To start, I must be fair to the woman who owns the shop; she was kind and polite. Also, the architecture of the building is a beautiful sight.
However, I will not return.
I took my daughter (8) on a day antiquing. We do this often and she is more careful with things than most adults. Today was our first time in this shop.
As soon as we walked in, the man who owns the building came out of a back room to greet us. We chatted about the architecture of the building and it's history a bit before he noticed my daughter gently touching a piece and asked her to be careful. That's fair.
He wondered over to the counter and I reiterated to her our need to be careful (out of respect for him, not because she needed to hear it). We continued walking around and looking at various objects. The entire time, the man stared at my daughter. She touched another piece to show it to me and he immediately told her to "be careful" again several times. (Anyone who has kids knows this is the fastest way to make them panic and drop things.). She carefully set it down as he spit out "we have rules!"
Note: nowhere in the store did he have a sign asking persons not to touch nor did he ever say not to touch. "Be careful" and "don't touch" are 2 very different things.
So I asked him, "do you not want people to touch things they are thinking to buy? She's careful, has never broken anything, and I'd purchase anything that were to break."
Long story short, he doesn't like or respect kids; childism is strong with this one.
If your kid and you don't automatically understand that this is a museum not a store, don't enter. If you do dare to enter, with or without a child, remember "be careful" is code for "don't touch or I'll yell at you". read more