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Community Corner

Why?

Why is Palmer Bros. Hardware 
allowed to be open on a Sunday in RIVER EDGE a town in Bergen County. One of the owners has banned me from shopping in the store after I've shopped there for over 15 years spending a lot of money in the store because of a supercilious incident that happened and was , I thought resolved to his satisfaction about 2 years ago.  Today after not shopping there for two years , with the understanding that I had resolved the issue, I went into the store to buy a couple of items and the man with the pony tail, a really unhappy , angry, grouch in my opinion, said to me That I was not allowed to shop in his store which he had never told me before?  I asked him why not and told him our issues had been resolved.  He has no legitimate reason! I was a good customer who used to send a lot of money in the store for like I said over 15 years.  They knew me in the store most all the owners knew me, they knew my name and phone number.  Today he called the Police on me and they  took my Id and my wife's who had nothing at all to do with it.  The Police told me I wasn't allowed in the store any more and if I went into the store again they would arrest me.  That means I am not allowed in the store on Sundays either.  It is the only hardware store I know to be open on Sunday and forbidding me from shopping there presents a major inconvenience to me as we'll as a financial hardship since I depend sometimes on getting a last minuet piece of hardware  for my business that is very important for me to have ready sometimes for Monday morning.    I very much resent the fact that he is singling me out for no good reason or for a reason that he  believes is justified because he doesn't have the social skills or sophistication to deal with customers who considered themselves to be valued customer who never caused him any harm, and was honest to a degree he doesn't even understand.  A degree to where there were many times when a product I bought there was not suited for the application I thought it would suit but because I had opened the package , I would not return it ; I just kept it when I didn't need it.  He was not aware of how much stuff I bought there and how considerate I always had been with that store.  He never thought about how many people I referred to that store when folks asked me if I knew where they could find certain products.  I just think he is a very angry man but I can't imagine how a reasonable man can remain so angry over something that was so trivial, that happened two years ago ,that was a misunderstand and a very minor misunderstanding ,  that had been resolved two years ago as I understood it to be and resolved between a merchant and a very good customer who never had breached his social responsibility as a customer . The merchant abused me hurt me embarrassed me and is now denying me the same opportunity everyone else has to shop on Sunday that he has gotten some special privelage to provide.  That decision of his which is in my opinion totally unjustified inflicts a disadvantage on me by restraining my trade.  I firmly believe that the county has a responsibility to provide an equal playing field for all people involved in small business which is difficult enought to survive in these days.  I don't need to nor do I want to shop in his store on any day when I can find an item I need in another nearby store, but on Sunday when he has been granted special privilege to be open for the benefit of the society then that availability is for the community and he should be obligated to do so or loose the privelege. He should not have the right to exclude certain persons because he doesn't like them.  He was granted special privilege to serve the entire community not those he selects.

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