Get Well Curve

There is a peculiar variety of retailing in New York City. This is where sales people are actively involved in an anti-sales approach. I'm not talking about ignoring customers. I refer to a sales person who actually argues with a customer, preferring that they buy nothing rather than buying a product they do not consider worthy of consideration, even if they stock it.

As a long-time resident, I have become used to this flavor of arrogance which can be found in certain businesses, particularly ones in a highly specialized niche market, often with high-end products.

Welcome to Bicycle Habitat at 244 Lafayette Street in SoHo, a store where bike aficianados both shop and work. Complaints here range from being ignored (with sales people chatting among themselves, an all too common scenario these days) to outright rudeness. My experience there on one occasion is illustrative.

I was interested in a Dahon folding bike. Bicycle Habitat was a dealer for Dahon at the time, but there were none on display. When I asked the salesman, who, judging by his attire, was a serious bicyclist, whether I could see one, he said if I really insisted, he could go downstairs and get one. However, he was quite reluctant and instead asked why I would want to spend money on a folding bike when I could buy a "real" bike for the same money? I answered that I had a "real" bike in storage which I never used and that if I had a folding bike, I could store it in my home and actually use it. The conversation ended here - there was apparently no use in him discussing the matter further with someone willing to compromise.

A review site I visited shows 21 reviews for this shop. The distribution of 1 to 5 star reviews is an almost perfect inverted bell curve or well curve. Startling, isn't it? Service here is typically experienced by the customer as great or horrific, with virtually no middle ground.
The secret to a shopping in a place like Bicycle Habitat is to be knowledgeable about the products and on the same page as the staff. These are the customers that have positive experiences.

Is it worth the trouble dealing with a place like this? Often, a customer has no choice, where the vendor is virtually the only one of its type, like Canal Rubber. We have specialty stores here that exist nowhere else and where often, the staff is extraordinary in their knowledge and expertise. Customers are very appreciative that such a place exists at all.

Not every business with a dominance or captive audience abuses the privilege. Places like B&H Photo treat customers very well in spite of their virtual hegemony in their retail niche.
But for some, the get well curve even in recessionary times appears to be based on the philosophy there's no business like no business :)