Your store: Geeky gift registry

Science-fiction, fantasy and horror specialist Notions Unlimited in Melbourne has launched a gift registry for its customers. Owner Chuck McKenzie says it helps geeky booklovers get what they want from friends and family unfamiliar with their reading habits.

McKenzie anticipates the registry will be most popular around Christmas, although he has already signed up a few people for their birthdays and reckons he’ll sign up a few more in the lead-up to Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.   

‘The people coming in to buy the presents say it’s a really fantastic idea,’ says McKenzie. ‘We have branched out into selling collectables, but as a general rule it is specific books in a series that people are asking for. Someone might be up to book eight and ask for the next few for their birthday.’

The gift registry works in the same way it does in a department store: a customer supplies the store with a list of items that he or she would like. Friends and family can then pop into the store to pick something off the list. McKenzie says his staff also take down the name of whoever is buying the present, so that if there is any confusion they can say ‘Aunty or Uncle so-and-so already bought that, maybe you can talk to them and figure out whether you want to swap?’.

McKenzie says the registry is an extension of his store’s focus on customer service, which is driven by what he says is a need to bust the myth of the unhelpful ‘Comic Book Guy’ popularised in the Simpsons. ‘Sometimes people are surprised when they walk in and we say “Hi” and ask them if they need help looking for something or recommendations. Customer service is something we take very seriously,’ says McKenzie.

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Category: Features