Vitamin Warehouse in Syracuse, your source for Annoyance?

Answer me, or I’ll choke myself! This is no joke!

I would like to share why I am no longer welcome at this fine establishment.  

It all started when I was taking a break from work and decided to shop a bit for health products.  This particular store is pretty close by, and the prices are usually very good.  But anyone who has been there can attest that it’s pretty dirty and chaotic, and the owner never got the memo about social skills being useful in business.   I have also heard many people remark that it’s ironic that the owner may be the least healthy-looking business owner that they’ve ever seen.  Still, in his very odd and gruff way, he wants to sell to you, and he will tell you where things are, so I have bought stuff there on various occasions, figuring that the crummy warehouse atmosphere helps keep prices low.

Natural Foods and Supplements, you ??!!!$%$!!!!!

On today’s visit, the funky smell seemed even stronger than usual.  I looked around, and there was a lot of dust on the inventory they had displayed.  It was really about the same as on other visits, but maybe a little worse.  I would guess that most of their sales are over-the-counter, so this inventory doesn’t get looked at too much by staff.  Mr. Owner must have been feeling his “oats”.  He was having a discussion with a customer about a trial.  He was holding forth loudly, liberally sprinkling the F-word into his speech.  Obviously, lots of people talk that way – it’s pretty normal in the athletic world, or really anywhere today.  Still, when I’m shopping somewhere, it’s not really something I want to hear.  Between that, the bad smell, and the dust all over everything, I finally decided to take it elsewhere.

WHADDYA NEED?

As I left, Owner interrupted his diatribe with his favorite phrase, “WHADDYA NEED?”  This isn’t a guy I ever want to converse with, and he’d already lost my sale, so I didn’t bother turning around.  Here comes the best part – he followed me out the door and into the parking lot, repeating “WHADDYA NEED?” louder and louder.  I waved to acknowledge him, and kept going.  I wonder what the guys at the counter were thinking.  I’m sure the Owner thinks that he’s VERY HELPFUL by doing this.

Your health is his priority!

Then he got right up to my car, and yelled the same phrase again.  I smiled, and said quietly, “I’m all set, buddy”, hoping to be rid of him once and for all.  He yelled the same thing again.  Finally, still smiling, in a conversational tone of voice, I said, “a little peace and quiet would be nice”.  This pinch of sarcasm must have set him off, or maybe he just isn’t used to anyone ignoring him.  His final ingenious reply:

Don’t come back to this store again.  It’s private property!

I smiled broadly at this one, and drove off in peace.  Oh, no, I’ll never get to go there again!  Boo hoo hoo!  I guess somebody must have been off his meds that day.  How nice to own your business.  If you’re completely rude, that’s cool – who’s going to fire you?  No social abilities needed!  How liberating.    They also are known by the names Discount Natural Foods and Vitaglo.  I see that others are having similarly pleasant experiences with them – check out these eye-opening reviews on Yelp.

BUT WAIT!  Here’s an even more informative site showing how Mr. Wonderful treats customers!  Vitaglo @ Pissed Consumer!  Some awesome stuff there – owner hangs up on you, rudest service, no refund, product not shipped… and that’s just a tiny sample of page 1!  I have written elsewhere about the Gibson guitar company’s legendary psycho CEO, but this guy will definitely challenge him as worst owner ever!  A friend just told me that Mr. Wonderful’s goal is to never let anyone out of his store without taking some of their money.  Enough said. 

Lest I sound totally negative, I would still say that the hardcore bodybuilder set would probably find the best deals in town there.  They probably wouldn’t mind the coarse language and berating, either.  Anyone else – well, there are plenty of choices for natural food and products.  As far as I know, none of them yell or follow you to the parking lot.

• Naturtyme
• Green Planet
• Syracuse Real Food Co-op
• Wegmans
• Your local drugstore
• The Internet
• Any store not run by a psychopath