By reporter Steven Smalley
Dramatic photos of a car driven through the front glass doors of Bartell Drugs have appeared all over the Village on posters requesting folks call George Bartell and ask for a ?protective barrier? to safeguard employees and customers.
The black & white notices state the anonymous writer witnessed the accident shown and said, ?…It was the fifth such incident in twenty years.?
They?go on to request, ?If you love your Bartell employees or are concerned this has gone on way too long and odds are someone will be seriously hurt next time please call George Bartell and tell him to take action in Magnolia before someone is?killed.?
Magnolia Voice contacted Bartell?s corporate office and spoke with their PR representative Barry Bartlett. At first he said there were no plans to construct barriers. Not long after the initial call, Bartlett called back.??”The safety of our customers and employees are always on top of mind for us,? he said. ?Bartell?s is going to install barriers… by the end of this month,? in conjunction with a major remodel of the store.? ?This has been planned for some time,? he asserted.
Construction is scheduled to take place during the first quarter of 2012.
Magnolia Voice was unable to ascertain the identity of the flyer’s author.
Those were my flyers posted in the village. I have been corresponding with Bartell’s twice in the past year and I gave them a Valentine’s Day deadline to do something and they did not.?
Re: the initial comment and then the changed tune? I will believe it when I see it. Talk is cheap, the older I get the more I watch what people do not what they say.
I find their attitude about the safety of their dear employees and customers to be slow, tragic, and uncaring.?
Some weeks back I saw a man, with drawings for the remodel, in the store talking to some other Bartell’s Corporate people in the Magnolia store. When I asked him about the need for barriers he looked like a deer in the head lights. I told him to tell George Bartell that there was an angry gray-haired lady in Magnolia that cared about his employees more than he did! The guy was non-plussed.?
If you question what a close call this last incident was ask Ginny she was standing at the check stand and was almost clipped by the latest car.?
Thanks Steve for your story. I would like my name with-held as my husband is sure I am going to be sued to?harassment, could be, but I someone had to speak up loud and clear in defense of these cheery people who wait on us all day in and day out.
To call Bartell’s Corporate office to continue the pressure call: 206-763-2626, keep calling ’til they make an alteration to protect their staff and patrons.
Thanks Priscilla for taking the time and having the initiative to put pressure on Bartell’s Corporate folks. It really is amazing that no one, employee or customer, has not been seriously hurt.?
Installed by the first quarter of 2012, they have six weeks if that is true. I have doubts. ?
Their clerks have been working without a contract for how long??
Whomever runs the Magnolia voice… Your little blog sucks!
Ha Ha Jolindafinne, the blog is awesome, your grammar sucks!
Spoken like a true corporate shill.
Thanks for my Laugh of the Day Jolindafinne!
How does this happen in a parking lot?
Usually it’s older people who think the car is in reverse and it is instead in drive, they gun the acceleration and whammo.
It has happened so many times it is almost commonplace, same story around the same time as this latest Bartell’s incident at Albertson’s parking lot. In that case it severely damaged the wall in the southern lot facing the apartment building.?
Bartell’s in particularly vulnerable since the parking faces the front of the store as it does. You would think after paying so many claims their insurance company would have pressured them to remedy it before someone was maimed for life. I guess that’s too much common sense…
5 incidents in 20 years? Geez. Maybe we should focus on having better driving tests.
I agree with Priscilla. I’ve seen some elderly people hit other cars and just drive away. It’s no wonder the drive right into the store. This happens everywhere sadly. I would think Bartell’s would not be opposed to some sort of barriers. And I like this blog. If you don’t, don’t follow it.
Mysteriously all my flyers had been removed today when I wandered through the village.?
This will only flame my fire.
?I will be posting them more vigorously in the village and elsewhere in our neighborhood. I will take them down when they remedy this issue. They have said the first quarter of 2012, that gives them 30 days…
Bravo for Bartells! They actually installed the barriers almost a year after the last drive through incident. I feel so happy that this community pressure finally made a difference. Thank you to all my neighbors who called to complain of this terrible hazard.
Since beginning this campaign I have talked to so many people who confess they will never park in the Bartell’s parking lot that there are too many fender benders. Caution!
On to the next pressing world issue Priscilla! A meteorite shield for Thriftway’s roof!