Dock Square Emporium — Local services in Kennebunkport

Dear Owner,

My wife and I were in your store on Sunday, September 29, 2024 around 5:00pm and had a horrible experience with one of your employees. I hope that it was not you.

We wanted to find some cards to write a nice note to our room steward and servers on our cruise ship. We found some in your store and proceeded to purchase them. There were two ladies at the counter, one was black the other was white. The black lady waited on me and told me how much I owed and I said that I hope she could change a $50 bill because that was all I had. The other lady very rudely, loudly and angerly said “why is that all you have?” I explained that we were on a cruise and that’s all I had.

She then let me have it in an even angrier and louder voice stating “that we are not a bank and that the cruise ships should tell you that before getting off the ship and that the banks are closed on Sunday’s.” I was furious but held my cool the best I could and said “would you like for me to take my business somewhere else?” She turned her back to me and continued to voice her anger towards me. The other lady gave me my change of about $38, which didn’t seem to be a problem, but didn’t say a word. I took my change and purchase and left your business with a very sour taste in my mouth and angry. I realize that it was a Sunday and that the banks were closed, but she didn’t have to be so rude about it and it didn’t seem to be an issue in the long run.

I have a couple of observations and comments about that situation: First of all, that is no way to treat tourists that come into your business and I’m assuming tourists are the bulk of your business. If you know there are cruise ships in port then I would think that you would have enough money on hand on a Sunday to cover any contingency. In fact, there were 8 buses full of passengers just from our ship in town that day and I saw another 4 not from our ship.

Secondly, your employee needs to be sent to customer service training on how to handle situations like this and how to control her anger. Perhaps if she had said something like, you know this is Sunday and we normally do not have a lot of cash on hand because the banks are closed. But we will see what we can do. That would not have escalated the encounter. Your employee owes me and her co-worker an apology and should be disciplined.

Thirdly, I wanted to tell her that I was a retired State Trooper from Texas who worked under President George W. Bush when he was our governor and that he grew up as my backyard neighbor when we were kids for a little while and that I’m sure he would not appreciate her treating me or anyone else that way. I know Laura would not.

There is one thing for sure, I will never set foot in your business...

On our weekend trip to Kennebunkport, we stopped in this larger souvenir and novelty shop to check it out. There is a ton of different gifts, everything from shot glasses to name brand sunglasses. Hats, shirts, postcards, magnets, spoons, you name it, they have it. There were a ton of political items, but it was pretty equally distributed between respective political affiliations, which was nice to see. What we really enjoyed was about 30 minutes of talking to the owner, sharing stories, and just getting to know how Covid has impacted the town and the shops. That's what makes traveling fun for us, is getting to meet new people like him. I was glad to spend my money here, supporting business...

What a wonderful gift shop! I've been coming to Kennebunk every summer for the past 7 years and I've walked by Dock Square Emporium a million times, but never really went in to shop. I spent the morning killing time by popping into the different shops in the port while my boyfriend was golfing and decided to go in here! They have such cute gifts and even better than the beautiful products was the friendly and happy service!! I own a retail store myself and hold customer service and experience to a very high regard. I bought a gift for my sister and something for myself too. I was so happy with the experience that I will definitely be back! Highly recommend this...