Ron's shop is runaway success

Retailers often forget the old adage that a satisfied consumer will tell an average of three people, where a dissatisfied consumer will tell ten.

Having worked in a retail environment myself, I always took pride in making an effort to be courteous, polite and hopefully knowledgeable about the products in my store. Often today, and this can certainly be true of a shopping experience in Wolverhampton, you will be lucky if a sales assistant in a store makes eye contact, let alone be polite or helpful. My faith however was restored when I visited the Ron Flowers sports shop on Queens Street.

I had gone into other sports shops in the town centre and when I asked about road-running shoes, the usual response from a typical dozy teenager was, "What we have got is on the shelf", or "Over there mate".

So I popped in Ron Flowers, and I was shown several models starting from a basic trainer up to something a little bit more sophisticated. I was also told the various technical features of each pair of trainers and was treated like a bona fide customer! They ordered a pair in for me and rang me back a couple of days later to inform me the trainers had arrived.

Now, I don't want to sound like an advert for Ron Flowers, but the experience was just so much more pleasant than going in to one of sports shop chains in the Mander Centre. Obviously Ron Flowers are catering for a different market, those people who wear sports shoes to perhaps participate in sports and not to just wear the latest badge or trend, so you would expect a better level of knowledge.

This doesn't however forgive the attitude of many of the staff in the rival stores, who often have such a miserable disposition you often feel like you are ruining their day by asking them to inject an ounce of effort into their job!

Nathan Lloyd, Alderton Drive, Bradmore, Wolverhampton.