Business

Drama in 3 Acts: An Ignored Shopper, a Public Venting, an Owner's Apology

June 30, 2016, 5:02 PM by  Alan Stamm

April Woodard's first visit to Vault of Midnight didn't go well.


April Woodard: "Customers of other ethnicities come in and they get all the attention." (LinkedIn photo)

The Detroit marketing consultant visited the two-month-old downtown shop to find a T-shirt for her son and a graphic novel for her daughter. The selection was fine, but she left empty-handed and explains why on Facebook:

Not one sales rep said hello nor asked if I needed any help. I was there for about 15 minutes, checking out the goods. . . . Girls kept their eyes glued to the counter. . . .

It's unfortunate. They have really cool stuff there for youth and as gifts. . . . I'm irritated due to really wanting to purchase my son a nice surprise gift.

There's also this eyebrow-raiser: 

Two Caucasian customers came in. Everyone [was] smiling and greeting.

Woodard, a media arts educator and social cause marketer, focuses on customer service as the key issue. "I have vowed even when it comes to black business owners, if your attitude is shitty or customer service is shitty, I can't part with my hard-earned money," she comments Wednesday on her Facebook page in a thread about the experience.

Following up Thursday on another page, she adds:

My post was not about Vault being racist or discriminating.

I became irritated due to being really excited about visiting the store and walking in and sales reps look at you then put their head down, don't even acknowledge that you walked in and you're standing by the tee shirts and customers of other ethnicities come in and they get all the attention. 

This is where drama turns to dialog, an illustration of social media helping clear the air in the online town square.


Vault of Midnight, open since May on Library Street downtown, sells manga, comics, games, shirts, stickers and more. (Facebook photo)

One of the three owners at Vault of Midnight reaches out Thursday afternoon in a Facebook discussion about the original post. His shop opened May 2 at 1226 Library St. in the Z Garage as the third location of a a family-owned business born 20 years ago in Ann Arbor.

Here's the merchant's response:  

This is Nick Yribar, one of the co-owners of Vault of Midnight. I can't tell you how heartbroken we were when we saw April's post yesterday.

What happened to her at our shop is contrary to everything we are trying to do as a company and we take experiences like this very, very seriously.

We've reached out to April directly (yesterday afternoon, through Facebook) and haven't heard back, but we would love the opportunity to speak with her further if she's willing, if anyone is able to help connect us.

We could try and make excuses all day long about our new shop and our new staff, but none of it matters. We have to and want to work to earn another opportunity to earn April's business and to double down on our commitment to make sure that absolutely no one walks out of our shop feeling the way she did. 

 Woodard replies graciously. An excerpt:

Thank you, Mr. Sullivan. I truly appreciate your response. Some of my friends had great experiences at Vault, some didn't. . . .

When you're a new customer in a store and you see how other customers are interacted with, it makes you feel a certain way. . . .

My post was not a yell to boycott Vault. It was me having the right to freedom of speech and expression on my personal Facebook page. I wish your business continuous success and thank you again.

This dust-up on a public stage closes with final words of contrition from the shop co-owner: 

Thank you, sincerely, for bringing this to our attention. You are completely correct and I'm sorry again.



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