Into The Wind — Attraction in Boulder

About a year ago my parents found a kite in storage that was mine and I had never flown. It was brand new in the carry case. It was missing some spars. I contacted intothewind as I have bought all my kites from them. Jeff replied back and said his team had identified the kite as a Starflake that they had sold many years ago. I was ecstatic because the kite was in brand new condition but missing the spars. Jeff told me it would cost about $60 to make custom fiberglass tubes and some ferrules and some end caps and this beauty would be sailing across the skies in no time. Many months went by and no word of the progress. I assumed they were busy as Jeffy mentioned and this would take some time. I didn't realize by time Jeff meant a year or two. I emailed Jeff once again and politely asked for an update, Jeff replied that he had only a couple people working there and they were very busy with other tasks and my little repair job be dammed. I was appalled to say the least, so I waited many more months. Today I called and spoke to Justin, he was very nice. Justin put me on hold and went to check the status of my Starflake kite. When Justin came back on the line all he could tell me was that the kite is still there and no work on it has been done to date and that they have no plans now or in the future and that was final. My Gorgeous Starflake has Died, My Heart is so sad. I will never buy another kite from this company ever. I used to order extra catalogs and hand them out to all my friends and rave about intothewind. Never Again !! Rest in Peace my Little Starflake !! I can only pray that Jeff ends up selling pencils on a corner somewhere. ...

They didn’t hit the mark today. I popped in to buy my boyfriend last minute stocking stuffers for Christmas Day. Once I arrived I noticed very soon on that some of the staff members scurried behind the front desk to follow me around and watch my every move. I became uncomfortable and quite frankly a little distracted with my shopping. Usually I’m greeted with really great hospitality while browsing at a store. They didn’t even ask me if there was something I was looking for - they were just weirdly lurking on me. I was totally perplexed and when I went up to the register with my items the middle aged gentleman with the glasses had a very flat and and suspicious vibe. I spent my 44 bucks and left. On my way out I made sure to tell him to have a great day. I work in the service industry - so I know how to treat people and know how I should be treated when out and about. I get that it’s pearl and a lot of questionable people come through - but please don’t treat your patrons like this who are clearly there to spend money on a local business during this trying time. Jeeze - next time I won’t go by myself in order for me to have a better experience or maybe I won’t come at all and spend my money elsewhere. This is where I come every year for last minute gifts for my boyfriend - if I come next year, fix your vibe. Not...

As a content creator that focuses mainly on toys and fidget toys, I was super excited to go to Into The Wind to go fidget / toy hunting as I grew up with this store in my hometown. Went in, spent about 150 bucks, only to realize that many of the toys / fidgets were broken before even unboxing. Many of the packages were somewhat warped / shoddily taped up , which should have been a red flag. As someone who is very familiar with the standard pricing on similar items, I found their pricing to be absolutely outrageous on many items, but I was happy to pay these prices to support a local business as long as, well, when I get home, half of it isn’t broken or taped up and clearly already opened or used at a previous point.

That being said, into the wind had many interesting, novel toy and options that I haven’t seen at other stores. The store has always has this cool, unique, interesting Knick-knacky vibe, and I loved that they had a broad selection of toys that included the weird, the obscure, the novel, the incredibly old school, and the popular all at once. It’s a great store for any toy or fidget connoisseur who is hunting for their next find, but I’d suggest just inspecting the packages thoroughly and opening while still inside of the store after purchase so that you can handle any issues with defective...