A
reader in Chicago writes:

I thought
you might want to pass along the following information via your website. My
husband and I ordered furniture from the Bellini store located in Chicago, IL 2
months ago. I tried calling them yesterday to follow-up on a item and was
surprised when they didn’t answer their phone during business hours (with no
machine/recording indicating why). When the same thing happened today we decided
to drive by the store to find that it had been padlocked from the inside (though
oddly all the lights were on) with no indication (i.e., signs) as to why they
were closed during normal business hours. I immediately tried calling the other
Chicagoland location and similiarly no one picked up and their was no recording.
Not surprising since they are apparently owned by the same
person.

I
called a couple of the corporate stores throughout the country (they are
independent franchises but I learned through calling stores in other states that
there are a few that are corporate stores in the New York area) and no one had
any information/knowledge about the Chicago stores. Interestingly enough, when I
called the Scarsdale NY location, the woman asked me if I had called the
Connecticut location (which I had not) so I guess I am not the only person
catching on. When I mentioned the potential reputational impact to the national
reputation, she said that she hoped that “she hoped he wouldn’t be that stupid.”
I take it she was referring to the owner of the Chicago store and the
possibility that he intends to leave his customers in a major lurch with no
communication.


Needless to say we have already disputed our
deposit charges with our credit card company and we fortunately have a little
bit of time to get this resolved before we need the nursery furniture (I am due
end of January but the baby will be in a bassinet for the first bit), but I
would like to get the word out to other Chicago patrons so they can take
appropriate action as well.


Ironically, the Chicago Bellini took over the
old Cradles of Distinction space, which closed down without notice, taking a lot
of innocent parents money with it……


Thanks for
listening.