Who’s the best on Kauai?
Tomorrow you’ll find out.
The Garden Island’s Best of Kauai 2019 will be inserted in Sunday’s paper. It will give the results of votes as submitted earlier this year by readers, who gave their input under different categories. You’ll find out if your choices topped the list and you may read about other businesses you didn’t know were valued so highly by your peers. Those included companies, food and dining, health and beauty, locations and activities, retail and services and repair.
And in each of those categories came choices for readers to write in their picks. For instance, under companies the list includes banks, credit unions, fitness centers, attorney and tattoo shop. Under food and dining, people wrote in their choices for best bakery, buffet, burger, coffee shop, pizza, sports bar and Sunday brunch. Under health and beauty, the list included chiropractor, dentist, nail salon and spa. Under locations and activities, people filled out names for best golf course, luau, helicopter tour and place to dance. Under retail, names were submitted for top dive shop, pharmacy, florist, lumber supplier, music store and tire store. And under services and repair, the subcategories included auto detailer, contractor, extermination service, landscaping and veterinarian.
Ballots were published in TGI earlier this year, with the deadline of July 24 for turning in completed forms.
Mind you, this is not a scientific survey. People cast their ballots for a variety of reasons. It could be a place owned and operated by ohana. It could be a favorite hangout. It could be near their home. It could be they once got a great deal there or it just has a certain character and atmosphere they like. There are subjective reasons that come into play.
But you can bet that there are many common denominators that influence whether customers like a business or vow to never return.
Certainly, service is a factor. How many times have you walked into a store and were greeted with a smile and someone asking how they can help you? When that happens, you’re more than likely to remember it and not only feel like spending some of your hard-earned money there, but will probably return. And repeat customers are what keep businesses going.
But there are, unfortunately, also times you’ll walk into a store and no one acknowledges you and no one offers to help, even when you’ve been meandering about for 15 minutes. It’s those times you will also remember — and you won’t return to that business.
Other factors that your average shopper considers in determining what makes a business thrive or dive are hours, prices, accessibility and products. Are they open when you need them to be? Are their prices competitive? Is their store easy to get to? And do they have the products you want?
The best business are prepared. They have convenient hours. They have friendly, knowledgeable employees. They have set hours. They have fair prices. They value their customers and treat them like family. Those are the businesses that keep customers returning, and those are the businesses that are not only part of a community, but they make that community better. Those the the businesses that you enjoy visiting and are happy to spend your money with.
And those are the businesses you’ll read about in the Best of Kauai 2019 that will be inside Sunday’s TGI.
