Great Gatherings

I had a great time at Great Gatherings! I came in initially window shopping, but ended up buying several things. I decided to shop small and keep the big things in mind for later. They have everything. They have the best outdoor patio décor and in home décor. Most of the items they sell are high end and are possible «keep off» type furniture. Not that Great Gatherings wants you to keep off of them, but when you buy the item, it’s nice enough to tell someone «keep off!». The employees were very nice, helpful, and knowledgeable about their products. I liked the fact that they had arcade games and popcorn. It definitely kept younger kids entertained! If you don’t have a style in mind when buying a certain product, they have staged rooms throughout the store. If you are looking for unique things that make you feel luxurious or maybe just a comfy outdoor patio set to relax on, I would definitely give this place a try!

First off. The second we walked in the door (my mother and I) the two men behind the registers looked us up and down and gave us a half smile. Just because we weren’t dressed to the nine’s (we had just came from a spa day) doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be treated with respect.
We looked around for over 15 minutes and had to track down a sales person to inquire about a slot machine for a christmas gift. He had NO KNOWLEDGE of how the thing worked, how to re-​use a ticket it prints out saying how much you won. He also told us they had NO boxes available to put it in and it was sold as is. We also asked why they didn’t have any slot machines that spit out money so you could use it again and again and he became and angry and said «WELL GAMBLING IS ILLEGAL IN VIRGINIA» to which I replied, «funny because it’s not, we have the lottery and bingo on Saturday nights at the Fire station»… He just blinked at me and ran off somewhere else. You CAN have a slot machine in your house you just can’t run a gambling operation out of your home…
After him again telling us there were no boxes to put the slot machine into so we could wrap it and continued to look us up and down and ask us if we knew how much it cost we decided to leave. We COULD afford it but with his lack of people skills and knowledge on products in the store we were done… This was the second time he has behaved to my mother and this time I experienced it myself.
I will never shop in that gaudy over-​priced store. Target has much better items and more bang for your buck…

Really sorry about this place. Went in with «Great Expectations» — left disappointed. Looking for patio furniture. They had a fairly good selection but most of it was very pricey. Did some looking around and finally found a nice patio dining set that both the wife and I liked. Would have involved chairs from one set and a table from another as we didn’t want glass. Saleslady who was very helpful went to go get pricing only to return and tell us that items were sold out and unavailable. We could order, etc. but didn’t want to deal with the wait that that would entail. Left the store without anything. Have since found items online that will fill our needs at a better price. A bit better communication within the store may have made them a sale. I won’t go back — too much hassle…

This was my second visit to GreatGatherings — the first time was to see what they offered — today was to actually buy a few things for my bar.
They carry a wide variety of entertainment stuff — bars, bar stools, bar supplies, glassware/​stemware, pool tables, games, jukeboxes, patio furniture, and such. They have some really cool and nice stuff. The staff is friendly.
I picked out some bar tools and accessories and went up to pay for my selections. I was the only person in line — I had 5 small items, plus a gift card to purchase. I kid you not, it took 4 people to ring me out — and it took them 10 minutes to do it. Windows kept freezing on both registers, and there seemed to be a distinct lack of knowledge on the proper procedure. They kept apologizing — after seven or eight minutes of this, I stopped smiling and saying «that’s okay» to just wanting to get out of the damn store.
If the the check out process had not been so screwed up — I would have awarded them 4 or 5 stars. 3 stars for a mediocre experience.
I will probably come back to buy some stemware for my bar — I sure hope they get their *&^%$#@ POS problems solved and get their people better trained by then!