Magic Carpet — Local services in Takoma Park

I felt targeted from the moment I walked into the little street, we were hopping stores to stores, she stopped my friend who purchased a plant next door (as a gift for us) when we got out, the lady asked her how much she paid for it in a really insisting way, she didn’t appreciate that my friend didn’t said and the lady insisted even more until she finally got her answer. When we went to the store next door, it was hers ( we didn’t knew… and what a mistake we made!). She walked behind us extremely closely, asked again and again how much was the plant and said “if you got it you can buy something here” I said no, it was a gift and she said to my husband “he should buy something, he has the money” we felt stuck as she was following us around, asked to see an item because we were stupid and she was… scary? Pushy? Our fault. When we looked at it and we said we weren’t interested, she got mad and said “you could have told me before I climb on this and that”… started to get mad, we proposed our help to put the item back in place and she got even more mad, we kind of ran away. It was creepy, felt super intrusive, forced to look at things because she was harassing us in the shop.

I don’t understand how this have been going on for over 10 years and the store is still open. (Also we looked on google for a similar item out of curiosity, it was over x2 the price of anywhere else, do not impulse buy there, it’s a scam with some cheap Amazon things in some cases. If you want to support a small business in the neigbhood, next door had really good curated books, plants and gifts, same for...

I am so disappointed by the service received at this store. The owner followed my friend and I around as we sifted through the congested aisles. As you walk around, there are MANY signs displaying her obvious distrust for those who enter. Apparently, many people have stolen from her and phrases such as "God is watching, karma will get you" are on display throughout the store. We thought nothing of it since we intended to pay for anything we may have liked. I parked my stroller in the front of the store with a food bag because the aisles are too small and filled with items. Sadly, the bag contained my friend's wallet and phone. Had the owner been paying attention to her store instead of walking behind my friend and I who were planning to purchase some books and sage (which I did patronize since it's a small business), the ACTUAL thief stole my friends wallet off the back of the stroller. We never blamed the owner despite her distasteful comments like "you should have had your wallet on you" "it's not my fault", etc. it's the the principle that you are upset about people stealing from you when you do not have any cameras. After realizing she could not even help herself, she would clearly not be able to help us. We filed a police report and she barged into the conversation just to hell herself. Again repeating, "it's not my fault, they should have had their wallet".

Needless to say, she will never get my business again. I feel profiled and that's a terrible feeling when you spend money at a business regardless...

I made the grave mistake of patronizing this business with my children today. The owner, Deniz, reached out and pet my daughter’s hair without consent. My daughter looked horrified and tried to pull away in her cluttered fire hazard of a shop. As Deniz is an elderly woman, I decided to politely and quietly let her know that it would probably be best not to touch customers without consent especially a black customer’s hair as it is generally very much offensive to the black community. She immediately proceeded to play victim loudly throughout the store. She asked us “if we were in a bad mood or something” and stated that we must be having a bad day. I said “no, we’re all fine. I’m simply advocating for my daughter.” I even told her that I could she that she didn’t understand, that it would be ok and that it was simply a teachable moment. Much more generous than I should have been to be completely honest. She then proceeded to say that we had in fact ruined her day and announced to the whole store that she was shaking and thought that I was going to hit her. I’d never raised my voice once nor was I ever close enough to violate her space as she did my daughter’s. To yell that a black customer was going to hit her when she knew good and well that was far from the case, is a grave offense and extremely dangerous behavior. We left shocked and disgusted, with her yelling after us. I felt terrible for ruining my children’s fun morning out with stepping into this disgusting...