Browsing Fee

I can see where this lady's coming from but d'you think it will help her business?


[A SPECIALITY grocery store owner is charging customers to browse after becoming fed up with people who enquire but don't buy.
Owner of the gluten free produce store, Georgina, says she resorted to putting up the sign after spending hours each week giving advice to people who leave empty-handed.

About 60 people a week would go into the store, ask questions and then buy the same or similar product at a supermarket chain or online.]


["I've had a gut full of working and not getting paid,'' Georgina,
"I can tell straight away who are the rat bags who are going to come in here and pick my brain and disappear,'' she said.]

Re: Browsing Fee

It will not help her business.

All of us are guilty of browsing and picking the brains of staff regarding products we are interested in.

Armed with all this extra knowledge we go and order it on line at a cheaper cost.

C'est la vie
.

Re: Browsing Fee

["I've had a gut full of working and not getting paid,'' Georgina,
"I can tell straight away who are the rat bags who are going to come in here and pick my brain and disappear,'' she said.]

No I don't think it would help her business. Judging by her attitude it sounds as if she is digging a big hole for herself and her business. Would you shop there if someone referred to their potential customers as "ratbags" I would think it soon becomes apparent how little regard she actually has for anyone who visits her shop.

Re: Browsing Fee

I should think her business will close very soon.

Re: Browsing Fee

With that attitude she won't be in business much longer. She should be honing her sales skills and persuading people to buy !

Re: Browsing Fee

Yes I know but I must admit there's a store at our local mall which is not a big name brand but sells okay clothes and they're always having sales so I go in there when stuff is full price, try various things on for size, look etc and go back when the sales are on and just quickly buy cheap what I've already picked out.
Also , the OP 's shop is a speciality shop and she has a mass of knowledge about the gluten free and health products she sells so it must be frustrating to be able to advise folk on what would suit them only for the same folk to just go and pick it from a s'market shelf

Re: Browsing Fee

On the same topic too, some of the expensive stores here like David Jones , Myers etc are trying to charge a fitting room fee as they think that folk are trying on brand name bra's , swimsuits etc for size and then ordering them online straight from the manufacturer in China at quarter of the price ,what d'you reckon?> if you had a business to run how would you feel about it?

Re: Browsing Fee

Money is tight for a lot of people so it stands to reason they want the most they can get for their money.

The owner of that shop has the wrong attitude and the ratbags she refers to have done nothing wrong.

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I can understand the lady's frustration having been in the same position myself but you have to grin and bear it.

The first bank holiday in my Antique shop saw about 400 browsers and just one sale at £4.00

In my second shop an old man after browsing appreciatively, sat down for a chat, he very kindly told me that there was a lot of interest in these old things and that I should be selling them, that way I could make lots of money.

My polite but rather tight lipped reply was "I know, that is why I have price tickets on everything"

Loads more stories in a similar vein

Who saw the episode of 'Black Books' where Dylan Moran chased his customers out of the shop saying 'Get out you time wasting b******ds' ? I bet a lot of shop keepers related to that

Re: Browsing Fee

People browse all the time in all kinds of shops, even charity shops. I had a baby wear shop and mums came in to show off their babies as much as anything else. Part of the course.