Downtown Home & Garden — Attraction in Ann Arbor

This review is in response to several less than enjoyable visits to this store after Mark transferred ownership. The main store has fewer products I find appealing and significantly unique to merit a visit; but I assume someone who knows what they are doing in terms of inventory management has decided that the real place to make a profit is on the boring clothing line that has taken over most of the retail space. What I cannot accept after frequenting this shop for years is the rude, nay today was absolutely abusive, behavior from the woman acting as clerk in the main store. She is unfriendly, abrupt and dismissive when it is a good day. I recall her snippy response about how people shouldn’t be touching the less than friendly cat Wallace (a full year pre-Covid) which is a strange thing to say about a store animal.

But about two months ago when my 70plus mother needed help getting a bale of straw into her car, she acted as if we were out of line and imposing on the staff by asking for some help. She then launched into an unnecessary spiel about the lazy people who didn’t want to work and that was why DownTown H&G was short-handed.This week on Tuesday I went to pick up a couple of clay plant plates that seemed a decent price. When the price was different in the register from the marked price on the item I politely corrected her and was given a nasty, mean begrudging adjustment with an implication that I should have paid the higher unmarked price. I go back there today three days later and the price has not been corrected. And this woman slams the register around and yells “Really?” at me when I ask for the labeled price when I purchase two more of same item. It is particularly egregious that this person should be so rude because I could easily have paid the overcharge and then returned within thirty days and asked not only for a refund of the difference but the Michigan overcharge law compensation which would easily have maxed out at five dollars each instance.

By correcting the problem at POS I was being considerate to the staff and the business owner. As it is I will reconsider shopping at this store ever again. And if the Clerk listed as SMA at 1:24PM on 11/10/2023 is not the store owner or related to the store owner, then it is well past time the store owner sat down and corrected this person about what proper customer service does and does not look like. Being abusive to a customer over one’s own error is definitely not the mark of excellent service. This woman makes shopping at this store unpleasant. Downtown Home and Garden has nothing that cannot be acquired elsewhere if the shopping experience is nothing...

Want to purchase incredibly cool stuff from an incredibly cool store and from an amazing staff? Go to Downtown Home and Garden, one of Ann Arbor’s retail gems. Over the years, we have purchased lots of kitchen gadgets, Le Creuset and All Clad cookware, garden bulbs and Polish pottery there. This spring we were looking to replace some outdoor furniture and a patio umbrella. Besides having an extraordinary selection of outdoor/patio/porch furniture the staff is incredibly helpful. They carry American, French and Italian lines and have a great supply of brochures and color samples. They do not shy away from special orders and are willing to to let customers take home furniture sample pieces to see what they look like in situ. We special ordered an umbrella and selected a dining table, side table and six chairs (Fernmob, such cool stuff!) By the time we made up our minds, the exact colors we wanted for the arm chairs and the side table were not available. No problem, when they delivered what was in stock they offered us some coordinating chairs and table on loan., They delivered a heavy umbrella base and we decided another model was better - no problem, they returned and picked it up (it was heavy) and brought the new umbrella and base and installed it (sand in the base). Staff even made a special visit when we had an issue with umbrella tilt. Today the ordered chairs arrived and were switched with the loaners. Not only do we love our new furniture and patio umbrella - we can not say enough about the staff and service both at the store and at our home. Yup, there are lots of places with cheaper patio furniture, but this is unbelievable! And as far as all that kitchen stuff I’ve purchased - they discount that and have a big sale every December with Midnight Madness. Kudos all around Downtown Home and Garden and special thanks to...

Wish I could give 0 stars. I bought a bromeliad about a month ago, and I asked many questions to the woman at the desk about how often I should water it giving many details about where I would be keeping the plant. She gave me specific instructions about watering and lighting which I was grateful for! Then, after a few weeks my plant starts rotting due to the over watering, and just today it completely rotted off the roots. I called the store to explain what happened, and the woman who answered was so rude and short with me saying that they NEVER give advice about plants because they are a living thing and "BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME"... She then had the audacity to ask if the reason I'm calling is if I want to buy a new plant. Such an...