On a fine, sunny Seattle afternoon, pleasantly full from a delicious meal at Quinn's (ah, more about Quinn's in another post), my significant other and I headed down to Georgetown for some shopping - specifically, we intended to shop at 24 Karat, a small shop located 1226 South Bailey Street, Seattle, WA phone number 206-618-3731. Although the shop was first closed when we arrived, the sign was out front, and a hand written notice on the door stated "back at 3, call my cell phone". We duly called, were informed that the owner was heading back in 20 minutes, to which we replied we'd hang about the neighborhood, and meet him upon his return. We perused other shops in the neighborhood, and actually took closer to an hour to get back to the shop - still no one there. We called again, "ah, I will be at least another 15 minutes, I did try to call your number" (which he did, had it set to vibrate, which, once if fell to the depths of my bag, I did not feel). In short order, another customer(?) shows up, as does, finally Brigh, the owner, his dog Lucy in the back seat of his car. Brigh gets out, greets the other customer (who, it is soon revealed, is someone who provides Brigh with a fair amount of his inventory), and unlocks the door, allowing us, finally, into the inner sanctum sanctorum. (Charming story so far, no? Local propietor, small furry animal, a sun-dappled, lazy Saturday afternoon...)
A little back story here - we'd been in several times previously, had chatted with Brigh, and found that his style, and love of well-crafted, older pieces, was quite similar to our own. We also found him personally to be somewhat "too, too fabulous, darling", however, to each his own, and how boring the world would be if we all acted alike. In the course of these previous excursions, we'd seen a pair of chairs that we liked (see picture). They are regency chairs, recovered in vintage fabric, down cushions, quite lovely and extremely comfortable. The story of their provenance has varied each time we've been in - during our latest foray, they are from a set of 6 chairs that were purchased and redone, 4 going to "clients in CA".
Now here's the rub - the chairs, when the price was asked, were stated to be "$2,400 for the pair". When asked if the price was negotiable (which is quite de rigour in the various antique and vintage establishments we've been in), Brigh launched into his story about the chairs being part of the set of six, 4, remember, already going to those clients in CA, recovered, vintage fabric, he was probably already in for $2,000, so, no, not negotiable. This we could get, and understand - I've recovered a number of pieces myself, and it is not cheap.
However...Brigh then asked us if we had just started looking - if we were looking for new, there was a place right across the street that carried some pieces (said place carries overstock items - essentially an "odd lots") - two snaps, Brigh.
Questions were then asked about another pair of chairs, which would need to be recovered - these were part of a set of 8, six of which had gone to clients in CA (all of these clients must have vast spaces, as none of these pieces are tiny). At this point, I asked if he was able to obtain stock from hotels (where else does one find such volumes of the exact same armchair) - the look he gave me was priceless - somewhere between "have you found my secret" and "well, I never".
Here's the thing, Brigh, had you treated us with a little more respect, we were ready to walk out that day with those chairs - we would have paid the $2,400. You committed the cardinal sin of shop keeping, which is to underestimate thy customer. You forget you'd talked to us before about how you love to mix pieces (with which we totally agree), and that you love to get your pieces from older couples, who have had these pieces for years (and kept in often mint condition) - what was unsaid is that these older couples, particularly those with mid-century and deco pieces, often let these little treasures go for a song. When you told us that, I had a vision of some little old lady in Tukwilla letting you drive off with her garage full of mid-century Eames, while you left her standing with $200.
Don't get me wrong - 24 Karat has some interesting pieces, and I do like Brigh's overall design philosophy. What I don't like (in fact, I despise, and will NOT be spending my money there, as there are many more places in the area whose shop keepers are not quite so preciously pretentious) is that Brigh thinks he's smarter than his customer - maybe he is, but who walked away with $2400 in their pocket yesterday - and who still has the option of finding other great treasures? Chartreuse awaits!
So I end this post with my design philosophy - 24 Karat is actually the softest type of gold to work with, and frankly, looks rather tacky. I prefer platinum, a much weightier, and more durable, metal.
No comments:
Post a Comment