City Lights

On Saturday evening the owner of this store approached my developmentally delayed daughter and I and stood watching with a scowl as she tried on a pair of 3D glasses to view the Christmas lights. When she finished and put the glasses back he pointed out the two free lighthouse brochures she was holding and asked me if I was a collector. I said ""no, my daughter is"", he then asked her where she purchased her lighthouses and she said ""places"" . He then snatched one of the brochures from her and said ""there, that's one for you and one for me, that's fair"". Her face crumbled as she was going to send one to her sister who lives in Japan and also enjoys lighthouses. I then pointed out to the owner that he had a lot of customers and business appeared to be going well. Suddenly animated and proud he proceeded to brag about how much he was selling. I wonder why one ""free"" brochure was so important to him that he would snatch it away from my obviously special needs daughter. Certainly he had no sense of friendly customer service, but showed the characteristics of a true penny pinching ""scrooge"". more

I really hate to say something negative about a mom-and-pop store, but I've had REALLY bad luck purchasing strings of lights at this store over the years. I thought paying a premium price from a retailer that is focussed completely on the holidays would mean I'd get the best possible lights that would last years and years. Wrong. My most recent problem is with some really expensive LED lights that I bought about a year ago. They have a very strict return policy and are unforgiving if the product quits on you a season later than when you bought them -- I think that's pretty bad. For that kind of money, the damn things should work for at least a couple of years! I say save your aggravation and the sense of feeling ripped off and head for Home Depot. They DO take things back if they don't last . . . more

This is such a fun and decorative store that you can visit all year and feel very festive. You can even visit Santa all year long which my kids absolutely loved. They have the biggest selection of any of the holiday stores I have seen and we make it a family trip to go early every year. more