Nice Person and Honest in Business

I just wanted to write about a great experience I had yesterday meeting a person who was both an honest businessman and super-nice. A frum couple opened a vitamin and health food store in our area, and since they recently added Sunday hours I decided to try my luck at finding a kosher vitamin that I would be able to swallow. (In my experience they've been pretty gross and too large so unfortunately I have not been taking a daily vitamin.)

EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE: The first thing I noticed is that it is a simple but well-put-together store. It doesn't look cluttered and doesn't present itself as a specifically frum establishment. When I walked in, the owner was providing in-depth assistance to a customer. He made a point of greeting me, and a few minutes later acknowlegding again that he would be with me momentarily, but also gave the other customer his full attention without rushing.

HONEST IN BUSINESS: He did not encourage the customer to buy things she didn't need, but suggested she speak to her doctor before buying other things. Then he said that he sometimes gets discounts from his supplies and will pass that on to his customers. He pulled out his records to confirm how much he had paid for the item, and then gave her a discount! I would imagine that this is the halachic standard for business, yet how many people would do this?

KNOWLEDGABLE ABOUT PRODUCTS: Then I received full attention to my vitamin search. He made four different suggestions, all of which showed excellent product knowledge. Did you know that if you get a capsule vitamin, you can break it open and mix the contents into pudding instead of swallowing it whole? He made sure to let me know what the price was for each option as well. And he carries free samples of a number of products.

NICE PERSON: After all this, we ended up schmoozing for about 20 minutes because he also moved his family from a warm-weather town to Cleveland around the same time we moved, and he knows our friends who moved out here with us. When another person came in that he knows, he introduced us.

Besides his naturally friendly personality, which is unique to everyone, none of this should be impossible for other store owners. A clean store, friendly face, and some knowledge about what you sell, plus not trying to cheat people.