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September 2024 by Miguel Ferrer
Best gift store in all of Maine! Curated items and great taste. Will be back!
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September 2024 by Alexander Frato
Amazingly curated store and owner was super nice, will be back!
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August 2024 by Kelly
I agree totally with previous posting. I live in Maine and have visited and purchased from this store many times. I drive more than an hour to patronize this shop.
I visited this week and left feeling very unwelcome by the owners, who were tending shop. I stood less than two feet from Prudence, and not a hello or welcome. The same with her husband. No,”thank you for coming in”.
I have done my share of shopping for lovely things, so need to buy nothing. I will not do business where the owners do not seem to care if we are there or not. My husband, who is less sensitive and not a shopper, felt the same way. Though the shop is well curated with pretty things, I want to feel welcome when I shop.
I have choices where I spend my money. I will not return as this is not my first experience at The Kingfisher and The Queen.
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August 2024 by Lindsay Daniele
If I owned this beautiful little shop, and it was left in charge of someone treating customers the way we were treated, I’d want to know it ASAP. I’ve loved Damariscotta for 41 years, shopped here since childhood, and this is the first time I’ve been treated like this.
The shop itself was perfection. Curated beautifully, artfully, magically, nostalgically, joyfully, and with much care. My experience in it was not joyful.
The woman working here on the morning of Saturday, August 10th, 2024, (she had straight, mid-length hair, was wearing a black dress, accessorized with a glacial expression) didn’t want us or our children in this store, and she let us know this with an over-the-top display of unfriendliness and a cold, distrustful side-eye the whole time. I’ve never felt more unwanted in a store, ever.
My sister and I and our three boys (two five year olds and one nine year old) got to this shop at exactly 10am, opening time. It was closed. We waited a few more minutes but were crowding the sidewalk, so we browsed other shops for a bit, without issue, met with smiles by shopkeepers at each one.
Eventually, we got back to The Kingfisher & The Queen. It was open! Hooray! One of our five year olds immediately dropped an item before I’d even made it across the threshold. The item didn’t break and it was not damaged (if it had been damaged, we’d have bought it, because we’re reasonable people who do the right thing). The woman tending the shop immediately, coldly, said “Please be careful, some of these things are very old.” The tone in which she said this had a “Why the heck would you take three little boys into this shop, you morons?” feel to it, topped with a hearty sprinkling of condescension. Alrighty, understood. Yikes.
Mistakes happen. We are careful, respectful people who’ve done our best to raise our kids to be that way too, but sometimes little kids get excited and SOMETIMES they just drop things. The kids were being curious, not destructive. They were curious and excited because the shop WAS SO AMAZING. But from that point on, I noticed we kept getting cold, unfriendly glances from the woman keeping shop. A LOT of cold, unfriendly glances. Like, every time I looked over she’d quickly look back down. Not a hint of a smile the whole time. And every time my nine year old, a good kid who happened to be wearing an oversized sweatshirt, went off by himself to look at something interesting (which was a lot of things, because it’s a great collection of treasures), her eyes followed him, as though he were going to break or steal something. I saw her doing this. She WANTED me to see her watching him, I’m pretty sure. It was uncomfortable. We were being watched, and she was obvious about it to try to get us to leave. I kept asking my older son to stay closer us to accommodate her distrustfulness. It was a bad feeling, and she was obvious about not liking us.
This shop experience just plain sucked, and it was all because the woman working here made a snap judgment about us because a five year old kid accidentally dropped something on our way in. Immediately, she saw us as bad parents with annoying, uncontrollable little kids. I wasn’t dressed like I was from the Hamptons or like a top IG influencer (it was the end of our trip and we’ve all seen that Norman Rockwell painting), and because of our suitcase-y vibe, perhaps we were also seen as low-class and suspicious.
I said “Bye, thank you” as I do to all shopkeepers when I leave a store, whether I’ve bought something or not. She didn’t bother looking up from her notepad and tossed out an icy “Thank you.” It had a “Just leave” tone to it. And that was our last stop before heading off to the Jetport.
It’s two days later, I’m 1500 miles away, but the trip into this store and the experience with that woman still leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.
The shop itself was perfection. Curated with a loving eye. Bu
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August 2024 by Cody Brown
Such a wonderful and unique shop in Damariscotta! Lots of interesting finds, from local jewelry, to antiques, baby clothes, and hand blown glass! If you're looking for something special to get for yourself or someone else as a souvenir or just because, this is the place I would recommend
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July 2024 by Molly King
Absolutely charming! The shop absolutely transports you to another world, it's absolutely the best place for gifts!
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July 2024 by Emmaline Briske
Wonderfully curated selection of products. I appreciate that there are a range of price points, something for every budget. I could spend hours here for sure.
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July 2024 by Elsa Martin
Such a cute shop full of original French products!
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September 2023 by Ericka Humbert
Absolutely adorable shop. Lots of great gifts or things you didn’t know you needed!
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May 2023 by To the Sea and Sun
Wonderful!! A beautiful shopping experience.
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November 2022 by Melinda W.
Cute store with a very great curated collection of high-end and personalized gifts for both adults and children!Great place to visit and pick something very personalized for a housewarming and birthday gift!I love the amazing variety and selection of items offered especially some imported items like their tote bags! Had some antique items like oyster shucking equipment!Go to the back for their selection of children clothing and toys!The owners are super nice too!
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November 2022 by Nicole L.
Interesting store with well curated items I found several items that I am still using like the set of metal cup and bowl the type that is great for outdoors and for kids. Although I need to replace the bowl because I dropped it one day and chipped it. I loved the travel pillow, plates and dish cloth that had unique prints or design. The best item is the opinel foraging knife with brush. Loved it. I think it is a great store with lots of contemporary items.
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October 2022 by Special K.
I love this store! Don't listen to the person who said there's "nothing of interest"...it's the complete opposite. There are so many unique and interesting things, and while there's a Maine twist, it's not a Maine goods store. There is a great vintage, French/European slant that means you won't find these things anywhere else. I've been in multiple times and I always see something new to get for myself or as a present. Plus the folks running it are really nice. Best shop in Damariscotta!
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September 2022 by Frank W.
We stopped in while touring the town and found the store to be cluttered with nothing of interest though your mileage may vary.
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December 2021 by Karen Hamel
The Kingfisher & The Queen is my new favorite store! I’ve come to the Damariscotta area since I was a girl and have had some favorites over the years but this one may take the cake. The wonderfully curated selection is interesting and the notes that Prudence sprinkles around the shop add a touch of the personal that makes the items even more enticing. I also loved the eclectic selection of books available throughout the store. It was hard not to buy everything in there (although with two visits in the course of a week last summer I tried!). I can’t wait to go back!