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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
The first winner of a new award for excellence in customer service has been named in Fort Smith.

Cam Phillips, the long-time manager of Evans Home Hardware in Fort Smith, has received an award for excellence in customer service. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The recipient is Cam Phillips, manager of Evans Home Hardware.

The award was launched in mid-July by the Tourism and Trade Advisory Board of the Town of Fort Smith and the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce 2012.

"It was pretty amazing," said Phillips of receiving the award.

The store manager, who said the honour had come as a surprise, said he learned he had won the award during a September phone call from Mayor Janie Hobart.

Phillips said he "absolutely" strives to offer good customer service.

"You want everybody to be happy when they leave your business, because you want repeat business," he said.

All customers want to be treated well, he added. "They don't want to come into a store and be disappointed and walk away. You try to fill their needs and give any information that they require. You try to help as much as you can and they're going to walk away happy."

Phillips noted he wants to be treated the same way.

The 54-year-old, who has worked at Evans Home Hardware since 1981, also explained he offers good service for another couple of reasons.

"I love my job for one thing," he said. "I love Fort Smith. I love the people that live here."

Phillips first moved to Fort Smith in 1979 from British Columbia.

"I'm a meat cutter by trade," he recalled, noting he worked in that profession for a year in Fort Smith and a year in Yellowknife.

Then he returned to Fort Smith and started working at the Home Hardware, even though he had no experience in the hardware business.

"I've been here ever since," he said, adding he became manager of the store a few years after starting to work there.

Along with running the Home Hardware store, Phillips owns a separate Husqvarna sales and service business. That started as part of the Home Hardware, but he bought it about two and a half years ago and moved it to a different location.

Phillips said he is at his own business as required.

"During the day, I could be back and forth," he said, noting he also spends time at his own business in the evening.

Phillips thinks the new award for excellence in customer service is a good idea.

"It's good for the community," he said. "It builds a little bit of hustle and bustle, and people think about it, about who they're working with and dealing with. It's kind of neat."

Members of the public can nominate people for the monthly award and the winner is chosen by a three-person committee.

Nominations for the first winner were accepted until the end of August and 15 to 20 suggestions were received.

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