COLUMBUS, Ohio — Hargrove & Finch department stores announced Monday the full rollout of its redesigned Prestige Circle loyalty program, a tiered rewards structure that allows dedicated shoppers to earn their way toward a curated selection of additional marketing communications and, for the most committed members, a live telephone call from a store they cannot feasibly visit.

The program, described in a fourteen-page welcome brochure mailed to all existing customers regardless of consent, features three membership tiers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Silver members receive a birthday coupon that expires three days before their birthday. Gold members are granted early access to the company's secondary email newsletter, which differs from the primary newsletter primarily in font choice and a slightly more aggressive subject line.

Platinum status, achievable after spending $2,400 in a calendar year, unlocks what the company is calling its "most exclusive benefit to date": being telephoned between 5:30 and 7:45 p.m. on a weeknight by a Hargrove & Finch sales associate to discuss promotional events at the Tri-Cities location in Kingsport, Tennessee, approximately 340 miles from the nearest enrolled Platinum member.

"We really wanted the top tier to feel premium. Like, you've earned this call. You've worked for it."

"Our research showed that customers want to feel seen," said Pryce Wollenden, Hargrove & Finch's Vice President of Frictionless Engagement Optimization and Member Touchpoint Strategy. "And there's nothing that says 'we see you' quite like a phone call during dinner from someone who introduces themselves as 'reaching out on behalf of the Prestige Circle family.'"

Wollenden confirmed that Platinum members will also be pre-enrolled in the company's new Direct Relationship Post Programme, a weekly physical mailer described internally as "essentially the email newsletter but sadder."

Consumer response to the program has been mixed, with several members on the Hargrove & Finch community forum noting that they joined the loyalty program in 2019 to receive a one-time ten-percent discount on luggage and have been unable to locate an unsubscribe mechanism since.

Dr. Fenella Grout, Associate Professor of Incentive Architecture and Captive Audience Studies at the University of the Western Midlands Business Annex, said the program represents a "remarkably candid evolution" in retail loyalty design.

"Most programs at least obscure the fact that the reward is continued contact," Dr. Grout said. "Hargrove & Finch has essentially put 'we will not stop reaching out to you' on a laminated card and called it a benefit. There is something almost honest about it. Almost."

The company noted that members who wish to cancel their Prestige Circle membership may do so by visiting any Hargrove & Finch location, of which there are now eleven, down from forty-three at the time the program launched.