Flying Smiles Kites — Attraction in Corolla

My mom, daughter and I visited this kite store because I was excited to find a kite shop that wasn't kitty hawk kites. It seems like a nice store in terms of the stock they have and my daughter was enjoying looking at all the little brain games they had.

It all went down hill when my mom found a little stencil kit thay she was considering buying for my kids. I was next to my mom and she said "look at this, its cute!" Then she felt something poking out of the box, so she opened it up to see what it was. This box wasn't taped closed, it was a velcro box, so my mom did not break a seal or rip the box. Where we were standing was directly across from the register counter, so its not like we were hiding in a corner in an attempt to steal anything either.

As soon as the box opened, the lady at the counter, presumably the owner, said, "Here, I would prefer to open items in the store". Which would have been fine if she stopped there, but she went on...."its become a thing lately thay people open items, i dont know why thats a thing. I dont understand why people think it's ok to open things." It felt like she was talking to a toddler, very demeaning and chastising. My mom was still looking at the contents of the stencil kit at the counter bc she was trying to see the type of stencils that came with it, whether they were sturdy plastic or just the thin ones. When she picked up the plastic bag thay contained the stencils, she made sure to tell the lady she wouldnt open them and that she was just looking.

Needless to say, we left the store without buying anything and on the way out my mom just said "you need to fix some things here, you're not very nice"

The owner proceeded to follow us out of the store and said "ma'am, when youre opening things in someone elses store....." and I told her that my mom had already explained to her that the sharpener was poking out of the box and we were leaving.

The whole things was a bit ridiculous over a stencil kit. You would think it was an expensive jewelry store or an art gallery. This was the type of store with things out for you to explore hands on because you have vacationers and kids coming in an out of stores. If she didn't want us to be there because it was 730 and they closed at "8ish", she should have just said so when we walked in. I've ran through all the possible reasons in my head of what she possibly thought my mom was going to do with this package and I just cant make sense of it.

-we were out in the open (no stealing) it was a velcro seal in the box (not destroying the box) -she was a grown woman (not a kid ripping something open) -we were the only ones in the store (last sale of the night potentially) -close to closing (communicate that with us) -once my mother was compliant in bringing the item, that should have been the end of the box commentary. To go in with the "some people" remarks was unnecessary

I will say, there was a man who greeted us when we came in who was very friendly and did not chime in on the stencil shenanigans.

Speaking directly to the owner in the blue glasses--you need to think about the golden rule "treat others like you would like to be treated" because this was unnecessary stress on all those involved,...

My wife and I were on vacation in the outer banks and I’ve been wanting to get better kite line for my big octopus kite. Kitty Hawk didn’t have want I wanted so we stumbled across Flying Smiles, and man am I glad we did. Elliot is an awesome guy. He taught my wife and me so much more in 15 minutes of talking with him than we had in the almost 2 years we have been flying kites. Elliot got me set up with this 500# line for my octopus that has never flown as good as it did with the new heavier line. I hate we live so far away from Flying Smiles, but we will definitely be ordering from their...

This place is incredible! Do yourself a favor….skip the other big name store up the road and go here instead! Owner was so very knowledgeable, helpful, and willing to fix two of my kites very quickly. The other ‘big name place’ 2 miles south (and with several locations through OBX) had horrible customer service and had employees that had no clue!

The owners are amazing, friendly, can do just about any kite fix on site, and has so many amazing kites to offer. And, there are so many cool games in this store! Go visit!!! By far best kite store and most knowledgeable...