Southern Season — Local services in Graham

Two possible experiences---leisurely pondering the possible and making the possible happen. Done both. My fave?---whichever I'm experiencing at the moment!

The store is delightful, fresh, visually satisfying, a step ahead with an amazing selection of specialties to explore.

Breathe deep when entering, slow your pace and prepare to become intoxicated from the amazing aroma of coffees.

Treat yourself to designing a fresh floral bouquet. If you absolutely cannot think of anyone else who deserves for you to make their day, take it home and make yours. Of course, it's not the expected carnation/mum/Alstroemeria/fern mix.

Dare you to NOT find your favorite jellybean. Don't even go "I couldn't find the sauce in the recipe". It's there. And all the sauces, herbs, spices, jams not in your recipe, too.

Spend an hour in the aisles and aisles of greeting cards---send a card, not a text. Who doesn't like to get a card? Understand?

Grab "fast food" from their delicious and different deli offerings and satisfy your taste buds with herbs and sauces instead of fried spuds and ground beef.

Adult beverages receive their fair share of real estate. Might be best to ask for directions, in case you get distracted looking at the 99 bottles of beer on the wall. (sorry I could not resist.)

Being partial to books, especially like them blended in most displays...tucked here, tucked there to find by chance. If you prefer the Dewey Decimal system, books are neatly standing at attention on bookshelves, too.

Pleasant staff seem to show up just when you have a puzzled look on your face, otherwise, they respect your space.

Hope you penciled in enough time...if you must leave, promise to come back soon.

Enjoy the adventure...

See Weather Vane Restaurant for separate...

This is my third review of the Southern Season store at University Plaza. My first visit was amazing. My second visit was a disaster. This third visit, today was quite refreshing. To be a good and effective waiter(server), there are certain tools that you must have on your person to do an impressive job. Tonight while searching for some of those tools, a wonderful woman with a million dollar smile approached me with a waiter's key in her hand. If you don't know what it is; don't stress your brain. She ask if she could be of any help. I ask her about a crumber; again, don't stress your brain. She thought about it, we talked it....then she took me right to the display. I bring all this up to prove a point. I stopped going to Southern Seasons for months because of a number of bad experiences I had with employees at the store. They did not know the merchandise, unable to make logical decisions, and showed no interest in trying to project even an essence of pride in what they were doing, or the store in which they stood. The worst of it, I had brought a relative along to show them the great new place I had found. She has never been back, and until tonight; neither had I. The staff member, a wonderful, seasoned and knowledgeable woman, who's name I did not get: will be the reason for my return to...

Terrible customer care. I ordered a gift basked online on December 9. 5 business days later, I had not yet received the promised email when the order was shipped. I called 20 times on Dec 13 before getting through on their awful phone system. Finally got through to a person. I was told that I should get the email the next day (sure I will). Of course, I didn't get the email. Now it's Dec 16. I've called at least 30 times so far today. I keep getting a recording saying to stay on the line. Then the phone rings again and I'm either dumped into a silent area that never answers or the call hangs up. This is the worst phone answering system I've encountered in a very long time. At this point, I'm so frustrated that I want to cancel the order and get a full refund. I know it's the holidays and they are busy. I wouldn't mind waiting on hold for a long time, but they keep hanging up or losing me in their system where I wait for a long time with no sound, no recordings and finally I have to hang up to try again. Maybe they've already done all the business they want to do this year. I'll never order...