MOSCOW — Liza Harwood ran into a couple she knows on a Friday night at Tri-State Outfitters, the Moscow store where she is the manager. The pair told her that any time they have a date night, it’s not complete until they browse through the aisles at Tri-State. Put a different way — they shop at Tri-State to have fun, something they share with a huge portion of the store’s customers regardless of what winds up in their carts, Harwood said.
People purchasing firearms could be preparing for a hunting trip, she said. College students might be splurging on a pair of shoes made by UGG or Birkenstock, two of the upper-end brands Tri-State carries. Someone stopping by on a lunch break from work might leave with an inexpensive, small luxury like a bag of Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels.
That dynamic is one of the best parts of the job she took seven months ago, Harwood said. Bringing even more joy to the shopping at Tri-State has been one of her priorities in her new role, she said. “This is (the customers’) extra money and we want them to have that experience that’s just awesome,” said Harwood, who has held management positions at Safeway, Bed Bath & Beyond and Bath & Body Works.
“That’s just what I try to do as a store manager, is to foster that relationship with employees so that they can deliver that level of service to customers,” she said. I spoke with Harwood about the vast inventory TriState carries, how the store functions, and the work she and her employees .
