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I'm working today, which actually isn't a bad thing - I'm enjoying myself. We were, however, visited by Mr. Sourpuss Customer. After asking if he could help me get his case of $12 wine from the warehouse, he proceeded to complain about the cost of said wine, and about our volume discount.
Now, a bit of background. We're the only hand-sell store in a fairly large radius. Hell, being a hand-sell store in the wine business is pretty rare, these days. We call our collection "curated," because it's treated like a gallery - we go hunting wines rather than just buy on the ratings. People come to us because they want recommendations, not because they're going to find Cupcake and Yellowtail (hint: we sell more interesting wines, for about the same money).
Mr. Sourpuss decided to lay into me for our pricing. First, berating me for how expensive the wine is (dude, that wine has been $12 since I sold it in BROOKLYN, THREE YEARS AGO), then telling me that we're really just an overpriced store, and we need some local competition to drive our prices down (we have competition - they're not competition. People are welcome to go shop there if they want plonk, we send customers there all the time). He finished up by comparing us to {Hipster Wine Store} in the city, which has a huge location, tons of storage, a snotty staff, and prices about equivalent to ours. Their staff is more likely to be Hipster Wine Geek than truly helpful, and their average bottle price is definitely higher than ours. But, according to Mr. Sourpuss, our wines are more expensive, our selection worse, and our staff not as knowledgeable.
He then paid for his case and carried it out to his car.
Now, a bit of background. We're the only hand-sell store in a fairly large radius. Hell, being a hand-sell store in the wine business is pretty rare, these days. We call our collection "curated," because it's treated like a gallery - we go hunting wines rather than just buy on the ratings. People come to us because they want recommendations, not because they're going to find Cupcake and Yellowtail (hint: we sell more interesting wines, for about the same money).
Mr. Sourpuss decided to lay into me for our pricing. First, berating me for how expensive the wine is (dude, that wine has been $12 since I sold it in BROOKLYN, THREE YEARS AGO), then telling me that we're really just an overpriced store, and we need some local competition to drive our prices down (we have competition - they're not competition. People are welcome to go shop there if they want plonk, we send customers there all the time). He finished up by comparing us to {Hipster Wine Store} in the city, which has a huge location, tons of storage, a snotty staff, and prices about equivalent to ours. Their staff is more likely to be Hipster Wine Geek than truly helpful, and their average bottle price is definitely higher than ours. But, according to Mr. Sourpuss, our wines are more expensive, our selection worse, and our staff not as knowledgeable.
He then paid for his case and carried it out to his car.
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