big box 'club card' made me walk out! (store, membership, purchase)

[wutitiz]

I went into a 'Sports Authority' shop. It's a sporting goods chain here in the Seattle area. I don't know whether they are in other regions too, but I think it's fair to say that they dominate the sporting goods trade here.

There were plenty of clerks scurrying about asking me if I needed help, but only two cash registers open. I settled in for the wait, just happy that I had found exactly what I wanted. At one register, a man with limited English was haltingly giving out all of his personal info--name, address, email, etc--to the cashier. Obviously signing up for some kind of club card. It was taking forever and a day.

At my register, the cashier was struggling to find the membership number of his customer. The customer rattled off several phone numbers, and the cashier came up empty. Then he tried entering his name, and bingo.

I was next in line, but I was fed up. I dropped my purchase on the counter, and walked out of the store & down the street to a small local running shop called 'Running Elements' where I bought what I needed. There was no line and no club card signup. Next time I'm going there in the first place.

[Pitt Chick]

Small and local is the way to go.

[persnicketygal]

Buying local is good.
But once you realized the situation with the cashiers, you could have called a manager to ask him/her if you could be rung up.
I would have said that I don't have the card, I don't want the card, but I do want to make my purchase. And I would have also specifically made him or her realize that the alternative would be exactly what you did.
Sometimes, I think, managers can overlook the cashier stations' paces.

I hope you told the folks at the smaller store why you ended up there!

[Zenstyle]

I can't agree more with Pitt Chick. The big chain store does not need your money; the small, local shop does! And money spent there will likely stay in your community, to continue the cycle.
Local First | Why Local First