Amy L.
Yelp
When I visited this store, it was NOT FULLY WHEELCHAIR-ACCESSIBLE, because of how the owner has laid out the furniture and other home goods he's selling, not because a wheelchair can't fit in the front door. When asked for assistance, he at first assisted me, but then made me feel really uncomfortable by blaming the lack of accessibility on one of his employees. When I asked why he didn't simply ask that employee to do things differently, he giggled and went on and on about how "it's complicated". It left me wondering, if you're the boss, why can't you insist on a certain amount of discipline from your employees?!
To me, this apathetic attitude is unfortunate. It demonstrates to me that he's really unwilling to change things himself, and that he'd rather make someone else who wasn't there himself the scapegoat rather than make necessary changes to increase accessibility in his shops (his other location on Valencia is even MORE inaccessible due to overcrowded merchandise).
The conversation ended when he took a phone call, and I took the opportunity to get away from what, for me, had turned into a very awkward and uncomfortable conversation.
It's a shame when business owners make excuses for why they "can't" make their stores wheelchair-accessible. What they're really saying to wheelchair-users is, "I don't value your business." That's very short-sighted, because this store sells items at certain level of expense that might not be affordable to the average San Francisco resident. In order to sustain any business in this city's competitive climate, but especially one in this price range, one cannot necessarily afford to alienate potential customers.
