Stopped by this morning looking for vermouth (sunday night is Mad Men night, which means Manhattans!). I walked in and saw that there was nothing behind the counter, so I walked through the isles. I noticed that they had a decent selection of beer and wine, but then went back up front and asked the guy if they carried vermouth. His answer: "I find it funny that people look around and then ask if there is any hard liquor. Do you see any hard liquor?" No, I don't, which is why I was asking. A polite, "Sorry, we don't carry hard liquor, you can try the store down the street" would have been fine.
I do like beer, especially tripels and saisons, but I don't think I'll ever buy anything from here. The Wine Country has an excellent beer selection and they have polite and friendly service. Eddie's down the street are extremely friendly and I stop there for chips, drinks, lottery tickets, and ice cream sandwiches because of their neighborhood friendliness. Actually, I went to Eddie's first, and they didn't carry the brand of sweet vermouth that I wanted. Her response,"If you want, I can order some for you?"
In any case, poor customer service means no customer in my book. So, I don't think i will ever go to Cal Heights Market again. Liquor stores are ubiquitous in Long Beach (I eventually found vermouth at the one across the street from Trader Joe's). If I want attitude I'll go to Chuck-E-Cheese and eavesdrop on some tweeners talking to their parents, rather than get it from the clerk at Cal Heights Market.
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Addendum (4/29/13, see owner comment below):
WTF? I guess insulting me more is a business strategy:
" If you are enough educated , you must read the sign of the business that it is not a liquor store, It is a just a market."
I guess I'm not educated enough to be a customer there.
To respond and be "honest" and tell the full story: after he insulted me the first time, he then insulted me again and said, "I see customers look around for 10 minutes and then ask me where the vodka is? If I had liquor, it would be behind the counter, everybody knows that. I find it funny that customers look around and then ask me these questions." To which I replied, "I don't work at a liquor store. I don't know the laws and regulations. I see hard liquor on the shelves at other stores."
As I was pulling away in my car, he yelled to me to try Eddie's (which I went to first because they are nice to their customers) and then told me to go to some place in Artesia. So, yes, he was helpful after he insulted me twice. Then, after I wrote my yelp review, he insulted me a third time by telling me that I wasn't "enough educated".
I think that's the whole story for now and a good indication of my interactions with him so far.
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(pasting this here in case he decides to delete his comment to me)
Comment from raza b. of California Heights Market 4/28/2013 " Hide
Hello Mr. Fernando, I am sorry that you had that kind of response from my conversation.I don't have to prove that how bad I am or How good you are? You walked in my business, i respect that. But one thing I want to mention that please be honest about your reviews. if you believe in God and Karma, which goes around and come around. Just be specified that did i not mention you about Eddie's Liquor on orange and ward low street. than your response was that you said that you already checked that. even after that I recommended you EMILIO'S BEVERAGES ON ARTESIA. I hate to lose your business but please be honest about your reviews because you don't know that your one review can harm how many plates of food of one family. I just did share my opinion about the incident. If you are enough educated , you must read the sign of the business that it is not a liqour store, It is a just a market. And to respond to your one of the dialogue " i don't work in the liqour store" I respect that . Because if you ever did that , you will consider the respect of humanity.
In the last , once again, I am sorry, if i did mention anything to oppose or criticize your social status.
our doors are always open for you, and we never mind any business of our neighborhood being supported.
because everyone is having a familyj, and working hard to support their family. Please support our neighborhood business, does not matter if it is EDDIE'S LIQUOR OR CALIFORNIA HEIHGTS MARKET.
God bless all of us. read more