-By Laura Havlek

Editor's Note: As this is our Annual Retailing Issue, we thought it best to call on one of our Board members to write their own Op-Ed piece. It is, after all, a magazine for and about retailing. We've strayed slightly from the Q&A format of this column, allowing for more insight into an issue close to us all.

Laura and Stephen Havlek own and operate Sign of the Bear in Sonoma, Calif. They are also members of The Gourmet Retailer Advisory Board, Janis Johnson's Gourmet Catalog Buying Group, and retail advisors to The Gourmet Housewares Show.

Last fall, we were preliminarily interviewed by a regional periodical on our year. We honestly reported that thanks to our excellent team and our customers' strong support -- as well as the manufacturers who are committed to supplying independents -- we were having a great autumn. We never heard back from the reporter.

When the regional review ultimately ran, it detailed only furniture stores' catastrophes. And while our story of everyday gratitude and fortune is less sweeping, the experience left me thinking, "Please don't talk us into a recession."

When times get tough, customers rightly think harder about where they spend their money, and on what. It reminds us to deliver the level of service and knowledge we ourselves love to receive; to offer the real choices that encourage customers to find better products and service and a sense of fun; to give them reasons to spend their hard-earned money with us. I remember lessons from the other side of the counter.

When my 91-year-old great-grandmother went to the optometrist, he politely wrote her off. He told her very nicely that her vision -- not as good as it had been a year ago -- was pretty good for someone her age, and there was not much he could do. She should expect things to get worse from here on out.

She looked him dead in the eyes and countered, "Young man, I intend to live another 20 years. Does that change your assessment any?"

I remember both lessons: no one appreciates the dismissive write-off. And when you're in it for the long haul, it changes things. We intend to supply California's Wine Country with kitchenware, cookware and a sense of fun for the next 20 years. That means building the right relationships with both customers and suppliers, and looking to evolve in tandem to deliver more and better on both fronts. We expect to work to build friendships, expertise and our particular vision; to deliver quality goods and service with joy.

Time and again, we learn that our customers -- indeed, people -- don't fit stereotypes. And we are reminded that everyone should get our best service. Some of the loveliest customers come in surprising packages. From our favorite 9-year-old baker to her perfectly dressed grandmother to the fantastic dad with tattoos and an ear-bolt to the hundreds of other lovely people that build our business, our customers share only a delight in simple pleasures. They enjoy coming in to see what's new and wonderful; and to see what we've found lately. We are always looking for good new tools that work well, merchandise that brings a sense of style and fun, that is emphatically not cookie-cutter.

What we do best, and what we love best, is specific in its essence -- it's about providing the best to the people here. Our vision is not about running the world, but about bringing ordinary excellence, quality and style, color and joy, to our friends and customers. Art is where you see it. Magic is where you put it. We only want to be so big.

If independent retail is to survive and thrive into the next century, we must set ourselves apart with in-depth product knowledge, customer service and a joy in what we do and sell. We must have an understanding of who we are. Retail is surely in a time of evolution. But often that's the catalyst for much-needed change, moving us to do better, to think smarter, to become more efficient, and to build networks of friends and colleagues.

Over time, our vision of Sign of the Bear continues to evolve both as to what we are and what we are not. The answers that work for us are emphatically not the ones of Wal-Mart. Part of our implicit service contract is not that we'll sell you the cheapest answer (we won't), we'll sell you the best answer; hopefully sometimes a different answer than you expected, one that will do a better job for you. And we'll have one fair price every day, not a crazy system where you're rewarded for reading the fine print every seven minutes, at the expense of every regular customer. And when our manufacturers' costs rise, alas, ours do, too; but that is how they (and we) preserve the quality of what we sell.

When we hear continued woeful reports on the economic outlook for independent retail, we can't help thinking how easy it is to manipulate statistics. Disasters set great front-page news, while slow-built, small-scale successes are ordinary and all but invisible. For everyone who bought ordinary homes and uses credit cards for convenience (not credit), we're in an inflationary cycle, but the large economic picture is unchanged. And the sharp rise in fuel and raw materials prices seems likely to encourage people to consider eating in more, cooking more -- a good thing for people in gourmet retail.

Also good are the rising trade networks and suppliers committed to independents -- certainly they have been a catalyst and huge asset in our growth and evolution -- and the increased consumer awareness of buying locally, and choosing where we spend our money. U.S.-made ceramics, seven times the price of their Chinese counterparts, are doing better than they have ever done for us. Perhaps as we think again about where we spend our money, people are remembering that even the smallest choice reverberates nationally and globally for us all. Choosing to pay for goods of heirloom quality and artistry, and to enjoy using them for generations, may also be the improbable ultimate "green" answer.

Today, for the first time in decades, our industry faces margin compression across the board from every source, materials, labor and the weak dollar. We -- manufacturers, representatives and retailers -- are all called upon to justify the cost of what we deliver with the value we specifically provide, in knowledge, responsiveness, goods and services. It is important for us all to think about and rise to the challenge, individually and collaboratively.

Our goal is to grow carefully, thinking about where we want to be in 10 years. It is our responsibility to determine how to get there efficiently and well. We will reward the representatives whose expertise helps us hone what we sell, and leverage technology to evolve with our key manufacturers and bring our customers more exceptional service and exceptional merchandise, with friends on every side of the aisle. We count ourselves lucky every day. Thanks. Hope you do, too.

To reach Laura Havlek, please send e-mail to havlek@earthlink.net.

Comments? mmoran@gourmetretailer.com