Some local businesses rise above shaky economic outlook

As consumers have curtailed spending in the deepening recession, most retail stores and restaurants have suffered a precipitous drop in sales. But business is better than expected at some mom-and-pop shops in Hanford. Three such local businesses credit personal customer service, high-quality products and competitive prices.

Stacey's Boutique, a women's clothing store, is an example of how businesses can still thrive in poor economic times.

The store is readying for light remodeling to be completed by mid-January, adding a third dressing room, moving its sales counter to the center to allow for better interaction and repainting.

The boutique's cash register steadily rings because of one-on-one customer service and a steady supply of items that shoppers like, its owner says.

Owner Stacey Marshall says her clothing, jewelry and purses fly off the shelves because she caters to what customers want. Marshall is usually at the store every day, giving her insight into her customers' preferences when she buys goods at trade shows and at a wholesale market.

"I'm getting fresh up-to-the-minute styles and trends from my customers," Marshall said. "I'm in tune to the needs of customers."

She also works to keep her prices low. The most expensive thing in the store is a $130 jacket. The average top is $35, and the typical jeans are $50.

To help customers finance their merchandise, her store has a 30-day layaway plan. She says that payment plan has doubled in recent months, thanks to what she says is a poor economy.

"We have more freedom to work with people meeting their budget," she said. "We're not so rigid as big corporate chains."

One-on-one customer service is the trademark of Marshall's store.

"The neck looks really pretty on you," sales clerk Jamie Willard tells customer Nalani Castro, 22, of Lemoore one recent day.

"They help me all the way through to find what I want to wear," Castro said. At big department stores, she said, "You feel like a fly on the wall."

Panache, a hair salon, is another top-flight business that's doing well in the recession. Sales have picked up in the past months, eclipsing last year's marks, said Jennifer Alvarado, store owner.

Loyal customers are the key to her good business, Alvarado says. They keep coming back because of superior service, she said. They get their hair done by some of Kings County's top stylists.

"Many of Hanford's top stylists have worked here at one time, and many of them now have opened their own salons," Alvarado said.

Few salons in Kings County pay a stylist to go to New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles hair academies and learn the most up-to-date styles and hair-care products. But Panache pays about $2,000 a year for stylist Sharon Verdegaal to teach the curriculum of Bumble and Bumble, a New York hair care company, to other staff members at Panache.

For a salon to have its own stylist attend Bumble and Bumble classes and carry their line of products, it must pass a rigorous test of professionalism and expertise, Alvarado said.

The knowledge of the newest trends help boost sales at the salon, Verdegaal said.

"Clients are always looking for the latest styles, and the classes keep us fresh on new styles and products," Verdegaal said.

As a result, stylists at Panache typically know the hottest hair products and recommend them to customers.

"A large part of the salon's profitability are the retail sales," Alvarado said. "Our retail sales are doing well."

Also, prices are competitive with other salons in the region, helping to keep a steady stream of customers, both old and new, coming in, she added.

Men's haircuts, for example, start at $16, a little higher than Supercuts. Women's haircuts start at $28. Great length hair extension using keratin bonding starts at $700, while the cost of the same service at salons in Fresno starts at about $1,000, Alvarado said. Japanese hair straightening starts at $250, while salons in Visalia and Fresno typically charge $400 and up, she said.

The salon also works hard to keep customers happy with personal service, Alvarado said. For example, the salon keeps a tray of pastries and a pitcher of water available up front at all times.

l The Purple Potato, a fine-dining American restaurant, also stands out in town; business is actually better than last year, according to manager Jennifer Shiu.

She attributes the increase to the lack of competition in town for a "personal, fine-dining experience."

"Hanford is a town of corporate giants," she said. "It's fast-food driven."

Shiu says diners get a different experience at the Purple Potato than at, say, Sizzler.

Regular diners typically get a hug from Shiu, and many even have her cell phone number, she said.

"If some regulars don't show up for three weeks, I give them a call," Shiu said. "Or some customers call me and say 'I want to sit in booth No. 19' before they come in. You don't get that at chains."

Diners aren't rushed, as is in most restaurants, she said. They can sit down and eat for two hours.

At the Purple Potato, top-notch cooking is a must, which helps draw in customers, Shiu said.

All meats are hand-cut, not pre-sliced and frozen, as it is in most chains, said executive sous chef Ron Vieira.

Vieira is winner of the James Beard Foundation Award, deemed "the Oscars of the food world," by Time magazine. Previous winners include celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck. Judges, overseen by an independent accounting firm, select the winning contestants.

He was selected in 1996 out of more than 200 applicants, Vieira said.

Vieira is an "old-school chef," making everything from scratch. Also, ingredients must be fresh. Salmon, for example, must come in "deep red, like blood," a sign of freshness, Vieira said.

The result is food that keeps customers coming back, he said.

"I can count on my hands the number of [dishes] that customers have sent back to me in my four years here," Vieira said. "You don't get a second chance in this business. The food has got to be right. Every plate has to look and taste good."

The high-quality cooking is managed not only by Vieira but by Shiu's husband, Ray Shiu, executive chef, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and worked at Larkcreek Inn in the Bay Area, cooking for celebrities like Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2423.

(Dec. 5, 2008)