I have lived in this area my entire life, and never heard of this company really. I would drive by it all the time, and thought that it must be like a pottery place. I have never seen any mailers, promos, or any sort of advertising for this company. One day I decided to Google search Stonewall Kitchen and I was surprised to see it was a food/entertaining store. Because I am a New England blogger, I went home and decided to reach out to the company, and see what their policies were with the store being photographed, and to see if there were any discount codes I could offer to my readers who might like to make a purchase through their online store. A month went by with no answer. So I decided on my next trip to check it out, but not bring my camera along.
It is kind of in a awkward location, but was fairly easy to access. The outside doesn't really showcase what they offer, just small writing on the glass.
I walked in, and there was no one in the store, and no sales associates to be seen. So I browsed, saw palettes and palettes (and more palettes) full of small to medium sized jars, full of jellies, jams, relishes, etc. The inventory was pretty well stocked. To the left there was a clearance section, filled with items from Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Mind you, I visited this store in late January 27, 2014. I started looking at the clearance rack to see what their sales were all about. 3 words.... WHAT A JOKE. Their items at original price are simply outrageous. We are talking New York City fine retailer pricing. Nothing what people of this area would be able to afford. Halloween items were marked down at half price. A old bag of Halloween candy that sold for $8.99 was $4.99. HALLOWEEN candy. Candy that has been sitting their since at least September. That's their clearance price? What?
I checked out a few more items on the clearance rack, everything was just too high priced and way out of season. So I began to check out the regular priced items. $10 for a small jar of chutney... no thanks. $8 small jar jams... I'll pass. The prices floored me. I began working my way towards a "imperfect" sampling station that had crackers available, along with all of the imperfect items that were on palettes available for sampling. I tried a few samples of dressings, and to be honest I've tasted better with generic grocery store brands. At this point I was really becoming disappointed. I heard some rustling from one of the doors near me, and finally a store employee came out. Never once greeted me, asked me if I needed any assistance, etc. No interaction at all. I continued looking at some discounted items that actually were a good value, a box of sugar cookie mix for $3.49. Then I noticed the expire date, only 2 days away. Not worth it.
Finally I was up near the check out area, and saw some sauces on sale. The store had placed a sign under them with a sign displaying the price and it listed the expire date "January 22, 2014". So 5 days past it's expire date and it was STILL being sold. Yuck. I finally found a small jar of honey mustard sauce for $1.99, and I figured I'd try it since I wanted to at least be able to try one of their products.
I got up to the register to check out, and the woman never really spoke to me. Asked for my phone number, told me the price, gave me a bag left over from the holidays, and handed me my receipt.
So overall, I am not impressed with this store. I understand it's a warehouse, so some things may not be perfect, but I have seen much better from other warehouses. The customer service was non existent. There is absolutely no value. I definitely wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. Save your time, gas and money. read more