I've gone to Curious Goods on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh probably over two-dozen times. 95% of the time you will see the owner at cashier from their open hours of 11am to 7pm Mon-Sat. It is a very tiny one-room shop where you can find t-shirts, incense, posters, tobacco 'alternatives' as well as pipes, bongs, vaporizers and hookas. The atmosphere is laid-back and casual given the spacey employees who will usually wait to be confronted before assisting you.
As I said, I have been here probably over 2-3 dozen times and each time, save when I went on maybe three consecutive days, I was ID'd before purchase by the same person. That's fine, but basically, this means that although I was a regular customer - I was never recognized as such. One time I was given a discount and not ID'd, but unless your a daily-visible face, you will not be able to receive a break from the steep prices*. I am referring mainly to their pipes, bongs, etc - that are around 30-50% higher than necessary. I ended up purchasing a tiny 3-4 inch pipe that isn't very thick and whose designs are really quite simplistic - for $54. In my opinion, it should have been no more than $25-$30 on the high end. Most of the pipes, which are all decent, are grossly and seemingly almost rather greedily overpriced, ranging from $55-250 for what is very standard-issue. Their bongs and the very few vaporizers they have are similarly and quite ridiculously overly expensive.
(*) They do offer a discount for college students and active military I believe.
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I was asked again for my ID by the owner the other day when I went the last time and although it was my Birthday the very next day, (today), that went unnoticed, as well as the fact that I've been there countless times before and spent hundreds of dollars in total. As a consequence, I was left paying a good 50% more for a piece than I feel I should have - inflated prices and lack of any possible discount factored in to this. (My choice of course, just sayin').
I understand why the prices are so high - it's a business after all, one that attracts mostly cloudy-eyed college stundents and stoner-esk clientele. It would seem to me, however, that with the lack of consistent customer support and the overall high end prices on nearly exclusively standard and sub-par glasswork - that there may well be better avenues in finding that unique one-in-a-million piece you've been looking for lately.
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I'd recommend visiting the place for yourself though - it's a very non intimidating and casual place where they do offer a heavy niche which is unfortunately rare in this area of the state. Just be sure to purchase something other than their pipes for a little while - until they get the point and start to lower the prices at least a bit. ;-)
Have a great day and thanks for reading!
-Joseph
(05-21-2012) read more
