coatings that turn that cheap leather into something barely resembling leather?

Likewise, many of those heavy rustic tables and cabinets are made of solid wood that's not kiln dried, so downline you can expect them to twist and split, sometimes in a sudden and almost violent way.

Now, the fact that furniture is made in China, Vietnam, Thailand or Central or South America doesn't necessarily mean its quality is inferior. In fact, many American and European companies are manufacturing off shore at a high level of quality of design and materials and are using responsible finishes. They're doing this because labor costs there are much lower than here and because the quality many of us demand just can't be achieved here at prices we're prepared to pay.

Furniture crafted by Americans in America of sustainable American materials will cost more than that made in Asia or Central or South America. If those values are important to you, plan to pay the price and spare the space in the landfill.

Please let us know what you think.

Roomers Abound

Maybe you've heard the rumor that a high end clothing store will be moving into our building soon, displacing Port Madison Home. Or maybe you've actually passed on that same juicy story. This tale is about a year old and seems to be making the rounds again.

Let me be clear. This is a false rumor started by our landlord.

(That was a joke. Just kidding.)

There's no truth to this rumor whatsoever. We plan to be among those still standing when the end of the recent economic recession becomes evident and we all breathe a little easier and with less fear.

So if you hear that we're down for the count and will soon be selling designer jeans, please crush the story like a bug on the sidewalk. Instead, spread the rumor (this one's true) that Port Madison Home offers quality home furnishings within reach of families. Then come in and see what's new.

Here's another rumor you can start now and bet your reputation on: We're working hard to find and bring to our community new, unique, high quality gift ideas in addition to great furniture and useful things that help you enjoy your home. We're eager to hear your own ideas. Stay tuned...

Please let us know what you think.

Sustainability of Bainbridge Island Business

"Sustainability" is frequently associated with preservation of earth, water and the air we breathe. But there's another kind of sustainability we should be considering.

First, a story...

Last weekend a gentleman came into the store and expressed substantial interest in our very popular McKenzie storage bed and associated dressers, nightstands and media consoles. He had just missed the end of our recent sale period, but nevertheless wanted to take advantage of sale prices. We're happy to do this. But there's more.

Said he to our capable sales associate, "Can I make an offer? It doesn't make much sense to pay full price in this economy, does it? Why, I've been buying furniture and other things in Seattle at 40 and 60 percent off!" Our sales associate responded with a smile and asked, "Oh, and was anyone still working there?" His reply: "No, there was hardly anyone there at all!"

We're not sure he got the message, but it was clear that he cared not a whit whether or not his neighbors remained employed so long as he got a deal he could crow about.

We all want the most value we can get for our hard earned dollars and Port Madison Home routinely guarantees the low price. But when you see merchants offering deep discounts, you can be sure they're not making the money they need to pay their employees, the rent, the utilities and all the other things that keep the wheels of commerce turning and still have something left to take home or to plow back into the business. They're simply trying to get back the money they invested in the inventory. And if the discounts are super-deep store-wide, you can bet the store is in danger of going dark soon and all those people who once brought home the bacon will be looking for work, if they're not already. Those people are your neighbors and mine.

Sustaining the kind of life we love here on Bainbridge Island depends, especially in these times, upon you and me doing business with our neighbors, the people who own and operate and who work in the shops that contribute to the lifestyle we came here for in the first place.

Here are some interesting and not trivial facts that tell the story.

Please let us know what you think about this.