Small town values found at Bob’s

I’m writing to express how thrilled I am to find a little business right here in Oak Harbor where the customer is valued as a customer and old fashioned values and integrity exist. After experiencing frustration with the impersonality and lack of useful help in Home Depot where we’d purchased our cabinets for a kitchen remodel, we turned to the locals and found ourselves in Bob’s Cabinet Creations downtown on Pioneer to buy some hardware for the cabinets. Was I ever in for a treat!

August 2, 2008 12:00 am

I’m writing to express how thrilled I am to find a little business right here in Oak Harbor where the customer is valued as a customer and old fashioned values and integrity exist. After experiencing frustration with the impersonality and lack of useful help in Home Depot where we’d purchased our cabinets for a kitchen remodel, we turned to the locals and found ourselves in Bob’s Cabinet Creations downtown on Pioneer to buy some hardware for the cabinets. Was I ever in for a treat!

The first impression was great as I trudged in with my three very young boys and received big smiles and kid-friendly banter and attention. Now this is a big change for most mothers of little kids where you are usually greeted with a curt smile at best and watched like a hawk as you go through a store to make sure you keep you kids in line. But Bob continued to impress me with his attention and expert opinions on design choices that would work well for us.

What really got me and inspired me to write this letter is that when I was deliberating about a particular knob and pull choice, Bob invited me to take them home and see how they looked on the cabinets and get my husband’s opinion! What?! No collateral?! Nothing, he didn’t even have my name or phone number at that point! He just casually asked that I bring them back sometime when we’ve made our decision! Wow! Now that’s something long gone in today’s world … putting trust in a stranger’s goodwill!

Now the knobs worked out great but I had to return to Bob for a couple nuances and he was fantastic with those as well, giving me the extra screws we needed and even a free knob he happened to have in store that was our style; we had thought we needed to order one more when we miscounted.

I am so pleased that we chose to go into that store; it’s given me hope that small-town values can really still exist and that some store owners can still enjoy children coming in, rather than viewing us as an economic liability. Thanks so much Bob, and I can’t wait to see you when we do our bathrooms!

Ellie Peck

Oak Harbor