Just wanted you to know that I really enjoyed and found very interesting your “Customer Service” insert in the Friday, May 27, Tribune. I would like to see more of that promoted and practiced. Nancy VanderWaerdt quoted Mac Anderson in saying that “customer service is not a department — it is an attitude.” That is so true. That attitude can make or break a business of any size, no matter what type of business they are in. I would also go so far as to say that customer service trumps product and price. We who live in the Hollandale area are privileged to have many fine quality businesses, both retail and service. Three-in-one Bar and Grill, Produce State Bank, S & V Automotive, Ag Power & Equipment, Thompson Oil Co, North Am. Mat Co, Mr. Machinery, Jones Auto, just to name some of the retail businesses.

These enterprises have top-notch owners and employees who are customer-oriented. Our little community is growing, slowly I’ll admit, but growing nonetheless, and I believe it is due mainly to customer service. Those businesses I listed are pulling in customers from a great distance outside the normal business radius. The Three-in-One is a prime example. There are many times there are people having lunch whom I, or others who have lived in the Hollandale area all their lives, have never seen before. Last week one noon they served 82 lunches — not bad for a community of 300 residents! They have great food, fair prices and customer service that draws people back. Any community, from Hollandale to Albert Lea to the Twin Cities, will prosper and grow with a positive customer service attitude.

Gordon Loverink

Hollandale