HouseMart Ben Franklin Crafts — Attraction in Oʻahu

Why is this place so expensive? I originally went here to pick up some colored 550 cord as I couldn't find it in the colors I wanted anywhere else. When checking out, the girl asked me if I wanted to join their Ben Franklin's Club. Sure. Why not?! I gave her my address and signed the form. When I got home and realized that we bought too much cord I looked at the receipt and saw that the Club I joined was a paid membership! WHAT THE HECK?! Why didn't the cashier tell me that? Here I am, thinking it's like the Kmart, Longs, or Walgreen type Club. You get the card and get savings or whatever. Man, I was pissed. But what could I have done at that point.

I knew that I wouldn't have used the Membership enough to constitute buying it. So when I finally returned to that place NINE months later to return the cord (I told you that I wouldn't use the membership), I tried to pick up some of the items I needed for Christmas from there using my 10% discount or whatever it is. I couldn't even do that. The prices on their items are so inflated that even with the discount, it wasn't worth it. I totaled the prices of what I needed there with my discount and it came out to about $27. We went to Walmart the same day and picked up the same exact items I needed in a bigger quantity than offered at Ben Franklins and spend $7. Seven dollars... I know you can all do math but I just want to emphasize that it's a TWENTY dollar difference!!!

Bottom line, I took the loss on the stupid membership that they tricked me into purchasing. Unless I absolutely cannot find it at Walmart or Amazon, I suppose I will buy it from here (within reason). Otherwise, I'm just going to save my...

Customer service here is ridiculously awful and rude. Starting from the manager! I went today and got overcharged for three things, one was scanned three times and one item that I had no idea where they added from. I noticed at the door and came back to inform the one cashier was available that happened to be the manager and she told me with a rude manner to go and make the line again, a long line that I already went through at the first place and went overcharged. My purchase was fixed and the cashier that made the mistake, say in a rude tone thank you! It was a wow for me, so you make a customer go through all of this and expect to say thank you to you? What kind of training will you expect if the manager is being rude at the first place. I have been a long time customer at Kapiolani Store and they were always helpful, and the most important respectful, but this one is the worst customer service ever. Expect a long line, not trained cashiers and double check your purchase, they are not...

Finding the store is easy, finding parking is not, walking in you're greeted with a few local small business vendors which is always nice to see, then the first few steps in the store you can tell it had a crowded feeling without hardly anyone there. The store covers a lot of the "craft" part but as far as selection of different brands is very limited on top of being over priced for what it is, and don't get me started on their discounts(not properly displayed and have to ask all the time what the actual price would be) if you buy from here it is for timing and convenience. The store needs to upgrade its flooring and install AC, Hawaii is already hot... the two fans in the store are not enough to keep proper air flow. It's surprising that there were people still in this store, maybe because it's the only craft store nearby. I will stick with Amazon for my crafting needs until this...