Local brick-and-mortar stores continue to thrive
Wednesday, October 18, 2017 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3
SHOP, from Page 1
a more interpersonal buying expe-
rience than shopping online.
Brand Jewelers owner Anthony
Brandolini said it is this mindset
that keeps his brick-and-mortar
business profitable in the Digital
Age of online shopping.
“You can order a ring on the in-
ternet, but you’re going to need
get service down the road. You’re
not going to put it back in the mail
and ship it out to somebody and
be without it for a while. So, I
think maybe jewelry has that in-
teraction with it. You have to feel
it, touch it, look at it. You can’t see
on the screen; it’s not going to be
the same in person. I think you
have to be there, and it has to be
like a personal thing,” Brandolini
said.
David Charles Ltd. has been
providing the community with a
personalized jewelry-buying ex-
perience for 33 years. Tonianne
Perry is the manager of the jew-
elry store and said there is no on-
line substitute for the relationship
she has built up with her cus-
tomers over the years, and it is
that rapport that keeps them com-
ing back year after year.
“We get to know everybody and
see what they like, and when
we’re doing our buying or making
custom pieces, we have people in
mind that just pop into our head,
and we actually start doing shop-
ping for them and we may see
them again … We’re in touch with
the customer service. You can’t
get that online … We’re here be-
cause of our reputation,” Perry
said.
Hammonton’s brick-and-mortar
businesses also offer intangible in-
sight courtesy of the countless
seasoned professionals who run
them. Health food store The
Health Tree has been in business
in Hammonton for 42 years, offer-
ing a wide range of products, but
also invaluable knowledge on
those products, which can be hard
to find from a retailer.
“It is about customer service,
but it’s also about knowledge. I
can’t say it about brick-and-mor-
tars in particular, but I know for
our store exclusively, we are very
into sharing knowledge with our
customers, informing them,
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whereas someone corporate is
only going to pay for a college kid
who’s only there to collect a pay-
check,” The Health Tree manager
William Doberstein said.
Greater Hammonton Chamber
of Commerce Executive Director
John Runfolo has worked within
the tight-knit Hammonton busi-
ness community for more than 30
years and said Hammonton is a
town where the value of personal
service still means a great deal to
the community even though it is
sometimes more convenient to
just shop online and forego that
service.
“It seemingly is lost, but maybe,
it’s just lost in perception. I think
personal service still means some-
thing. I know it’s easy to just go
online and get your trinkets, but
sometimes, I think, again, it’s
minimized in personal contact and
personal service still means some-
thing to people and our town
prides itself on that,” Runfolo
said.
Councilman and owner of TLC
Landscaping Company Steven
Furgione suggested that the reason
so many brick-and-mortar busi-
nesses work, specifically in Ham-
monton, is because of the allure of
the downtown area, which is filled
with many shops located proxi-
mally to each another.
“You go down Bellevue, you go
in the shops, you get something to
eat, go see a show, p