CHICAGO — Kathy Poehlmann has been selling motherly advice along with gear for babies and mothers for a decade at Be By Baby, 1654 W. Roscoe St. in Lakeview.
Recently, though, more and more customers have been stopping by for advice — but then leaving her shop empty handed, she said.
"We get showroomed," she said. "People will blatantly waste our time, quizzing us, then, literally, [buy online] right in front of me or they'll say 'Well, I'll think about it.'"
"We used to think about it," but not anymore, she said adding they began hearing the excuse a lot more from shoppers and assumed they were instead buying the products online.
"The consumer has changed and the mentality of how people shop has changed," she said.
Those "changes" forced Poehlmann to announce via email that her store will be closing, adding it to the six other vacant storefronts on her block.
"It is with a heavy heart we announce to you that, sadly, we are closing our doors," said the email, which thanked the shop's customers for 10 years of loyalty.
"But times are changing as is the way so many people shop. We simply cannot compete with Amazon. We've had so many loyal customers — and we thank you all!
"But we've seen a dramatic increase over the past year of people 'shopping' at our store, getting in-depth service from our knowledgeable staff and then telling us they'll 'think about it' and leaving, presumably to buy online," the email said.
The email said certain "shoppers" even bought items on their cellphone in front of the staff after asking for help, the email said.
As a result, the store is offering 25 percent off baby goods during its going-out-of-business sale.
"It truly breaks our heart to have to close our doors. We add to the six empty storefronts next to us and the many blocks of empty storefronts throughout the city. We hope you will support the local businesses that are left. We know we here at Be By Baby will," the email said.
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