Stitches East is GASTHLY!

As I mentioned earlier, I hoped to visit several local yarn shops during my trip. Yesterday, following a rather busy day, I caught a cab over to Stitches East, (55 E 52ND St) the closest yarn shop to my hotel. I arrived at my destination to find the shop was in a beautiful, glass-covered high rise building. The shop itself was nestled between a haute couture dry cleaners and a haute couture clothiers.

The store itself was not that large. No bigger that a standard-sized hotel suite. As for the yarn, the store had one wall of cubes, about a 1/4th of the stock of the stores I regularly visit in Minnesota (Needlework and Borealis) and those stores actually have a greater variety and frankly better quality.

But what REALLY set this place apart was the customer service. I was in the store for about five minutes and was completely ignored. There was only one other person in the store.
I walked back and forth three times, in front of and behind of the sales person. Nope... nothing... Not a word.

Then I went and stood in front of her and she finally said something, "We close at six." and walked away. Now I was stunned, AND getting irritated.

I milled about for another minute touching overly priced yarn in the 12 wall bins, thinking that she would get to me when she finished with the other lady. Then she said "You gonna buy somethin?"

Now anyone that knows me knows that I am generally a good customer in a yarn store, but this is one thing I really can't tolerate. There is rarely an excuse for poor customer service and this was not one of them. I came across the country to by yarn that I did not need and I was treated like Oliver Twist asking for more porridge!

Lets face it, as much as we like to think it is, yarn and knitting notions are not a necessity ( I know, how dare I say such a thing!) but it is true. We dont have to buy it. Most of us spend our money on it because we love the craft and the community. It is a fundamental part of how we express ourselves. But less face it, when money gets tight or when its really time to conserve funds, we can go without it.

So why would a retail outlet that sells a "luxury" item like premium yarn be intentionally rude to its core customers, the die hards who look for places to buy yarn where ever they are? I don't understand it. Moreover, other reviews online said this place had bad service. I was prepared for snooty, but not outright rude!

I plan to visit two other stores tomorrow. Here is hoping I have better luck there.

P.S. I'm not even going to warn others against visiting this shop. You would have to be an absolute MASOCHIST to want to pay someone to treat you this badly!

Eryka