Alton Stained Glass Works — Local services in Alton

new to area so was excited to find someplace close to buy glass was in the shop helping a friend buy some glass for his 1st project ive been doing stained glass over 20yrs ive lived in many different places small town to large cities every glass shop im been to you could by scrape glass by the pound you can take a box an pick an fill but not at this shop we picked out 4 full sheets an now need a few pops of color so was looking through the two boxes of scraps box A an box B

the lady after watching us pick prices glass from box “A” that had lots mixed colors she came to say we cant pick our own out she would pick out what we could buy an she would fill box for us at .60cent a pound so we said we would buy 1lbs

she said well she only sales full boxes so we said ok then she filled box with glass from box “b” lots of brown tank n blah glass then did 6lbs an none of the glass worked with our project so we skipped we still bought 4 full sheets but she definitely lost a would be regular customer

she told us was basically she needed to make every dollar she can so profit before customer service this is one reason i dont like an cant support “local small business” having a regular customer is not as important than making $$$

i make large scale stained glass art would easily spend 500$ n up on glass but her pettiness over scrape glass lost her regular $$$ thankfully hobby lobby an a another glass shop i find will now...

Interesting way to do business. Stopped by midday on a Friday and the door was locked. Called the number and it went to voicemail. Knocked several times and waited in the entry for 10 min. We’ll walk around and will come back to see if someone will answer the door/call then.

*Follow-up: Came back about an hour later. The sign was still on the door, and it was still locked. A man on the street followed us to the door and had a key. (???) Upon letting us in, a woman came from somewhere in the back/upstairs and said something about stepping away and eye contacts.

We walked around. They do have some glass supplies to sell and some art. There is a massive window/door piece that is obviously contracted work being created. It is gorgeous. While we browsed, the woman checked her phone messages, and we heard the one that we left an hour earlier. (Hmmmm)

Would I travel from St.Louis/St.Charles to buy again? ...

These people are so cool! If you like stained glass and would like to try making stained glass art, I highly recommend this establishment! Everyone is super friendly and will help you with questions! Spent the night at the Tiffany Inn upstairs from the Glassworks store! Can I say the perfect place for a staycation! Suites are brimming with stained glass and antiques. The Garden is to die for.. cosy and full of statues...