Ben Gue Antiques & Gifts — Local services in Mount Airy

This business will not serve shoppers with children. I've never written this in a review before, but I strongly urge anyone thinking about purchasing anything from this store to continue on down Main street and patronize another establishment with ethical practices. This one is discriminatory towards shoppers with children.

I know this because this morning I went in to browse, and I brought my two year old daughter. She walked in with me, holding my hand, and immediately saw a basket on the floor, with plastic fruit in it. She sat down quietly and began pulling them out and counting them. I squatted down next to her, helping her count and checking out the store...

I was relieved- sometimes kids walk into a cluttered store like this one and start trying to touch everything- the more expensive the better. But this fruit reminded me of the baskets of fake fruit my old Italian aunts used to have on their dining room tables for decorations, and I was considering buying them for my daughter's play kitchen at home, since she liked them so much... she wasn't knocking them together or damaging them, just lining them up and counting them.

While she was counting I was doing my version of window-shopping- from my perch directly next to her, I could keep one eye on her and browse the store with my other eye.

There was a lot to see. While a lot of it wasn't my taste (painted signs with pithy sayings on them, country kitsch plaid accessories), there were a few things that caught my eye- they had some very pretty shabby chic bird items: a mirror with birds, a few smaller painted statues, and three canning jars in an old metal carrier that looked adorable...

However, before I could really check any of these items out, the owner came over and explained that his store is not a toy store, and the fruit on the floor was not a toy. At that point, I felt we were clearly being discriminated against because of my daughters age, and so I said that we'd be happy to leave, and I helped my daughter to put the fruit back, and we got up and left. While we were doing that, he continued to tell me that he's had kids in his store before who made a mess and broke things, and that "you have to understand that if she doesn't put something back and the next customer comes in and trips, it's my liability." After we had just specifically cleaned up the 5 pieces of fruit and quietly left the store. I responded (not my finest moment) that "oh sure, clearly my daughter was unattended" as I left. A little hint of sarcasm for him.

I understand that he probably has had children left unattended in the store. Maybe they ran around, and broke something, and their parents refused to pay for it, or never bothered to tell him about it...

But my daughter was well-behaved and pleasant. I was never more than 6 inches from her. She didn't damage anything, or cause any other customers discomfort while shopping. I doubt anyone would have even known she was there. I would have happily bought anything she damaged in the store, though she's never damaged anything in a store before. I would have also given him the satisfaction of having her apologize, because I try very hard to instill good manners and good citizenship in my kid (I only have one, so I'm like white on rice when we go out).

I've seen customers in stores take a part gift baskets, unscrew lampshades, and do all sorts of things to merchandise, and I suspect he's never thrown an adult out of his store for taking plastic fruit out of a basket and counting them. To buy them (they were individually marked), you had to take them out of the basket.

As you can imagine, I was embarrassed and upset to be thrown out of a store when my child was behaving well and we were doing nothing more than pleasantly shopping. This business lost me as a customer, and I hope others will consider refraining from shopping with them until they...

The TLDR: I would encourage others to look elsewhere for their purchases, as the man who worked here on Saturday night was quite rude and unaccommodating.

While shopping for a gift for someone, I stopped in to take a look around. I took a picture of an item to ask a friend what their thoughts were about it. Immediately the man who had been standing behind the counter sneaked up behind me, scaring me out of my socks and out of my purchase. He was very rude about me taking a picture, saying that "the crafters" wouldn't appreciate it and was presumptuous to suggest that they wouldn't want it on social media.

He announced that there were several signs stating "no photography." The problem with this statement was that his shop was just as cluttered as a hidden object game, and only a few seconds before he had startled me had I seen a small sign in an inconspicuous location that appeared to be for only a small selection of items and -- had I not been looking at each item -- I would have easily missed. There was one sign stating no photography; there were multiple signs stating that if you broke something, you would be responsible for the purchase.

The proper approach would have been to [first] not approach me from behind, nor make accusations. Perhaps asking if I liked that item, or asking if I needed any help in finding something would have worked better.

In any event, I decided on an item at the gift shop several doors down. I was discouraged from making a purchase here, and while the "crafters" may not have appreciated my photography, they most certainly wouldn't have appreciated me being turned away from an item due to an ignorant store clerk.

The other shop that had I gone to sharply contrasted the atmosphere in this shop. They had a warm and friendly staff, eager to help out. This place lost my business, and I was happy to let the other shop know about the difference in my encounters.

I feel very bad for the people who contribute the creative pieces from their collections here; if this is how customers are going to be treated. I liked the items they had inside, but I will not purchase any of them based on principle. I would encourage others to look elsewhere for...

The owner is anti kids. I came with my 14 year old niece. Cute store and probably would’ve bought something had the owner not acted like he did. My niece picked up a less than $10 item and when she placed it back it fell over on the counter it was on. The owner was across the store and berated her in front of all the customers. She clearly wasn’t playing around and genuinely was looking at the item. He said “this is why we don’t let kids in here,” and inspected the item. It didn’t even chip. I HATED how he talked to her and how it was in front of all the customers. She left the store crying. Talk to me, not a 14 year old girl.

10/10 would go to any other gift store just to not give this man...