My visit to Republic Rare Coins in Scottsdale, AZ

RYK

I was deep behind enemy lines in Scottsdale, AZ, from Thursday until today for business. As an aside, I think there are more Steelers fans in Arizona than Cardinals fans.

I had some time to kill on Thursday and visited Old Scottsdale, a typical tourist trap, with t-shirt and bric-a-brac shops and plenty of bars and restaurants. My heart leapt when I spotted Republic Rare Coins. It looked like an old time coin shop, complete with the rotating cases, and surly coin shop owner. It was like a trip down memory lane.

I was browsing the case, deciding what to purchases (and the pickings were slim and overpriced, and credit cards were not accepted!) when a man and his son walked in. The man asked to look at a Gold Buffalo, asked for the price, and asked to look at it under a lamp. The shop owner handed the piece over, the potential customer looked at it, handed it back and walked out.

At this point, the owner turned to the crony in the shop and said, "I knew that guy was not going to buy that. After doing this for 30 years, you know it immediately. He's just a PITA."

His friend looked at him quizzically and he went on, "You know, a pain in the a$$."

At this point, I halted my effort to find a coin for a mercy purchase, said goodbye and thanks, and walked out of the shop.

STONE

<< <i>At this point, the owner turned to the crony in the shop and said, "I knew that guy was not going to buy that. After doing this for 30 years, you know it immediately. He's just a PITA." >>


Maybe the owner said the same thing behind your back after you left!!!

tightbudget

<< <i>

<< <i>At this point, the owner turned to the crony in the shop and said, "I knew that guy was not going to buy that. After doing this for 30 years, you know it immediately. He's just a PITA." >>


Maybe the owner said the same thing behind your back after you left!!! >>



...which is why ignorance is bliss.

notwilight

<< <i>

<< <i>At this point, the owner turned to the crony in the shop and said, "I knew that guy was not going to buy that. After doing this for 30 years, you know it immediately. He's just a PITA." >>


Maybe the owner said the same thing behind your back after you left!!! >>



I think that's what he was hoping. I think the address was the problem. Gone tourist.

ricko

I have been there... same type of experience, surly, non-communicative. I did not buy.. Cheers, RickO

Fairlaneman

You know when I run in to people like this I always try to strike up a conversation with them. If their attitude stays the same, but not before trying to get through the gruff demeanor in a attempt to see what they are really like, then I put them in the PITA class.

Try it sometime you could get suprised or you could just find another PITA.

Ken

coinbuf

Next time your in town lmk, I'll point you to a good shop, and there is only one in the whole stinking city. And I know the owner, you caught him on a good day.

Chris

MrMag

good to know, being an AZ resident, I'm always looking for coin shops - not knowing which ones to go to helps as well

GrumpyEd

LOL... That was Al, he's not a bad guy if you catch him in between the galking tourists. I think that location attracts non buying tourists and gets him down plus he's already been limping along.

You should have walked down the next street (east of that place) to Victoria coins. He sometimes has something good or some good stories. Only problem is Victoria coins is closed on weekends.

Millertime

I was in there once a few years ago and I thought it was a decent place.

When I first walked in the guy running the shop was helping a customer so I browsed for a couple of minutes (It's a pretty small place so I basically turned around in a circle a few times) until the customer left. I was asked what I collected so I explained that I wanted to picked up an addition for my Dansco 7070, I think I mentioned a large cent, 20c and a couple other things from my list. He picked out 3 or 4 coins from my list and laid them on the counter, after spending a few minutes looking at each one and comparing prices to budget I picked up an 1875 20c in VF for about $160.

My son also picked up a couple of small things (I don't remember what) and was pretty happy.

Millertime

fc

that is what i have come to expect from a stores that are mostly
designed to fleece the public of their PMs and rare coins.

selling... that is just a side effect. they make very little effort. anything
good gets flipped to a "real" dealer.

Doogy

HA! i'm not surprised. I live only a few miles from that shop. The owner ought to just retire and move on. He is about as cranky as they come, with overpriced junk for the most part. I would never recommend that place to anyone

ArizonaJack

Brand new shop in Glendale, Arrowhead Coins, owned by a show-buddy of mine. I have yet to see the store but Jeff is a good guy. I plan on visiting soon.

cointime

AJ,

Glendale? That an over night trip for guys in Mesa

lcoopie

playing devils advocate
perhaps this has happened many times before
with the customer never buying
returning coins,
and being a pain

just perhaps

messydesk

<< <i>His friend looked at him quizzically and he went on, "You know, a pain in the a$$."

At this point, I halted my effort to find a coin for a mercy purchase, said goodbye and thanks, and walked out of the shop. >>


Well, if you know your going to get a derogatory remark, you may as well earn it.

lope208

When I go into a new shop I usually try to find something to purchase that will help my collection along.

But honestly, I barely go in shops anymore because many of them aren't worth it, and the ones that are aren't near me.

There's so much junk in a lot of B&M's that I'd prefer to search high quality images from multiple websites until I find what I'm looking for.

Longacre

Are you sure you were not in NYC?


Why weren't you on the links rather than spending time at Republic Rare Coins and Bric-a-Brac??

Greeniejr

I think I need to play devil's advocate here too. It is necesarry in our business, especially when you work in a retail store to be kind and helpful to every person who walks into the door. However, it can definitely weigh on you and if this dealer has been doing this for a long time, you can easily get jaded. We would love it if every person who walked into our store was respectful, educated and at least had the potential to buy. In this case the dealer actually seems wrong in that the person just wanted to look and didn't do anything harmful. I don't even want to imagine how many times we have had the same situation, but then the person takes the coin out of the flip and starts rubbing and fondling it. Maybe this dealer was just a grumpy old man, but try to see things through his jaded eyes.

RYK

GreenieJr,

I can sympathize with the dealer, but it is unprofessional and crass to complain about your retail traffic in a store setting, especially within earshot of other customers.

As a physician, how long would I be in business if I belittled my patients in front of other patients?

Longacre,

You know that I don't play golf.