Sam & Winston — Local services in Manteo

While vacationing on 7/2 my husband and I took our 2 daughters to this store to look for jellycats mid afternoon. Immediately upon entering the store I noticed the woman working right at the front of the store. She was slowly walking around the front, saw us come in, but zero words were spoken to us. Just an unfriendly glare in our direction. We headed to the back of the store to look. During this time I noted the woman was standing behind the counter staring/glaring at us. It was incredibly uncomfortable. Our girls took their time selecting what they wanted (and stayed only in the jellycat area)and we headed to the counter with $100 worth of jellycats. At check out not one single word was spoken to me by the woman. The only words she spoke was when she said my total. That was it. Not a “did you find everything ok?” or a “thanks so much for stopping in and shopping”. Literally not a word, even as we left. Stone cold silence and rude looks our entire time in the store. I’ve been thinking about this interaction for a few days now and went to read the store reviews on here. Not something I’d usually seek out for a small store. However now that I’ve looked, the other reviews seem to align with my experience. Yikes! Cute store full of nice stuff, but customer experience is a big flat zero. Who runs a small business and is this rude towards...

Beautiful store. I am a tourist and bought four of the same book to give to my grandchildren as somewhat of a legacy. It is a motivational book where quotes are associated with specific people. I thumbed through the book prior to purchase. When I got home I noticed some quotes from people who represent themselves in the media as un-American. One, specifically, is Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. I will not have my grandchildren exposed to her or anything about her. I called the store to find out that they will not accept return on any books. Shame on me for not reading the book, first. Then the rudeness came out from the sales clerk. I returned a book to Barnes and Noble once and had no problem. I incorrectly assumed Sam and Winston would be as good as they. Moral of the story, read the book before you buy from Sam...

Invest in the many other Manteo small businesses that build quality relationships with their customers. The girls that operate this store were extremely rude. I will not return.

The drink policy is ridiculous. There is no reason a grown adult should not be able to walk around a store with a drink, that also had a lid and straw. Unfortunately, I followed a group of people into the store and the tiny little sign was overlooked because the door was held open for me. A woman walked up to me and snatched my drink from me while saying “can I hold that for you”. Can I answer the question before you touch my belongings and snatch the cup from my hand? There are many other stores within the Manteo community that have better policies and mannered staff. Not worth...