Abacus is a very nostalgic store for me. I have been going since I was a little girl, far more than 20 years. Every time I go, there something new to discover. I've bought many unique trinkets over the years, and I always find something special to bring home. Many items are very high-quality, therefore very expensive. There's also a variety of affordable artwork, trinkets, nice umbrellas... Really something for everyone. Whenever I'm in old Port or Freeport, I always make a point to visit. I hope the store is around another 20 years or more! read more

Abacus Gallery - Art Galleries Near Me - Portland, Maine

Abacus is a wonderful gallery we stumbled upon on our way to the arts district. It had contemporary art pieces and jewelry. An enjoyable stop. Limited street and lot parking. read more

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First, I love the item that I purchased. The experience of buying it was negative. The young man was not helpful and made me uncomfortable. No friendly conversation. I had the item shipped. It arrived safely. Missing was the artist's information. There was no card to attach to the bottom. No thank you for purchasing. No follow up even by email asking if the shipment arrived safely. Purchasing art is and should be exciting. This was not positive in any way. read more

Whilst Abacus has a fine selection of (maybe? supposedly?) locally-made art, decor, and other similar items, I found a) the pricing to be outrageous and b) the attitude of staff to be very snotty. I purchased two items for an outrageous price yet was still treated with condescension and a generally-snotty attitude if I dared to ask about unlisted prices. That's not my usual experience in Portland, and found it unfortunate. Plenty of high-end stores in the area a) sell more unique products and b) have friendlier staff. Don't plan on being back for that reason. read more

We went shopping yesterday in Portland and we love to support local businesses. We ended up entering the store as the items in their window interested us and we wanted to check it out. We were browsing and sure enough, we saw some very unique and adorable metal work. There was no information (or very little) on some of the items who the artists are or where the items came from. We picked some items and came upstairs and stumbled upon 3 blind mice sculptures which were adorable. We did not care too much about the price tag, but wanted to get information about the artist as we explicitly asked for Maine artist created items. The ladies at the counter were so nice to write down the artists name (we later realized, that there was a tag and signature of the artist) and we were asking, if this is a Maine artist as we really want to support Maine and local business (as mentioned before) and we are willing to pay a higher price for that reason. The ladies told us that the artist is using used oil cans and so forth and told us, that this artist is a local artist. We were thrilled and decided to buy the items. We did NOT check the artist name as we did not have the phones with us to verify anything the ladies told us as we did not expect anyone to not telling the truth. We arrived at home, totally thrilled about this gorgeous mice, found the perfect spot for them to showcase the sculptures in our old house and were glowing with excitement. We later googled the Artist as we wanted to look what else he is producing and to our surprise, the Artist is from Australia and not as told from Maine. We have been shocked that the "nice" ladies lied to us. If we would have know that the items are not made in Maine or in America, we could have made still a decision right in the store to be good with it or we could have decided to buy an item from an local artist instead. The next day we went to the store, unfortunately the ladies were not there and I asked a sales person to please return the items as we felt very uncomfortable to have purchased these items as we have been given the wrong information. We asked if we get a refund and the salesperson did not even say that he is sorry about the misunderstanding or anything that would have at least shown us some sympathy. He just told us that it is store policy to only offer store credit and he could not make a decision to give us the money back and that one of the ladies yesterday was the manager and only she could make the decision on a refund but she is available at earliest on Tuesday. We don't have the time to come back on Tuesday as we are very busy but we told him, we would be perfectly fine to exchange the item if he points us to art from a local artist. He was so very condescending that it was very, very uncomfortable to even make a decision. He did NOT show us around to point out the items created by a Maine artist, he explained multiple times that items in this store are created by many artists worldwide. I told him that we are perfectly aware of the fact that this store highlights items from unique artists around the world but that is not our issue. Our issue was that we purchased items that we specifically were told are Maine made and this was deceiving. After spending 30 uncomfortable minutes in the store we picked one item that was clearly marked as created in Maine, but we still needed help to identify such items in the store. I asked him to please walk with me to point out Maine made items what he did, but he was very very unprofessional and again very condescending. We ended up choosing some Maine made items and some items from an Artist from Kentucky (as there were no other sculptures made in Maine available we liked). I was a Store manager, had my own business and worked with clients all over the world and would have never ever treaded any of my customers that way. I trained all my coworkers to not take anything personal, be respectful and figure out a friendly way to resolve any issues with a customer in the most professional and respectful way. If he just would have said: I am sorry for this misunderstanding, we don't do any refunds (what we knew) but we can do an exception or please let me show you all local artists we carry, then we would have been perfectly fine. This disrespectful behavior made a whole shopping experience so awful, awkward and unnecessarily uncomfortable. We are very happy with the exchanged items, they are unique, adorable and will be certainly loved by us and I will brush the bad experience off. But please, tread your customers with courtesy. Try to understand the reason why something might be an issue and make sure, you can help and solve a problem in a friendly way. I even apologized that I did have this issue and I apologized to him as well as he did not do anything wrong regarding the first purchase. The treatment and reaction he gave us was just so rude, that I will never enter this store anymore. read more

Really cool artisan household items. Furniture, clothes,jewelry and nick nacks. Pricey for our tastes (code we are cheap) but worth it for their beauty and uniqueness. For those with good taste and an appreciation of handmade beauty it is a must see. read more

Abacus Gallery - Art Galleries Near Me - Portland, Maine

I was walking around the Old Port checking out a few places while finishing up my Christmas shopping. I wish I would have started here! There were all sorts of different items for everyone on my list in many different price ranges. I love that everything is locally handcrafted. The glass case full of clocks was stunning to see. The shop is small and was really busy, so I couldn't look at everything bec I couldn't get to everything. However, I still saw enough to walk out of the store with a bag full of gifts. The calendars are cool and I like that they had some pre-wrapped for Christmas, and frames available in the different sizes right there. Totally convenient. The workers seemed tired towards the end of the day with people still rolling through the door, but they were still very polite. One of the guys checking out in front of me requested that she get a tape measure and measure a framed poster hanging on the wall and she was unphased by this, even with an ever growing line forming. I will definitely be be back after the holidays to hopefully be able to spend more time taking in everything in the store! read more

Abacus Gallery - Art Galleries Near Me - Portland, Maine

The store is fine, but policies they advocate are bad for Portland. They strongly advocated against making Exchange Street a pedestrian street. They wanted to retain parallel parking when there is parking garages right around the corner. I will not shop here anymore and I let people know that Abacus prefers parking to streets full of people, food, and fun. read more

My husband and I were visiting Portland and popped in here on a whim. The gallery has really nice and unique pieces + they didn't mind us having our dog come in too (she's 7lbs)! We ended up finding 2 things we loved and had them shipped to us in NYC. They weren't large, but heavy enough. Staff was incredibly nice. You can find items in all price ranges - give them a look! read more

I could go in to the poor house in this store. Custom made, hand crafted glass, wood, metal, and cloth items that are cute, pretty, delicate to hardy. So many amazing and creative little and big things. My husband had to drag me out of this store. read more

Lot's of cool stuff and gifts. We loved exploring this place. Be warned... its' pricey. The staff was friendly, checkout was a bit frustrating because there was no order and staff gave more attention to older ladies who were shopping for overpriced jewelry. Go here if you want to get something cool. read more

My kind of place-I probably could have easily spent an hour looking at everything. Really unique and quality stuff, not just touristy junk or arts and crafts. Also, not just the same "unique" stuff I've seen in other stores trying to do a similar thing, that just have all the stuff from the Uncommon Goods catalogue/website. If I lived near Portland, I would request that all my birthday gifts come from this store. I've checked out the website, but sadly it doesn't seem like they have everything on there that they had in the store, so visit! read more

Cute store but kicked out a mom and her baby bc she had a stroller. So incredibly rude! The owner wasn't even polite about it. Guess he's never had kids! read more

Bought a small metal sculpture here and had it shipped. The item was fine but the shipping charges were outrageous. I questioned them and agreed to them before I purchased so I knew it at the time. However when I ran the cost on the UPS calculator I noticed they charged me almost 3 times the actual shipping charges. That's a bit much, especially when there a lot of shops in Portland that charge a flat $10 for shipping....... read more

This store was nice It was full of unique artisan jewelry (necklaces, rings, etc.) and home goods (wall art, coasters, picture frames). We spent a while in this store just b/c I had to look at everything, it was all so interesting. If you're in the area, stop by and check it out. read more

It's not an art gallery but high end artistic things; jewelry; sculptures; ties; door stops; bottle openers etc. better survivor that you might actually keep. The only art is one person, assuming that might be the owner. Smart move in my opinion. Worth the peek in while shopping. read more

This place has gone downhill. from Artsy to Snotty. When I first discovered Abacus in 2002, it was filled with interesting, creative art creations. The Space now has little to no art, and is rather filled with common jewelry and tacky shiny (artist made) mass produced junk. Some of the jewelry is still nice, but it's not exceptional, and it's pricey. The employees working there are of the typical Maine cold and conceited female breed. read more

Portland has a lot of gift shops and art galleries but this one is one my favorites. Where a lot of the shops specialize in things like pottery or paintings this place has a great variety of pieces, from sculpture and paintings to jewelry and other unique items. The people here were very friendly and helpful, my only issue with this place is the prices. Everything is priced pretty high, the high quality items from local artists make the prices almost worth it but some things are just a little too high for what they are (like hundreds of dollars for jewelry made of what looks like tin or some type of non-precious metal). If you're in the area you should definitely stop by and check this place out... read more

I love this store! They have gorgeous handmade jewelry from talented, highly creative jewelers; they also have quirky, innovative items for home and personal gifts. The staff is helpful and efficient as well as very friendly. I have been there several times on visits to Portland and each time I find more and more things I want to take home with me. It's a beautiful store. read more