LOLA Monterey — Local services in Monterey

I went into this store after a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with my 3 year old daughter and a friend. We were very drawn to how cute the store was and the unique selection of gifts. If I am rating the atmosphere of the store, I would easily give it a 5/5. However, this review speaks to the way I was treated in the store. In the back of the store, there is a section for children's books and toys. The toys are displayed in a way that is easily accessible to children. Naturally, my daughter was amazed at the selection and picked up a box that contained a truck and a car. There is an opening in the box so you can feel the cars and truck and the opening is big enough that the car could slip out if the tiny piece of cardboard shifted an inch. This is exactly what happened. Immediately, the woman working in the store (medium height, brown hair and glasses) said "Excuse me Ma'am your child opened this box and the toy came out of the box so I am going to have to ring you up for that" I responded "Oh I'm so sorry, can I put the car back inside the box?" to which she said in a rude condescending tone "No, I am going to have to ring you up for this since it has come out of the box" and I didn't want to put up a fight, so I said "ok, that's fine" I hadn't finished looking through the store, but I had a post card in my hand that I wanted to purchase and she said again in a rude tone " Um... are you planning to pay for that too?" pointing to the post card... I was so dumbfounded so I said "I wasn't done looking yet, but yes I am going to pay for this" and just ended up paying for everything and leaving. I never saw a sign that said "do not touch toys unless you plan to purchase them" also why would you leave them where children can reach them if you don't want them to touch them?? THIS IS NOT A CHILD FRIENDLY STORE SO PLEASE STOP SELLING ITEMS FOR CHILDREN... OR HAVE A SIGN AT THE FRONT SAYING ADULTS ONLY. I'm still thinking of this horrible experience and I have let it sit for 3 days before deciding to write...

I had such a disappointing experience at Lola in Monterey. The store staff asks shoppers to put wet umbrellas in a bucket in the front of the store. I followed the rule. Another shopper stole my umbrella. I spoke to the store manager and she refused to replace my umbrella, despite that the store sells umbrella’s for $10. Why risk negative press over an item the store paid $5 for? The manager was condescending and unempathetic that I had an item stolen while following the store rules. She told me I was welcome not to shop in their store if I didn’t like the policy - a very disappointing attitude for a locally...

Really cute store with one of the better collections of Monterey branded cards, calendars, posters and other gifts. Most are from Lantern Press but there are other local artists.

The card collection is really good. They also have a pretty good selection of toys to play in the car on your way home from your vacation.

I'm not sure if they have regular hours and there are times we stop by and the store is closed, but that is not uncommon for a lot of the stores in the...