After about 15 years with our old mattress, Sandy and I finally decided it was time for a new one. We were suffering from what the car people call “sticker shock”. Do you know what beds cost these days? I’ve got a whole row of used cars on my lot selling for less than some of these beds!
Went to the big furniture stores in Tulsa. Boy, those commissioned salesmen are good! I got the feeling all the guys who used to sell used cars had moved to the mattress business. They get you high on the ether looking at $10,000 beds until after a while the $7,000 beds start looking almost reasonable!
Thankfully, we didn’t buy on impulse (I’m pretty bad about doing that) but instead came home and did our homework.
Just happened to think, “There is a mattress store here in Claremore that I drive past every day on my way to work.”
Stopped in there at Snow’s and that little store on West Will Rogers across from Mazzios was absolutely full of beds. All the beds I was considering in Tulsa were right there on my street!
I would have paid a little more to shop in Claremore, but much to my surprise, the exact same bed I wanted was ACTUALLY $500 dollars cheaper in Claremore!
The sales guy (Kevin) was non-commission as well, so there was absolutely no pressure. What a difference.
It really pleases me to see more and more Claremore stores stocking bigger inventories and cutting prices to competitive levels.
As a businessman in Claremore, I’ve never felt like Claremore people owed me their business just because I was in Claremore. That, in my opinion, is a non-starter as a business model. If you are going to be in retail, you need to EARN the business.
I’ve always felt we need to earn everyone’s business by stocking Tulsa levels of selection and using the small town overhead to actually undercut the Tulsa volume prices.
As more and more Claremore businesses take that long view, I’m confident that people will “shop Claremore first”, not because it is a slogan, and not because the money stays here in town, but because local retailers are earning the business.
-by Robby Melton
