Condescending Owner and Rude Vibes - Skipped It Entirely…read more Tried this place once before and the owner (Allen, I believe) came off as incredibly condescending and rude from the jump. Dismissive attitude, talking down like we didn't know what we wanted, zero warmth or help--just made the whole shopping experience off-putting. Walked out without buying anything. Fast-forward to recently: my dad and I were hitting up every furniture shop in the area looking for a solid living room set. He suggested stopping at Allen Wayside since it's right there on Route 1. I told him straight up about my previous run-in--the owner's snarky, superior tone turned me off completely. No way was I stepping foot in there again, especially not dragging my dad into that nonsense. We drove right past without even pulling in.

I purchased a new sofa from Allen Wayside Furniture. It arrived with a tear/cut in it. To my…read moresurprise, their policy was not to replace it, but to have it repaired. I was not happy with this approach, and told them. Nonetheless they said the vendor was entitled to one repair attempt. The repair was unsatisfactory. They still refused to replace the sofa saying it was their policy to do however many repairs it took to make it look new. The customer service was atrocious and they fought me all the way. Months later, after involving the BBB (they have a D- rating BTW), and my credit card company, they agreed to replace it providing I pay another delivery fee! Dealing with Allen Wayside Furniture was very unpleasant and the worst customer service I've encountered anywhere. I do not recommend this business.

I Can't begin to describe how impressed with Jackson Fireplace…read more We had another company come in to give us an estimate to repair a 35 year old Heat and Glow fireplace. They're answer was that it was to old, can't get parts, unrepairable. Cost of replacement, Including new fireplace, ripping out the old one, removing existing mantle, yadda yadda yadda, about $15,000. Dave, from Jackson shows up, takes a look, and "Sure, we can fix this, no problem. 2 weeks later, Dave is back with the "unavailable" part, and 2 hours later he's done. Fireplace work great, it was like he was never here, except that the fireplace worked. He also fixed a problem with the external vent being to close to the clapboard siding. "Who Knew?' Dave did. When you call Jackson, insist on Dave. Knowledgeable, professional, friendly, and an attention to detail that impressed even me, and I can be a little OCD.

Alison, Ken and the crew are amazing! It all started with a trip to their showroom which is stocked…read morewith all options and everything you need to make decisions. They have a lot of style - everything is displayed beautifully, and Alison knows her stuff and was able to answer all of our questions. Not only is she knowledgeable, she is also a great person, very easy to talk to and I was not intimidated to ask all kinds of questions . We landed on the Kozy Heat Oakport gas stove which is modern and efficient and warms us right up. Installation was a breeze because JFP handled everything, including a new chimney through the roof. Ken and the guys were just terrific during their visits. You would be crazy to go anywhere else! Thanks Alison and Ken!

Colleen has a great eye for New England country design. Love her color palette. Great showroom!…read more It's a breath of fresh air to have the option of seeing a display of finely constructed quality merchandise in these days of AKEA and the discount boxed furniture store market full of Chinese made wares. Haven't used her design services yet but planning to in the fall!!

We contracted The Look to do our new home in Portsmouth. It was a large project and when we spoke…read morewith the owner of The Look she was very engaging and had some good ideas. The first thing we probably should have noticed is that she never took any notes. We had to repeat ourselves over the course of several meetings. Perhaps we should have pulled out then, but we had hopes things would work out better. Things did not get better..... Once we started things only got worse, the timeline slipped by months and we found that we could get the exact same pieces that were specified by the designer for thousands less by doing a simple google search. These were not knockoffs, they were the exact same items. We decided to buy the items ourselves for a savings of well over $15,000.00 Before we go on I think it is important to clarify a few items. The designer and owner of The Look was very clear that her design services were a separate cost from her retail store and that if we did not want to buy from her retail store it would not affect the other services. She said that the retail store was competitive, she quoted "We also search the web to price match" Unfortunately that is not what happened, she was unwilling to match the full retail prices we were finding on the internet. So we decided to save ourselves thousands of dollars (and get the credit card miles) by buying ourselves. Surprisingly (or maybe not so) the designer became less interested in our project after that. She insisted that we had to manage all of the contractors by ourselves and didn't take any ownership of the errors that she made early in the process. For example, an entire floor of our house was neglected in her painting quote, a floor that we were extremely clear would need to be painted, but somehow she missed. To reiterate - I understand if a designer gets paid by taking a percentage of the retail items and that is why they would have higher prices. But the owner of The Look was very clear that that was not her practice. I caution anyone from buying directly from this establishment, A short google search could save you thousands. And even other designers in less than a 50 mile radius had the exact same pieces for less. Also, we wanted a specific wallpaper for one of our rooms, that she said had been discontinued. we were disappointed until we looked online and found that the wallpaper was available and The Look just could not locate it. We did buy several items from her retail store, and we were very disappointed by the service. I imagine that we were put at the "back of the line" after she lost interest in our project, but we paid over $7,000 for a bed and two hanging pendant lights. Our check for payment was delivered to The Look on June 30th. The bed was installed on September 21st, even with 2 months to make the bed that is a little long. But the real kicker is the two hanging lights. They were also paid for on June 30th, after 4 months on October 30th we finally cried "uncle" and just cancelled the order. There was still no delivery date and the story we heard is that they were back-ordered several times. Several times? How does that happen? Throughout these four months of waiting we had to always reach our to her for updates, she never emailed us with updates. She basically disappeared right after we sent her the check. After we cancelled the order she emailed us to say that she would send a check right out but "It takes a few days to get out". We took her at her word, until two more weeks passed and we still had not received any check. So, we had to drive to her office to manually pick up the check (on the 20th of November). Needless to say, working with The Look was quite the painful endeavor. Regarding the design services. She did produce good concepts. Except when she tried to convince us to put our hot tub on the front lawn - that was weird - I am sure our neighbors would have loved that! But I would warn everyone to get everything documented via email so that you can be clear on what is and is not included in your project. And you can refer back to the quotes when the bill comes. Also, double check your invoices - I was double billed for a $500 item that I had to catch.

Although I hadn't planned going into this store since not looking for any furniture what caught my…read moreeye was the racks of greeting cards. I really like being able to find cards that are unique & somewhat local instead of CVS, target type places. I spent more time in this store than I should've but bought several birthday cards that were pretty neat. Many of them were either made from recycled materials or had soy free ink, not the usual Hallmark crap. The store is a decent size & they have other random household items that they sell here. Yeah come in & take a gander, you never know what might find.

Amazing furniture, amazing selection, really gorgeous pieces, great quality, gets your imagination…read moreand creativity flowing with their displays!

My experience was terrible. After speaking on the phone with Daryn I was asked to send photos and a…read moredescription of the furniture I wanted to consign. I did as asked. i waited for over a week, heard nothing so I called back. I was told they didn't receive anything from me- so I sent it again, being very careful to be sure I did everything as asked. Still nothing. So I drove to the store in Rye to show them digital images which seemed to please them and was told they would call me the following week. They didn't. After another week I called the store- no answer, so I left a voice message. No reply. Days passed and I called Daryn's mobile phone and left a message. No reply. Time passed and I texted him - Once again I heard nothing. I was counting on Olde Port Traders to help me sell expensive, upscale furniture but received about the worst customer service I can imagine. I have nothing but bad things to say about Olde Port traders and would highly recommend you avoid this sloppy business if you want to successfully sell your furniture.

We have sold several pieces of furniture on consignment with this company. However they have been…read morepretty slow to pay us once an item is sold. Despite several emails and phone calls, we have been waiting two months to be reimbursed for an Ethan Allen cherry hutch which was sold in May. We will probably not use Olde Port Traders again if we have further items to consign.

I Love Salvation Army,BUT THE PRICES are way out of control... Everything they get is FREE…read moreNON-profit and the MAJOR MAKES almost 850- thousand dollars a year

I was soooo impressed when I walked in here. It's been a couple years since I have come in here…read more The store is pretty big with a huge selection of clothes. They also had a good selection of nick nacks, kitchen stuff, furniture & all that other stuff out back. I was very impressed with their prices. I visited another goodwill store back in April down the street & was very disappointing as their prices were very expensive & they hardly had anything in their store. This is the store to go to!!! I went in hoping that they may have had some Pyrex for sale but didn't find any but walked out with a cat litter box, dish drying pad, old fashion travel iron and a plastic dog food container. The pet stuff I actually got for my Mom's dog & cat. I went in with my friend who was looking for some sheets for his camper bed & he walked out with this super cute small desk & chair for his daughter & a dresser for himself. Those were also reasonably priced. There was a little line that moved kinda slow. There were only 2 cashiers working. I believe they have to manually punch in the prices (I can't remember...lol) so that can make things a little slow.....so don't be in a hurry when stopping in here. In the past I've actually dropped off some donations which was very easy. They had bins on the side of the building that you drop your stuff off in or you could walk it inside next to the bins & drop it off in there. Real quick process.

This store is exquisite. They have a wonderful Selection of…read morehome goods and plants/succulents. These ladies have n eye for design and are very helpful! I highly recommend doing business here if you're looking for chic items for your home!

Placed an order for a rose arrangement on a Sunday recently for next day delivery and the flowers…read moredid not arrive until the following Tuesday afternoon. The arrangement that arrived was pretty, but was more tulips and snapdragons than roses. That combined with arriving a day late, there are other florists in town with better service and artistic arrangements.

Love this shop so much. Such a well curated mix of new and vintage things - everything from…read morefurniture to plates, to purses to candles and fragrances. So many of the items I've scooped have remained favorite additions to my home! So unique! Not to mention, the shop is so cute - doesn't feel consignment/cluttery.

A must stop shop in downtown Portsmouth! A fresh take on home goods--new and vintage! So…read moreinviting--so much to look at--unique items for yourself or gifts--multiple price points. Great vibes and perfect addition to the buzzing area!