Fantastic Umbrella Factory — Local services in Charlestown

Myself, my husband and a couple we are friends with visited in mid August of this year, with our then 3 month old grandson. The garden was closed which was a disappointment because that's what we traveled there to see. The shops were cute but there were a few employees that I didnt feel like they wanted to be bothered. There were odd signs all over about stealing that I think were over-kill & kind of rude. There were ALOT of signs everywhere. I bought a handmade ring & bracelet from one shop, a Halloween decoration from another & feather clips and a sea shell light from another. Our friends bough our grandson a tie die t-shirt that was very cute & they purchased other things, jewelry etc. It was a hippie haven, patchouli oil & all. The incident that made the rating so low was as I was walking with my grandson by the henna tattoo woman she spotted people smoking a cigarette.((not me)) Personally, I agree, people shouldn't smoke at places like that. It's a farm! All of the other people, children, animals & the plants its a no. But this place had very few people that day & the way she went about it was all wrong. Infront of her maybe 10 year old daughter she proceeded to yell & insult them. They said they were sorry & that they had seen no signs...I had honestly saw no signs about smoking either. She said there were signs & asked them if they couldn't read, if they were stupid, going on & on. Eventually I said to her, they said they were sorry & that there was a nicer way to say things to people without being so rude. She said, Who do you think you are my boss! FYI this is a like a 40ish adult woman. On the way out of the main store I told the cashier in there about the exchange. She says, ya that sounds like so & so, thats something she would do. What happened to customer service or word of mouth, or just common courtesy? I take photos and a few days later II started editing the photos from there on my camera. One of the photos of an old truck they put "don't touch me" signs, up in the upper right corner is a No Smoking drawing Lol I may go back just to see if all the no smoking signs were drawn on the other...

The Fantastic Umbrella Factory is not so fantastic. The grounds outside were very pretty and we did walk around and snap pictures. We were surprised that a store open through the Fall did not have pretty pumpkins scattered around which would have been lovely. We walked inside and were awestsruck at the unwelcome, cold feel we had as the teenager working behind the counter sat, did not look up once to welcome us, say hello, and continued to text the whole time we were there with a miserable look on her face. Her people skills lacked and we left not 5 min later., not only because we were uncomfortable but the pictures on their website are not at all like the store we walked through. They had very limited products., boring blah stuff and the store did not have the products seen in the pictures above on the web site as I remember it years ago. ..it was very different than we remember it being @ our last visit. The Cafe was closed which made no sense on a crisp, Fall day. Coffee would have been perfect to drink & sit on the pretty benches. We were not impressed. I was here in this store many times in the past and spent much time browsing..and buying...this was a huge disappointment. As I read all the reviews that were positive & negative, the owners actually came back answering with sarcastic responses to the people who were not impressed with the place and said so. Not everyone is going to love your store's so accept it gracefully as a...

How do I put into words the fun time I had here? It won't be easy, but I'll do my best.

I wound up finding something that fits my style in every store I went into - Frills, The General Store, Small Axe Productions, the candy store - but ask me which store here was my favorite, and I'll be like, "Do you eat just one potato chip outta the whole bag??" Every store I went into just oozed cool. Seriously, I'm pretty sure you can't find places like this any place else on the planet.

Also checking out Small Axe Productions and saying "This is my first time here", and the lady at the register says "We welcome you" - that shows that they really appreciate your business. Not to mention I walk into The General Store and just happen to find the exact Alice Cooper poster I had been trying to find for at least a few years, and it was sitting right there in a bin of concert posters for ten dollars!! So yeah, I bought it.

I also wanted to mention the greenhouse is simply wild!! I am a MAJOR garden geek, so I had to get some coleus for my shade garden. Equally wild and tranquil is the Bamboo Forest, and the chickens following me around like dogs was the funniest thing that happened to me this week.

Simply put, if you're looking for a fun afternoon out to avoid the dreaded matching of the socks, this place is it. I am definitely...