Bowen's Wharf is home to many charming shops and fantastic eateries, and is a great area to start acquainting yourself with Newport if it's your first visit. The wharf has it's own website, and each business located there has it's own page where they can share their contact information and a bit about what they offer. I nearly choked when I read the the description of Custom Canvas, describing itself as "distinguished" for its "outstanding customer service." Outstandingly bad, maybe. Every year, I try to give this place the benefit of the doubt. They usually have some cute things visible in the window, selling primarily cloth bags and home decor. So I go in, browse a bit, and end up watching some train wreck go down between staff and the customers. (Keep in mind that this store is the size of a shed or small garage, so it's hard to miss.) I have witnessed customers being called stupid, blind, and lazy for asking simple questions. I've heard staff call a customer ugly. Then I feel annoyed for even considering giving them my business. This past summer, a female employee was standing beside the register, loudly complaining and making insulting remarks about customers still in the store. An older male friend of this employee was slouched over, leaned against a shelf next to her, and INCREDIBLY he told her himself to knock it off. You know you're being obnoxious if a friend is telling you to chill out. I watched that particular incident unfold from beginning to end, and it disgusted me to the point that I had to walk out of the store. The main perpetrator of the bad behavior seems to be the same employee, which, given that it's happened years in a row, leads me to believe it may actually be an owner or general manager, which is slightly horrifying. (For anyone curious, it's a blonde-haired female.) If a business gets stuck with a bad seasonal employee, I feel for them...but if this is the behavior of anyone other than a seasonal employee, I am literally baffled as to how this place has stayed open for so many years. read more

Lovely title shop with great selections of unique bags. Love the charming shoulder bag wallet combination that I purchased. Holds my iPhone. Exactly what I was looking for. Bright summer colors. Very happy read more

I have never been treated so rudely at a shop in my life. Customer service is obviously not their strong suit. Last weekend, my husband and a friend of mine decided to browse in the shop where I found a Vera Bradley purse that I was interested in. He called his wife (without my prompting) to see if he could give me a better price. I decided to take the offer and purchased the bag. After getting home, I decided I didn't love the purse. I went to try to exchange it and was greeted with an extremely rude demeanor. He essentially shouted at me, in front of other customers, while turned around pretending to be busy with merchandise on the wall, that there was no exchange or returns on sale items pointing to a sign that was not clearly visible (he moved the sign to front of the counter at this time). I drove 45 minutes down there to be told that I could try to call his wife at a later time "To see if it would be be worth my while coming back." No thank you, sir! I will definitely NOT be coming back and certainly will not be placing any custom orders. read more

I loved this little shop. It is right alongside all the pricey shops on Bowen's Wharf. We ventured in to do some souvenir shopping while awaiting our dinner reservation. RIght away I noticed a beautifully detailed, wide-brimmed hat with with an interior adjustment band. I cringed thinking that it would be expensive, but it was only $20! There were beautiful leather cross body bags for $40ish and other small canvas bags made by the owner in a lower price range. I def suggest stopping in here when shopping for things to bring home that are very Newport, hand-made, yet not pricey. I also left and then went back to speak with the owner about caring for some canvas that I have at home. He was nice enuf to spend time giving me free advice. It is really worth a "look-see" and you can load up one of a kind items which will remind you of your happy times in Newport but will still leave you with enuf cash to pay for the really expensive bar bill you are just about to run up. read more