Absolutely love this business! To the point where I make an annual visit from Toronto to select…read moreitems for my spring-summer wardrobe. Many Canadian items and always stylish. Staff are knowledgeable regarding the stock and are so helpful when I'm trying to find a match to an item. Together with its sister store Fancy That this business is a real gem in Kingston.

I don't recommend Ricki's I went to exchange a pair of jeans…read morethat I bought a week and a half ago and unworn because they are too big. I have the receipt but they would not allow me to return them without the tags as well. Very annoying. I would not recommend shopping here.

So the Cataraqui Town Centre is pretty much the only game in town when it comes to indoor malls in…read moreKingston. It's small, but it has all the usual cookie-cutter mall stores: Reitmans, The Bay, Sears, Call it Spring, Le Chateau, Claire's, The Body Shop, etc. They do have a Sephora though! But don't be expecting Kate Spade, Ted Baker or Coach! They do have some unique non-chain stores like a place called "Neat Things" and some independent hair salons. At the time of the writing of this review they are undergoing renovations, so maybe they are expanding (?) or modernizing (?). Some parts of the mall look a little dated, but some parts are more modern. The food court is large and looks newer. It's ok to poke around in, but it's definitely not a destination mall.

Kingston is an underrated town when it comes to tourism. The 340+ year-old town is the epicenter…read morefor tours of the Thousand Islands, has the famed Fort Henry, is the hometown of Canada's first Prime Minister (John A. Macdonald), and has some of Canada's best fresh-water sailing. Luckily for the town, it has a gift shop like Waterfront to ensure one doesn't forget about this great place. First of all, we were sucked in by happenstance ... or very clever marketing ... as we had to go in the get our tickets for the Thousand Island Discovery Cruise inside the gift shop. That being said: Once you go in, there is an abundance of cool, high-quality stuff. I would hazard a guess that Waterfront has the city's best collection of Kingston-based apparel ... I draw this conclusion because since it has a deeper collection of gift-shop wares than the Kingston Visitor Info Centre (reviewed here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kingston-visitor-information-centre-kingston). Hoodies, t-shirts, glasses, mugs, hats, boxer shorts, and the rest. You'll also find plenty of nautically themed stuff from shirts to lighthouses to books to model sailboats. To call it a "gift shop" would be an insult as they have so much fancy stuff: Scrubs, soaps, candles, watches, purses, wallets, jewelry, scarves, frou-frou gift baskets, high-end greeting cards (including some that are hand-drawn), and the rest. There are several high-quality brands including the sock puppets and stuffed animals of Cate & Levi; the hemp-heavy and fair-trade fashion of Ark Imports; the beauty and personal care products of Walton Wood Farm; and the vegan, eco-friendly, and cruelty-free skincare products of Kingston's own Shiva's Delight. And, oh, don't worry: PLENTY of maple. And #2: If you're into stuffed moose, I don't think you'll find a better selection in the Great White North :) So stop in ... even if you have to!

I've been here a few times. Once before I lived in Kingston and a couple of times after I moved…read morehere. If you like silly little trinkets and memorabilia, this is the store for you! It had a bunch of Canada and Kingston merchandise since it's mostly a store for tourists, but they also have really cute/silly underwear! (For example, I bought a pair of boxers that said 'bear cheeks' with pictures of bears on the back.) They also have little toys, fridge magnets, kitchen tools, stuffed animals, etc. You get the idea! The stuff is definitely a little more expensive than what you'd find at other stores, but again, this is a store for tourists (mostly), so it makes sense that it's a tad more expensive. Overall, it's just a fun place to shop if you have some time to kill!

Take a picture of your license plate. Luckily I listened to my Yelp friends. Regardless of what…read moreyou're buying, this is one of the first questions asked. The bathrooms live up to the hype. The friendliness of the staff exceeds any imaginable hospitality you may think of. Finally you can feel the pride and care of this place. Family owned and proud. Worth the stop.

Conveniently located before the border into the US, many liquors are clearly labeled if made in…read moreCanada. When entering and leaving, be sure to wait for the proper gates to open and close, and there is only one way to go in and out. As another reviewer said, make sure you know your license plate number too. Staff was able to tell me that if I buy enough alcohol that paperwork would be filled and I would be charged extra at the border is all, but no real limits seem to be present otherwise. I am sure if you buy a huge quantity you may need to be able to briefly explain yourself such as if you have a detailed list ready of who you want to give to and why. Staff is very helpful about which liquors have stronger flavor and which have stronger liquor. This is a basic concept that I feel has gone over many others' heads because they just want to sell me something based on some potentially correct science that may be entirely useless for my taste buds. The variety is here if you want that last minute mainstream grab or you get something here that may be harder for you to get elsewhere. There are several varieties of maple liquor. If you love sweeter tasting and a pretty looking leaf bottle and are from the US, get what I got. Sounds like I need to look for a teddy bear and use the bathroom next time by the other reviews!!

I like this location a lot…read more Usually make a point to stop in while I am visiting family in town. Tons of stuff is always on sale upstairs and actually they have sizes left in things!? Service can be a bit nonchalant but that's not why I visit anyway. YAY!

What a great little toy store. Just like everything else in Kingston, this place has so much charm…read more The inside is beautiful. If toys are upscale, this is an upscale toy store. Not like the stuff you see in the aisles at Walmart. There are gorgeous books, educational toys and lots of fairytale/fantasy items, like hobby horses on sticks. My friend's daughter loves everything princess. They had a gorgeous rabbit princess dress in her size. It had flowers and rabbit ears on the headband and even a fluffy little tail on the back of the dress. She loved it. I also got her a cute picture book about dream animals. I would have loved this place when I was little! Oh, and they had these milk straws with flavour in the straw so that when you drink the milk it gets infused with that flavour. I think the one I got for her was Unicorn...something. Can't remember exactly but I had a giggle with her mom about them. So unique! If you need a special gift for an adorable child in your life, this is the place to go. The girl working behind the counter was so nice too! We had a great conversation about how she lived on the island and took the ferry to work. I really enjoyed shopping here! I'm going back to Kingston in October and will definitely stop in to grab another present for Izabela. I wish I'd taken pictures of the items, but I forgot and though I have one of Izabela in the dress, I wouldn't post a picture of a child anywhere online these days! Just take my word for it. It was gorgeous!

I have shopped here for years, for my kids, my grandkids, my friends' kids, my friends' grandkids,…read moreand none of them have ever been disappointed with their gifts. Neither have I. The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful and the toys and crafts are unique and suited to every age, even mine - seventy-nine!

Wow! Laura is so friendly and welcoming! Outstanding service and a neat selection of…read morecollectibles. Definitely worth popping in and having a look. And if you are looking to sell. She is willing to take your items and make it into someone else's treasures. Stop in today

Context for this review: I visit a lot of character and stationery stores in Toronto. Also, I am…read morebig on customer service - the real reason for the fail rating behind this review. OK - so as I've mentioned, I frequent a lot of stores similar to this one. Some are pricey, some are awesome values. This is definitely on the pricey end of the range, so no redeeming stars to be had there. Yes, it's on the tourist trap strip, but given that they're big enough to have online sales, and that the prices were beyond what I see in Toronto, doesn't help my rating. The range of merchandise is pretty good - lots of harder to find, more unusual pieces like calligraphy collections and the like, and a few glass pen selections. Daytimer and diary selection was pretty thin. Better range of plain sketch books and one or two music book choices. For the plush character merchandise, it wasn't so great - some more recognized Pokemon characters and a lot of generic animals, fruits, etc. There's some jewellery, backpacks, etc. Not much in terms of housewares/practical items like mugs, eating ware (except for portable), boxes, etc. The store was not laid out very well and the merchandise needs to be hunted through for differing varieties of some of the items. My hindsight brings up a dark and dingy image compared to the cute and bright logo on the outside of the store. Last but not least nail in this review coffin, I was actually insulted by the staff's attitude and remark while cashing out. Not only could I sense the attitude in their down-the-nose gaze, which was chilly enough, I got the message loud and clear that working here is all about them when I made my usual request not to have the 2 pieces of receipts stapled together. "Well, our policy is that returns need them both, so I (underline, bold and capitalize that "I") need it [sic] stapled." Okay, YOU need them stapled. WE won't be back. Not in the store and won't bother looking online, either.

Midori Gifts is a purveyor of cute plushies, stationary, and fashion accessories mostly of Japanese…read moreorigin. I actually didn't see a ton of very well known branded stuffed toys (no Sanrio characters) but there were a few of the more popular Pokemon. There were a lot of different tools for journaling including an array of gel pens, stickers, and notebooks including ones with 2020 dates, diaries with flaps, and bound leather journals. They had some fashion accessories like fuzzy scarves, mittens, and hats. There were some anime statues in a display case up front but I wouldn't say that's the focus of the store. The store is really well organized and neat. There was only one associate working there when we dropped by who was industriously rearranging the shelves. She left us alone for the most part but thanked us for coming in as we left.