The Slice: REI gesture restores customer’s loyalty

Years ago, in addition to The Slice, I wrote a weekly column called “Being There.”

I would attend events or just hang out somewhere and then write about the experience.

In the spring of 1995, I did one based on a talk about backpacking and camping at REI. I remember that the REI staffer who gave the presentation was low-key but likable.

Now I’m not into backpacking and camping. But after moving to Spokane in the late ‘80s, I got into the habit of stopping by REI now and then just to look around. I liked how the place felt so Northwesty.

So, anyway, that column ran and I soon got a call from one of the program-presenter’s co-workers. He was angry, in an insufferable passive-aggressive style. He argued that my column treated that fellow in a dismissive way. He said the store was canceling its subscription to the paper. And on and on.

To this day, I would contend that my critic simply misunderstood one key passage. But whatever. Eventually I told this caller that I was tired of listening to him. My exact wording might have been less than diplomatic.

So he called the newspaper’s top editor. That led to the editor meeting with the store manager. As a show of support for me, the editor began that meeting by turning in his REI card and renouncing his membership.

Anyway, I found myself steering clear of the North Monroe store for years. It wasn’t an official boycott. Let’s just say my phone encounter with Mr. Passive Aggressive hadn’t left me in the mood to spend money there.

But eventually I found myself going back on occasion. It is, after all, a pretty neat store.

In early December, I went in and purchased a pair of these rubber things with small cleats that you pull over shoes. They’re great for walking on packed snow and ice.

By the middle of this month, I needed another pair. So last weekend, I went back to REI.

They no longer had my size in stock. The clerk helping me said they would have some more in just a few days. But he added that if I didn’t want to wait, he was pretty sure a store downtown called Runners Soul also carried them.

So, last week, I stopped by Runners Soul and a nice guy there had just what I needed.

The experience reminded me of “Miracle on 34th Street.” You know, when employees at one department store start referring customers to another store and soon goodwill breaks out all over.

Perhaps that REI clerk’s gesture was not simple helpfulness. Maybe it was 100 percent calculated to engender loyalty in me and make me want to shop at REI.

I have to say, it worked.

“Today’s Slice question: When was the last time an employee at Store A told you they were temporarily out of something but then added that you might find it at Store B?