Maybe there is a reason why some call it the Bendover Shop.

 

I'd post this over in the trad forum. Curious what they think.

Sound like a bunch of jackasses to me who won't be in business much longer.

MrR

 

All Andover Shop Have Similar Problem?

...In a phrase - my worst shopping experience, ever....

I am sorry to hear that you had an unsatisfactory shopping experience at the Andover Shop in you area. The establishment you describe seems to have a real "customer service opportunity".

A good way to get payback for this might be to send a letter describing your experience to their corporate headquarters.

There is an Andover Shop in my area and I was thinking of going there. I hope that it does not have the same problem.

 

I am sorry to hear that you had an unsatisfactory shopping experience at the Andover Shop in you area. The establishment you describe seems to have a real "customer service opportunity".

A good way to get payback for this might be to send a letter describing your experience to their corporate headquarters.

There is an Andover Shop in my area and I was thinking of going there. I hope that it does not have the same problem.

Are you in California? From what I understand the only 2 standing locations are both in Boston and relatively near one another. There is no corporate office to speak of.

MrR

 

To my knowledge, the Andover Shop of catalogue and custom-tweed fame has only ever had establishments in MA.

And what they have left there, specifically, is the shop in Cambridge and one in Andover.

They used to have a store on or near Boylston Street in Boston proper, not far from the Prudential Center, but they closed that location several years ago.

I was in the Cambridge store on a snowy day back in March and while no one was actively rude, it wasn't the most pleasant experience as the staff sat and stared silently at me while I looked at ties. (I was the only customer in the store.)

I finally bought one and scrammed, feeling kind of uncomfortable.

 

I Must Have Been Thinking Of Something Else

Are you in California? From what I understand the only 2 standing locations are both in Boston and relatively near one another. There is no corporate office to speak of.

MrR

Yes, I am in California.

There appears to be one listed in a very posh neighborhood, although I supposed we cannot be sure it is the same thing:

Andover Shop
2465 Huntington Drive, San Marino, CA 91108
(626) 577-1171

I had thought that there were more. I must have been thinking of something else.

 

Yes, I am in California.

There appears to be one listed in a very posh neighborhood, although I supposed we cannot be sure it is the same thing:

Andover Shop
2465 Huntington Drive, San Marino, CA 91108
(626) 577-1171

I had thought that there were more. I must have been thinking of something else.

Hmmm. . . .interesting.

This is the Andover Shop that Nukes and I are talking about:

https://www.theandovershop.com/

They list only Cambridge and Andover, MA, addresses, plus one on Clarendon St. in Boston (but I could swear that listing must be out of date).

Perhaps some day you'll drop by the eponymous store in San Marino and tell us what it's like.

 

Will We Hear From "The Boss"?

...This is the Andover Shop that Nukes and I are talking about:

https://www.theandovershop.com/

...

The next time I do some serious shopping I will go out there and see what the situation is like.

I wonder what their mail order service is like?

I have just sent an email to the "contact us" on the website you mentioned. I have pasted it below for your amusement. Perhaps we will even get a reply from "The Boss" himself!

Dear Andover Shop Professional:
I live in California and I am interested in your fine merchandise. I also understand that your customer service experience is quite exceptional.
There is a listing for an Andover Shop in my general area (see below).
Andover Shop
2465 Huntington Drive, San Marino, CA 91108
(626) 577-1171
Can you please tell me; is this establishment part of your organization?
Yours truly,
Orsini...

 

Nuke,
I've never been thrown out of the place, but I've experienced the same grim atmosphere. Obviously they've got a base of devoted customers which keeps them in business and they don't go out of the way to cultivate the walk-in off of the street business. A couple years back I bought two sweaters from them over the phone, had the shipped express to Europe and one was the wrong size. I handcarried them back to Cambridge and explained my travails, to which I was told, "so we made a mistake."

I've never been to the Andover store, but the Back Bay shop in Boston was somewhat more friendly. I recall buying trousers at the Cambridge shop in the 1970s and found it much more amiable.

Having said that, not sure I'd describe them as you do. I cut them a bit of slack because they are not a large corporation. Got to give a little slack to those uncoventional stores in these days of the large corporations, even if they are rude.

 

.

 

So, I am in Boston for the first time. This morning, I went to Cambridge with a list of places to check out. First up, the Andover Shop.

In a phrase - my worst shopping experience, ever.

I was surprised how small the place is - my hotel room is actually bigger. I started to look around and immediately started to pick up a weird vibe from the staff. I don't know the names so I will give descriptions. First guy, looked like a shorter version of Fred Gwynn of Munsters fame. Second guy, harried looking weasel faced gent. Last guy, short, old, has artificial voicebox (owner I believe). Turns out, asking questions at the Andover Shop gets you thrown out.

I am not kidding.

Now, I am not talking about questions about their wives' favorite sexual postions or if they **** goats. I mean questions like "Do you have the Thurston braces in boxcloth?", "Is this suit made by Samuelsohn?" and "Do you have a measuring tape I can use?" [I wanted to get some pocket squares but I wanted to make sure they were big enough and Fred Gwynn didn't know their dimensions] That last question got me tossed from the store. Weasel face guy started yelling at me and cancer throat guy told me to leave. I kept my composure and asked if I had somehow offended them. What exactly had I done wrong? Cancer throat just kept muttering and shaking his head in disgust. Despite wanting to burn the place to the ground (verbally, if not literally), I kept my composure and left.

What the ****?! I have never received this type of treatment before - anywhere. For the record I am not a skinhead with a swastika tattooed on my forehead. I walked in on a snowy morning wearing cords, AE bluchers, a Jantzen shirt, a Navy Peacoat, and a Borsalino trilby. Hardly a cause for alarm.

Fuming, I walked 10 blocks north up Massachusetts Avenue to Drinkwater's and got precisely the opposite treatment. Gary has a great shop, is a consumate professional (he, gasp, measured the pocket square I ended up buying), and even let me vent about the scumbags at the Andover Shop.

So, in closing, when in Cambridge take a pass on the Andover Shop unless you are into humiliation and abuse from geriatrics with bad shoes and worse hair.

Send a letter that describes your experience to the Boston Globe. It is only fair that the local citizens should be aware of the risk of abuse.

 

I am sure the Andover shop in San Marino is/was not connected to the ones in the east. Also, I was told it went out of business a year or two ago. I guess a phone call would verify that if anyone is interested.

I only know about it because my dentist in Pasadena, who is pretty trady (is that a word?), mentioned it to me a few years ago.

The shops in Mass. put out a wonderful catalog but is not set up to order from and neither is their website which is awful. Which is too bad because they have some really nice garments in the catalog for those of us who like that style.

The attitude as described is a strange one for any merchant, especially one who is not exactly in a growth industry.

Cheers, Jim.

 

I have been in the Cambridge shop. It is dingy! Though I did not have the awful experience that Nuke had, I found the sales staff there lazy and fairly uninterested in helping me. Too bad, I was in the mood to drop some cash!

 

FWIW, I've generally had good experiences with Andover. The service is pretty laid back but they're nice guys overall.

I can't imagine how they stay in business. You get some traffic from older people who go there specifically and you have a number of wealthy college kids who will get their few dressed up outfits from there but on the whole, the place is nearly always empty.

 

Probably a lot of shopping that doesn't require time. Once you know your size, it's just a phone call to top up your inventory of whatever. They have a nice catalogue, and I'd bet that it gets used a lot.

 

Curiously, I was well treated despite not buying anything when I visited in October. The gentlemen (not sure which one, except that it wasn't Steven Hawking) was kinda funny in an old curmudgeon way. My favorite line was an unprompted "We have some [overcoats] in some sizes. [pause] But we can get all [overcoats] in all sizes." Not sure why, but that cracked me up.

Sadly, based on other reports and on this thread, my experience was a rare one.

My experience was similar. I went last summer and basically just looked around. My family was with me and we actually had a nice conversation with "voice box guy." He was actually one of the nicer people we encountered in our New England journey that week. I will say, however, that the store itself was actually fairly disappointing. I'm not sure what to make of the OP's experience, but it does seem that every story has two sides...

 

I cut them a bit of slack because they are not a large corporation. Got to give a little slack to those uncoventional stores in these days of the large corporations, even if they are rude.

WTF? Just the opposite. The small guys always complain that the big guys are undercutting them, and how the Walmarts of the world are driving them out of business. They lament that customer and personal attention is one thing that the big guys can't offer....

 

If there's one thing about the Andover shop, it's that they are never too friendly to browsers; never have been. It's been like that for 20+ years...

I've never been ejected, but I have seen others given the old heave-ho.

It's a strange place, no doubt.

 

The OP's story makes me want to go to the Andover Shop and ask a ton of stupid questions just to push their buttons.

 

No suit for you! Three months!!!!

 

The OP's story makes me want to go to the Andover Shop and ask a ton of stupid questions just to push their buttons.

Ask them whether Alden is better than Allen Edmonds (I don't know whether they sell either). :icon_smile_big:

 

If there's one thing about the Andover shop, it's that they are never too friendly to browsers; never have been. It's been like that for 20+ years...

I've never been ejected, but I have seen others given the old heave-ho.

It's a strange place, no doubt.

I think we should make a game of it. Who can get tossed out the fastest? The rules are you can't do or say anything that wouldn't be normal behavior in a mens clothing store.

NukeMe- What was your time?

 

I'd post this over in the trad forum.
MrR

I did just that earlier today.

 

How many boards are you going to post this thread on?
I've been a few times, buying nothing the first time, and have not be treated badly. Maybe you were being annoying.

 

If this really happened, I would have called their bluff and continued looking around just to irritate them. What is he going to tell the police if he calls? That you were asking questions about their clothes? Yes, I think I would have just laughed and continued looking around for awhile.