Art Dept. — Attraction in Idyllwild-Pine Cove

I'm not sure what happened during my visit. I was walking around the town during my short retreat in Idyllwild when I came upon this place earlier today. I looked through the windows at the pottery place and the art supply store, thinking I will need to stop here during my next trip. A sign in the window read that the businesses were closed on Wednesday. I now realize I was mistakenly looking at a sign that was just for the pottery studio, because when driving by a little later, I was happy to see the door to the art supply store was open!

I went inside and said to the woman working, "I was just by a little while ago and thought you weren't going to be open. I was so happy to see the door open just now!" She snapped at me in a very nasty tone, "There's a large sign in the window. It says 11 to 5 everyday." Wow! It was rude, mean, and hurtful. After she snapped like that, the place felt chilly. I was actually shaken by the response. It was so unexpected. I thought of just leaving, but considered that maybe I said something wrong or came off offensive in some way? I also thought maybe she wasn't feeling well or had a bad morning or something, so I decided to look around a little. I found some beautiful watercolors. I almost didn't buy them, because I didn't want another hostile encounter, but thought I could try and mend things when I went up to make my purchase. I was friendly went I went up and made some genuinely complimentary remarks about the place, but the woman wanted nothing to do with me. She was looking at her phone or something on the counter. It was clear I was bothering her. Although she responded to me, she was clearly angry. This was a terrible experience.

I sat in my car for a little while after wondering what just happened. Could it have been my older age that made her dismissive and angry toward me? What did I do? It was so bad that I...

I was so excited to have art store open in town. My experience today was absolutely awful. The sales woman was extremely rude, unhelpful and sat behind the desk and ate her food the entire time. My children and I were gathering goodies and probably would have spent $50-60 on over priced art supplies and my 6 yr old needed to use the bathroom. We went next door to the pottery place and of course they would not let us use the bathroom. The lady at the pottery place said “they have one at the art store”. We went back to the art store she rudely told us no we do not have a bathroom. I am not going to give my money to rude employees who won’t let a 6yr old who can not wait to get to town to use the bathroom. We were paying customers! beware of their rude employees and over priced art supplies. I will not be returning and it’s a shame because we spent $100 last time and would have made it a regular stop when we come to our cabin.

Marla: replying to you feed back about my experience. I appreciate your response but find it amusing that at no point when I asked her multiple times about a bath room did she let me know there was a option to go to the hardware store next door. Your employee firmly told me there is no bathroom and I would have to go to town. She was rude from the get go. I don’t know if it because I interrupted her lunch or she just didn’t like my children. Whatever the situation was, she made me feel like she wanted us gone from the min...

I am not much of an artist, but I do appreciate a creative piece when I see one. What better way to connect to your inner artist than by visiting the Art Dept. in the relaxing fresh air of Idyllwild?

The store is very tidy. Not just tidy from an Idyllwild standpoint (because that wouldn't be saying a whole lot--no offense Idy ily) but tidy in a, 'I don't think I have been to a cleaner art store than this one period' standpoint.

My girlfriend and I love stopping in to see what neat finds they have whenever we pay a visit. There is sure to be something that piques your interest, whether just looking for gifts for a friend or to pick up a fun new coloring book!

I simply loved the little mountain hikers/mini mountain on display from my most recent visit. Really cool. I wonder what cool art I'll...