Misleading Brand?

Shopping is one of my favorite things to do! What can I say? I am a woman.

My family and I were in New York City for a Christmas vacation. Needless to say, I did a lot of shopping with my mom. However, there is one store during that shopping spree up north that bothers me.

If I go shopping, I usually shop at familiar places such as Express, Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic. These store names are well-known, and it is obvious that they are clothing stores. During our vacation, my mom suggested that we should stop by Steve & Barry’s. I looked at her all confused and wondered why should we go to that store?

Here’s my perspective: Steve and Barry’s equals boy names. I assumed that it must be either a clothing line for males or a sports store. We have this store in my hometown mall. The location of the store was in the corner between an ice rink and an electronics store. The location and the display of the name made me think it was a sports store. I asked my brother later in the week what Steve & Barry’s is. He replied that it is a sports store. It turned out that we both were wrong… Yet, the fact that we both reached this wrong assumption indicates Steve and Barry’s has a branding problem. The name is misleading.

My mom told me that it is a casual clothing store for both male and female, and it has no connection with sports. I was shocked. What’s next? A sports store named Bridget and Fifi’s? A restaurant named “The Athlete’s Foot”?

It is misleading to me, and I imagine it may be to other people. It helps if a store’s title does not misrepresent what products it is selling.

Wow, They do care!

Yay, I’m back on my blog!

I had an unforgettable moment from at least a month ago.

I should start by admitting that Chipotle is one of my favorite places to eat.

One day, I was driving to Chipotle in Waco, Texas, for lunch. An SUV hit my car on the way. Apparently a nice lady realized that she was in the wrong lane so she had to quickly change lanes in order to get to the right turning lane. Well, she did not see my car and side-swiped my beautiful Mitsubishi Eclipse. Luckily, I wasn’t going fast. I was pretty upset since my car already had been hit and fixed three times already and none of those accidents were my fault!

After we exchanged insurance, I decided to continue to my destination: yummy food. Three Chipotle employees were cleaning/taking a break outside of the building, and they saw me looking upset at my car. They asked me what was wrong, and I explained the whole situation to them. I calmed down some, and I went inside to order my food. I expected to pay for my food as customers should do; well, that didn’t happen. A nice lady at the cash register told me not to worry about it and hoped I would have a better day! ….wait?....my meal for free?... I was so thankful and shocked that they were being so nice! They let me have my chicken bowl with chips & salsa and a drink! It really did make my day better and forgot about my car accident!

Ever since that, I have told everyone about that experience! It is heart warming to see that a business cares about their customers. It is a great marketing tactic that influences word-of-mouth.