Stonewall Kitchen, Family of Brands — Local services in Kittery

If you are familiar with the Stonewall Kitchen Outlet stores (such as the one in Kittery), you probably also know that they have huge blowout sales a few times a year (usually in conjunction with three-day weekends, i.e. Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, etc.). You could score some great discounts on items that are about to hit their expiration date, first-quality items in which the label was not perfectly aligned on the product, or items that aren't up to snuff - such as jams that were runnier than they should be. All of these items were greatly reduced in price, and the best feature was that you'd get an additional 25% discount on your entire purchase. Sadly, like many other things these days, the good times are no longer. Gone are the major markdowns. Outlet items are now priced at just a slight discount from regular retail. Also gone is the 25% discount. Now it's only 20% And the wide and varied merchandise selections the Outlet stores used to have, has been reduced to just a handful of different items. At first I thought that founders Jonathan and Jim were facing economic pressures and maybe made these pricing moves with a great deal of reluctance, lest they tick-off their longtime customers. Alas, that isn't the case. Jonathan and Jim sold the company to a venture capital firm (TA Associates) a while back. Good for them. It was a thirty-year journey for them and the thought of retiring with financial security must have been very appealing. Heck, none of us are getting any younger. Although I have no first-hand knowledge of this, I always had the impression that Jonathan and Jim successfully balanced the growth of the company with treating their employees well, making high-quality products accessible to a large chunk of the population (without getting all snooty about the brand), and managed to pay themselves modestly. I never had the impression that they were out to screw the customer and squeeze every last penny from their pockets. I also think this helped to generate a significant customer loyalty to the brand. Now that the company is being run by nameless faceless venture capitalists the change is evident. I doubt any of the senior management at TA Associates makes regular visits to Stonewall Kitchen retail locations. Rather, they're motivated by greed; squeezing as much money from Stonewall as they can while watching Stonewall become an empty shell of what it was under Jonathan and Jim. All I can say is that a visit to the Stonewall Outlet location in Kittery is no longer part of my July 4th or...

I recently had an unfortunate experience at Stonewall Kitchen that I felt compelled to share regarding the store manager, Leslie. We were excited to explore the store, known for its wonderful selection of gourmet foods and kitchen supplies. However, our visit quickly turned sour when we approached manager Leslie with a simple request. We asked her to confirm the price on an item we were interested in purchasing. Instead of providing the information in a friendly manner, Leslie's demeanor was unexpectedly rude and dismissive rolling her eyes. Her tone felt condescending, and we left the interaction feeling unwelcome and frustrated. Customer service is a crucial aspect of any retail experience, and it's disheartening when a manager sets a...

We arrived at 5:55 PM not knowing that the store closed at 6:00 PM. The young girl quickly closed the door in front of us without speaking to us or even looking at us. This approach was very rude. When we tried to tell her that a simple greeting with a mention of the closing time would have been appreciated, she looked at us in a degrading manner and made an obscene gesture. We were completely taken aback by the rudeness of this act. We loved your candles, but this experience with your customer service makes us reluctant to return. I hope this person receives proper customer...