More Stores Buying Idea That Service Sells : Orange County Retailers Offer Everything From House Calls to Snack Bars to Extra Buttons

It was the sort of thing that doesn’t happen every day.

Pam Megonigal Duley was paying for two pairs of shoes at Bullock’s at South Coast Plaza when she noticed that the navy blue pair she was wearing needed some polish. Where could she get her shoes shined in the mall?

“The salesclerk couldn’t come up with anything,” Duley said. “So another guy behind the desk opened a brand-new container of shoe polish and polished my old pair,” she said. “Talk about service. It was great.”

Duley, a retail specialist with the commercial properties division of Grubb & Ellis in Newport Beach, is the sort of customer that virtually every retailer wants--a busy young professional with a family and more money than time.

To keep customers like her coming back, more retail outlets are bending over backward to provide customer service--everything from faxing shoppers’ mail to making their reservations for theater shows.

“Nordstrom was the forerunner. Now shoppers are demanding it,” said Lenhard P. Preszler of Huntington Beach. Preszler, who owns three strip shopping centers, attended the spring convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers last week in Las Vegas. Several of the sessions there focused on finding better ways to cater to customers, a matter of increasing concern in the competitive retail market.

Efforts at service one-upmanship have led retailers, for example, to advertise added toilets and to install two-way speakers in mall directories.

Saks Fifth Avenue at South Coast Plaza will serve preferred customers lunch and wine as they shop, and the store has even sent a gift-bearing Santa in a limousine to its best customers’ homes on Christmas Eve.

Amen Wardy, the exclusive women’s boutique at Newport Center Fashion Island, will dispatch a van full of designer apparel to its longtime customers, who can try the clothes on in the comfort and privacy of their own homes, then send back what they don’t want.

And Bullock’s at South Coast Plaza now employs a full-time concierge who keeps bus schedules, lists of local hotels and a stack of menus from better restaurants in the area.

Part of the increasing emphasis on service reflects the fact that consumers have noticed the extra attention and are saying they want even more.

“Customers are aware that they’re being courted,” said Maura Eggan, a spokeswoman for South Coast Plaza. “If it’s a case of the same or very similar merchandise, the customer will go to the store that gives them something extra.”

Intense Competition

And in an upscale center such as Fashion Island or South Coast Plaza--which vie for Orange County’s most affluent shoppers--the competition among stores can be intense.

That’s why the South Coast Plaza Bullock’s--situated only steps away from the service-oriented Nordstrom--has begun making extra efforts to spoil its shoppers. And the pampering is offered by employees at all levels.

Sue Graham, a group vice president with Bullock’s, told of overhearing two customers at the Costa Mesa store recently who were looking at a $380 sweater.

“One said: ‘This is just too expensive. I’ll buy it when they mark it down,’ ” Graham said.

“So I said, ‘Do you want us to call you?’ I wrote down her name and number, and when the sweater finally went on sale, I let her know. She couldn’t believe it (and) said, ‘Fine, send it out.’ ”

Hand-Addressed Notes

And the emphasis on service does not stop when the customer leaves the store. I. Magnin sales clerks send hand-addressed note cards referring to items customers have bought and offering further assistance.

And these days, more stores than ever are willing to make a refund on almost any item being returned, no matter how expensive, no questions asked.

“I’ve had customers come in with tinsel hanging off their trees the day after Christmas,” Lewis Skelton, a regional vice president with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., told participants at the Las Vegas trade show. “They can still get their money because we build a bond.”

Parisian, a Birmingham, Ala.-based department store chain known for its top-notch service, takes back furs “even when we’ve seen the person wear it on the weekend,” said Harold L. Abroms, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

That sort of service can pay off big. Parisian’s sales average better than $250 per square foot (a basic retail performance yardstick)--making it the No. 2 grossing chain nationwide among department stores.

No Returns

Not everyone agrees, however, that a generous return policy always leads to greater customer good will. The Forgotten Woman, a boutique chain that specializes in upscale apparel in larger sizes, is one retailer that will not take back merchandise. Ever.

“I don’t sell used goods,” Nancye Radmin, Forgotten Woman’s owner and founder, told a convention audience. “I wouldn’t want to wear someone else’s bathing suit. Would you?”

Some shoppers will try to abuse a return policy, she added. “I had a woman in Beverly Hills tell me her husband hated a dress--after I saw her photo in the newspaper wearing it,” Radmin said.

So Forgotten Woman puts its efforts into other niceties. The Fashion Island store in Newport Beach, like others in the chain, includes a “Sugar Daddy Bar” stocked with free coffee, tea and other goodies for the men accompanying shoppers at the store. “We even have portable blenders in some stores, now that everybody’s on Opti-fast liquid protein diets,” Radmin said.

In fact, smaller retailers such as Forgotten Woman are obliged to go the extra mile if they are to compete with a Bullock’s or a Nordstrom.

Lists of Purchases

The Yves St. Laurent Rive Gauche store in Costa Mesa, for instance, keeps detailed lists of what its repeat full-price customers buy every season, then calls them when a new collection comes in.”We see what might complement a wardrobe. With St. Laurent, you can always mix and match and it’s unbelieveable what you can do with a piece you’ve had for 5 years,” said Josee Sievert, manager and buyer for the store

The Polo/Ralph Lauren Shop, also at South Coast Plaza, will replace belts or buttons for customers. “I’ll strip something in the store if I had to, to replace a piece that someone has lost,” said Terry Barbour, menswear manager at the store.

For others, taking care of customers has meant simply going back to basics.

When the Coronado Center in Albuquerque, N.M., decided to take the plunge and expand its restroom facilities, the mall sent out invitations to the grand opening where “a seat has been reserved in your honor.” A plunger marching band paraded around the center and Mr. Whipple was there to cut the toilet-paper ribbon.

“The mall turned a negative into a plus,” said Weldon Joe Larsen, senior vice president with Homart Development Co. of Chicago.

What it all amounts to is an industry realization that the way to keep customers is to keep them happy.

“The shift in customer preference is real,” agreed Leslie Wexner, chairman of the board of the Limited Inc., a women’s clothing chain. “Ultimately, the consumer is always our boss.”