Richard's Variety Store154

I thought Richards might be a nice place to go and look at eclectic things and enjoy a trip down memory lane, maybe drop a few bucks here and there on some fun stuff. Then, I went to checkout. The price on the item was $2 lower than what rang up in the computer. The owner explained this was a mistake and refused to sell the item at the price shown on the sticker. I was with a friend who left their intended purchase on the counter after the treatment I received. I will not return, I was treated extremely poorly. In the case of Richards Variety Store, the customer is not always right.

Do not be fooled by the presence of toys at Richard's Variety. The employees hate children, even those that are very well behaved; however, they reserve a special disdain for infants who dare to cry or toddlers who touch something. Service comes complete with eye rolls and rude comments about other patrons. After spending too much money at Richard's over the years, I finally decided, after listening to the women who work there speak poorly of another shopper, that I would no longer patronize this store. I told a friend, only to learn that she, too, had decided to shop online and at other stores for the same reasons. Also, the male employees are equally socially inept. Stay away if you have children younger than 10 and plan to take them shopping.

In an eclectic city like Atlanta, diverse shopping and cultural experiences abound. It was nevertheless surprising what a small area family found on an after-church outing two weeks after Easter not far from numerous of the city’s most prominent churches and cathedrals. Richard’s Variety Store at 2347 North Peachtree Rd., N.E., in large part a toy store and prominently listed as child-friendly on local websites, is marketing a line of novelty products mocking Christianity, apparently aimed at children and teens. The retailer carries numerous items manufactured by Blue Q of Pittsfield, Massachusetts from its two anti-Christian lines, “Looking Good for Jesus” and “Wash Away Your Sins.” The “Looking Good for Jesus Fix-It-Kit” includes a mirror in a statue of Christ, lip balm that the product says will instill virtue, and “dazzling sparkle cream” it offers will “take the edge of sinning until your next hot date;” “redeem your reputation” and help you get “tight with Christ.” After-dinner breath mints (made by another company), featuring Jesus and his disciples, mock the last supper. What looks to be a children’s coin purse, featuring a rendering of Jesus, urges owners to “Show HIM the money.” Moist towelettes that the manufacturer touts when devoutly applied will “wipe away sins on contact,” can serve as an evangelistic tool to “help others save themselves.” The products are cleverly innocently packaged in style reminiscent of the 1960’s. The retro-styling and commercial sloganing appear key to the manufacturer’s marketing design. What is perhaps most shocking about Blue Q’s products is that they are not an attack on groups of Christians or alleged hypocrisy or excesses among the professing faithful. Instead, the products and packaging target Christianity’s central tenants, as well as the object of the faith Himself. The person of Christ in His ability to forgive sins and perform miracles, Christian sacraments and practices such as the Eucharist and tithing, are unabashedly ridiculed. Though there are “Belief in God,” and “Convert to Judaism” cosmetic sticks in Richard’s Variety’s two eye-level displays at the front of the store, noticeably absent is any negative product or references to Mohammad, Islam, or non-Judeo-Christian religions, obviously not so offensive. In contemporary society in which coarseness and irreverence seem comfortably edgy, not much is left standing between Christian sensibilities and the First Amendment. Two things, however, possibly remain—common decency and good taste. Blue Q and its retail outlets should perhaps draw a lesson from the Joe Camel cigarette and marijuana-tasting Pot Sucker marketing campaigns of the past. In these, irate customers forced offensive products marketed towards youth off store shelves. In the future, distancing themselves from these anti-Christian novelties may require more of Blue Q and participating retailers than a fix-it-kit, after-dinner mint or a sin-wiping moist towelette.

Bought several sets of Rook Cards and all of them were faulty. They were obviously defective. The manager and sales clerk refused to take them back. I strongly urge people to take a second look, before buying from Richard's Variety Store in Buckhead.