Southport General Store

Friendly staff and delicious lunch date. Worth the trip!

I hope this is a lesson on why a business should be careful about what is said to their customers. Especially, if the person speaking is a MANAGER. As an important elementary class lesson we all have learned: think before you speak.nnMy partner (a local who has been a customer for ~25 yrs) and I (newly moved to the area) have been daily customers every morning for the past three months (even frequented there every so often before). I’ve heard the service has gone down a bit under new management, but I’ve never experienced anything personally which is why I still ventured there daily. That is, until now. I can’t believe I’m writing a negative review over 10¢, but yet here I am.nnThe only thing I personally get/consume from the store daily is a small coffee. I even use their reward punch card which I appreciate them having considering I haven’t seen any other business in Boothbay Harbor doing the same. Well, according to my punch card today, it was my day for a free coffee. But oh, no! Being used to my regular routine, I accidentally made a small coffee instead of a medium one (which I only get a medium AFTER I earned a free cup as a treat because, tmi, more coffee = more caffeine sweats. I never get a large or XL, ever). Upon realizing, instead of being wasteful and trashing a whole cup of coffee, I grab a medium cup to pour the small into over a trash can (can’t have a spill!) and plan to fill the remaining empty cup space with coffee. That is when the manager told me to stop and get my free drink tomorrow because “those cups cost us 10¢ a piece”. Apparently, her STATEMENT turned into an OPTION only AFTER THE FACT she saw the reaction on my partner and I’s face because she then followed up with the typical cop-out reply “oh, but only if you want to! It’s your choice!”nnWell Southport General Store, if you’re going to voice personal, financial business information that puts unnecessary responsibility on the customer, then I’ll do the same to you. I want you to know, the only reason I buy one small cup of coffee from you every morning is in remembrance of my mother who passed away in 2015. Our relationship wasn’t perfect, but some of my fondest memories of my mother are over the coffee dates we had over the years. When she passed away, I made a promise that I would have one cup of coffee every day in her name to keep our tradition alive. You helped keep that tradition alive. Thank you for that. Also, THANK YOU for making something so inconsequential as 10¢ being more important than keeping the memory of my dead mother alive. I guess a business built on family values lost their sight to corporate greed.nnSome of you reading this are probably thinking, “why didn’t you just dump the cup out like she said you could?”. Well, the other employees in there could recognize me and can tell you I am not a very vocal person. My partner (must emphasize again that he is a local and knows the employees personally, unlike me) does most of the talking since I have anxiety disorders that cripple me in social situations. It takes a while for me to become comfortable speaking to strangers (which, in general, I think anyone can agree with). So, with all this being said, how am I supposed to react after being put on the spot in front of everyone BY THE MANAGER over 10¢? She made me feel guilty over a 10¢ burden onto the company, so, I did what she said. Best part? She didn’t even give me a new punch card and punch the coffee she guilted me into buying after all this was said and done. Honestly, your manager would have been more helpful keeping the spirit of my mother alive by spitting on her box of ashes to clean the dust off and make her shine than this petty exchange.nnI hope the government gets itself together before you do, so inflation goes down and that VERY important 10¢ will be worth more than the money two people brought in daily because we will no longer be returning.nnOriginal post 3/22/21 @ 12:04 PM

Hailing from Aroostook, my customer service standards are rather high. There is quite a change in the atmosphere in the store this year. Hours were not posted. I walked in 3 minutes before closing time (5:57pm). A woman approached looking annoyed. She did not greet me. She said “We’re not making sandwiches!” I asked, “pizza?” Her response was, “No. We close in 3 minutes.” Got it. I took a quick look around for a few provisions and she announced “Two minutes!” I looked out the window to see if my partner had arrived on foot. She observed this and I explained I drove ahead from the boat yard. “Doesn’t matter! We close in 1 minute!” I told her I understood and left. Simply put, she wasn’t nice. In years past, I probably didn’t show up just before closing time, but people were always so friendly. Business must be exceedingly good for them during a pandemic that they can afford to treat people with disregard and unpleasantness.

Not much has changed since the new owners took over. Love their breakfast pizza! Beer and wine selection is good and lots of nice baked goods and other food to go as well!

We had pizza tonight from Southport General Store and it was delicious! The best pizza ever - a thick, spicy sauce, plenty of toppings, a nice crust a little on the thick side, all in all an excellent pizza.