A youngish couple, embarking on a family, purchasing a new house- and one of the component pieces of this confluence of events is a stop in our galleries. With the initial purpose of looking at to purchase a painting or two, this visit has then segued into a larger discussion about long-term collecting objectives.
This is the second time within as many weeks we’ve had someone pleasingly describe their experience with us as ‘one stop shopping’. Who coined that phrase, anyway? While we don’t consider ourselves anything like a supermarket, a supermarket analogy is not entirely misplaced. Where one trades is not just a function of convenience, but as much about shopping where one can expect to get the types and quality of goods one wants to acquire- at a price one wants to pay.
Will that price be a bargain? I doubt it, because if it were, we couldn’t carry on in business. Will it represent value for money? As much as we can possibly make it, yes, because it is the relationship Keith and I seek in every sales transaction, with the client recognizing not only that he has purchased something priced fairly but that it also includes a fair profit for our gallery.
And, of course, that is the nature of a lasting relationship, where it carries on as it is beneficial to both parties. For those who seek to deal with our gallery in the manner in which the invading army relates to the young maidens of the town, one will find us, shall we say, less than compliant.