Gartner’s shoe hospital

I wish every business in the world was like Gartner’s Shoe Hospital.  In downtown Bismarck,  Gartner’s is  a 70-year-old business that’s so busy there are 2-3 guys behind the counter every time I’m there. They speak with a little bit of that North Dakota accent in their voices, and I find it comforting.

These are no hastily trained kids at the mall chain. I handed over my new pair of Danskos with the missing button, and one looks over and says,”These Dansko’s are good shoes, but this button has been falling off this model a lot.”

How would he know that? Is he psychic? Was it in the manual? Is he buttering me up? No. He just works with shoes a lot.

Then the old guy looks at my favorite hiking boots with the sole torn off and says, “I don’t know if I can fix this, but I’ll give it a try.”

Sure. We both know that he’s going to figure it out before I come back.

And when I return 3 days later and can’t find my ticket, they figure that out too. Then there’s no upsale. No lecture about my shoe ignorance or my cheap socks. No snake oil. Just a charge of $13.

God. I wish these guys were running Bank of America and Blue Cross.