The Kingfisher & The Queen — Local services in Damariscotta

If I owned this beautiful little shop, and it was left in charge of someone treating customers the way we were treated, I’d want to know it ASAP. I’ve loved Damariscotta for 41 years, shopped here since childhood, and this is the first time I’ve been treated like this.

The shop itself was perfection. Curated beautifully, artfully, magically, nostalgically, joyfully, and with much care. My experience in it was not joyful.

The woman working here on the morning of Saturday, August 10th, 2024, (she had straight, mid-length hair, was wearing a black dress, accessorized with a glacial expression) didn’t want us or our children in this store, and she let us know this with an over-the-top display of unfriendliness and a cold, distrustful side-eye the whole time. I’ve never felt more unwanted in a store, ever.

My sister and I and our three boys (two five year olds and one nine year old) got to this shop at exactly 10am, opening time. It was closed. We waited a few more minutes but were crowding the sidewalk, so we browsed other shops for a bit, without issue, met with smiles by shopkeepers at each one.

Eventually, we got back to The Kingfisher & The Queen. It was open! Hooray! One of our five year olds immediately dropped an item before I’d even made it across the threshold. The item didn’t break and it was not damaged (if it had been damaged, we’d have bought it, because we’re reasonable people who do the right thing). The woman tending the shop immediately, coldly, said “Please be careful, some of these things are very old.” The tone in which she said this had a “Why the heck would you take three little boys into this shop, you morons?” feel to it, topped with a hearty sprinkling of condescension. Alrighty, understood. Yikes.

Mistakes happen. We are careful, respectful people who’ve done our best to raise our kids to be that way too, but sometimes little kids get excited and SOMETIMES they just drop things. The kids were being curious, not destructive. They were curious and excited because the shop WAS SO AMAZING. But from that point on, I noticed we kept getting cold, unfriendly glances from the woman keeping shop. A LOT of cold, unfriendly glances. Like, every time I looked over she’d quickly look back down. Not a hint of a smile the whole time. And every time my nine year old, a good kid who happened to be wearing an oversized sweatshirt, went off by himself to look at something interesting (which was a lot of things, because it’s a great collection of treasures), her eyes followed him, as though he were going to break or steal something. I saw her doing this. She WANTED me to see her watching him, I’m pretty sure. It was uncomfortable. We were being watched, and she was obvious about it to try to get us to leave. I kept asking my older son to stay closer us to accommodate her distrustfulness. It was a bad feeling, and she was obvious about not liking us.

This shop experience just plain sucked, and it was all because the woman working here made a snap judgment about us because a five year old kid accidentally dropped something on our way in. Immediately, she saw us as bad parents with annoying, uncontrollable little kids. I wasn’t dressed like I was from the Hamptons or like a top IG influencer (it was the end of our trip and we’ve all seen that Norman Rockwell painting), and because of our suitcase-y vibe, perhaps we were also seen as low-class and suspicious.

I said “Bye, thank you” as I do to all shopkeepers when I leave a store, whether I’ve bought something or not. She didn’t bother looking up from her notepad and tossed out an icy “Thank you.” It had a “Just leave” tone to it. And that was our last stop before heading off to the Jetport.

It’s two days later, I’m 1500 miles away, but the trip into this store and the experience with that woman still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

The shop itself was perfection. Curated with a loving eye. But I think that woman needs to do some soul searching while watching the waves at the Point, or maybe just take a minute and get...

I rated my experience a year ago when we visited, but in light of recent reviews, I'd like to elaborate.

My family and I visited the shop in November of '23 on our way home to Portland with our toddler. We were very excited to visit the store and were feeling festive as this was our first holiday shopping of the season. I had heard so many great things about the Christmas themed wonderland the stop transforms into so we were especially excited. Looking back, we regret bringing our young, overtired child into the shop, and unfortunately, he quickly broke one of the ornaments that was in a basket on the floor. We asked if we could pay the wholesale price for the ornament, as $45 wasn't what we had planned to spend on an ornament. Being that it was a hand-painted and handmade ornament, we were told we had to pay the full price. After telling us this, one of the owners actually offered to throw it away for us. When I got home, I found the same handmade, glass-blown, hand-painted ornament from Poland on Etsy for $29.65.

After learning from my husband that we were paying the full price, I still kept shopping and spent over $300. However, throughout my shopping experience, I felt bummed and definitely not festive. When I left the store and even into the next day, I felt disappointment surrounding the whole experience. Even an adult could accidentally kick a basket of very expensive ornaments being stored on the floor. I know we were in the wrong by accidentally breaking the ornament, but even a small gesture- $10 off- would have left me feeling so much more positive about my experience and like they were working with me to ensure this. I always try to support small and local businesses, however, I won't be recommending this store based on our experience.

I actually sent most of the above review in an email the following week and didn't even get a response, which seems like customer service 101. And, we did not take the owner up on his offer to throw the ornament away. So this year, our broken Bravarian cow will hang proudly on our...

With great sadness I write this review...this store is so beautiful and everytime I travel from Washington state to Maine I spend hundreds of dollars there. I loved this store! But the truth came out as we visited a couple weeks ago in September 2024. I had my sisters and daughter with me and I was holding my baby grandson in my arms. I was playing a little kids video on my phone, quietly, to entertain him as we shopped, and the owner of the shop came and told me I had to turn it off immediately. I have always liked the vibe of the shop, so I was really trying to be respectful and quiet, but the owner was not willing to be respectful of her customers who spend their money in her shop. She clearly does not like children in her shop, because she made my skin crawl. The baby was not crying or a bother, but she was very rude to make me turn off my phone...sheez. The most ironic thing is that the back room of the shop is dedicated to children's items... books, toys, clothes, etc. So the owner should probably gut that room and not sell to children since she clearly doesnt like them. This beautiful shop has very ugly...