We’ll Stay true to you wherever we are

We learned customer service growing up on L.L. Bean.

The final customer at our Hershey store arrived just minutes before we turned the lights off in the Milk House for the final time.

He wasn’t a buyer. He arrived with one of our Avenues of Hershey tees, a gift to his wife that she wished to exchange for a different design in a smaller size.

The man, apparently in the company of a granddaughter, was a Hershey native visiting from Buffalo, N.Y. Our shelves were largely empty as I had already packed for the next day’s opening of Market on Chocolate in downtown Hershey.

He quickly settled on our The Chocolate Town Tee as a more suitable option, which he confirmed with his wife via video chat.

I made the exchange without requiring a receipt. I have no idea when the original purchase occurred or even by whom.

It’s more important that our customers are satisfied, so we take a no-questions-asked approach.

Too few to mention

I grew up in Maine, a couple of towns over from L.L. Bean. Back before Bean lost its way (that is, largely abandoned American-made products and opened stores willy nilly to the diminishment of its Freeport, Maine mecca), it had an ironclad commitment to do right by customers. Products came with a lifetime warranty (today it’s one year, still better than most.)

Did some customers abuse the earlier policy? Of course. But probably not that many. It’s like Sinatra with regrets: Yeah, he had a few, but then again too few to mention.

That’s our story. We’ve had a small number of returns or, more likely, exchanges, in our nearly nine-year history. A hem unraveling. An errant piece of thread inadvertently screen printed. Maybe it just didn’t fit.

Not one of the customers was trying to pull a fast one. Each one had a legitimate problem that I was obligated to resolve. A customer’s hard-earned money is not something I trifle with.

I’ve never felt that someone was taking advantage of us. We offer a great product at a fair price. People seem to appreciate that.

Might someone try to take advantage of us? Maybe, but if our business is consequentially affected by a handful of returns/exchanges each year, then we don’t have a chance.

I’ll never lose faith in American workers or American consumers. Most people are good and deserve to be treated as such. That was our belief in Hershey as it will be in E-Town, and it’s the same if we’re at a pop-up market or selling online.

We’ll Stay true wherever you find us.