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    The Knotty Elephant

    5.0 (6 reviews)
    Open 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

    Services - The Knotty Elephant

    Gift shops

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    4 months ago

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    8 months ago

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    5 years ago

    Such a cute book store and a fun story! Paul is preserving the legacy of The Knotty Elephant!

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    10 years ago

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    9 years ago

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    The Whimsy Shop - Pottery baby gulls!

    The Whimsy Shop

    4.9(8 reviews)
    0.1 mi
    $$

    Years ago I was in Portland and ended up at this shop. I…read morebought a hand made pottery baby gull. I have always wanted another one and I was so excited to see they still had the artist!

    Its nuts how The Whimsy Shop has been a staple in my memory of Kennebunkport from the early 90s yet…read moreit has so little Yelp reviews. I guess the typical shopper here doesn't actively use Yelp - but still! Anyway, I'm here to add to the review hat - as we were walking though Kennebunkport and stopped in on a...whim. Businesses come and go in Dock Square - some are new, others have been here since I first went to Maine as a child. The Whimsy Shop is on the latter end of that spectrum, and was always known for carrying more upscale gifts compared to a typical touristy souvenir shop. My brothers and I were looking for a gift to bring back to our parents from Maine, and thought this would be a good place to check out. The majority of their selection is home decor - there are a lot of porcelain products as well as a few housewares. They have pretty stuff, and even though it's a small store you can spend a good amount of time browsing. We ultimately decided to go with a hand-painted ceramic snowman to go with our parents' many other snowpeople they display during the holidays - it was intricately painted an truly a unique item. Service was friendly, they packed the item with care and even gave us information about the artist to take home. Overall, I had a great experience rediscovering the Whimsy Shop and would recommend it as a stop during your Kennebunkport explorations.

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    The Whimsy Shop - Christmas ornaments with Kennebunkport on it.

    Christmas ornaments with Kennebunkport on it.

    The Whimsy Shop - More items

    More items

    The Whimsy Shop - Beautiful wind chimes

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    Beautiful wind chimes

    Saxony Imports Gift Shop

    Saxony Imports Gift Shop

    3.1(15 reviews)
    0.1 mi
    $$

    Hey...this is a cool store!…read more First and foremost, there is history here...it was once the Lyric movie theatre. It is located on the waterfront of Dock Square and you can't miss it because the building is red! It is such a beautiful building and serves as the backdrop to a lot of pictures. They have a little bit of everything and I suppose it's a typical souvenir shop...but they do have some unique things here. I really enjoyed looking around and even got quite a few laughs. Just look in the windows and you'll want to go in! They seem to be decently priced as well. The staff is extremely friendly and they even have an online shop. Of course, shopping online is nothing like shopping in the store, but you can find some of their more popular items online.

    Fairly normal souvenir shop. However the service is atrocious. We walked in and the employees…read moreignored us the entire time gossiping loudly. When we did get an employee's attention to request a size the employee made an attempt to search the back inventory. Only to be stopped by another employee saying that what they have out is all they had. And adamantly and rudely refusing to check further inventory. They then proceeded to continue to loudly gossip and laugh amongst themselves. Anytime we needed help they acted as though it was a terrible and annoying inconvenience. Unfortunately all the other nearby shops were closed and my husband really wanted a Kennebunk tshirt or we would have happily taken our business elsewhere.

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    Saxony Imports Gift Shop - Answer: An emphatic Hell NO!!!!!!

    Answer: An emphatic Hell NO!!!!!!

    Saxony Imports Gift Shop - Stop gaslighting.  Facts are facts

    Stop gaslighting. Facts are facts

    Saxony Imports Gift Shop - From across the street - See?...You can't miss the building!

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    From across the street - See?...You can't miss the building!

    Octopus Bookshop

    Octopus Bookshop

    4.4(7 reviews)
    3.7 mi

    This is a great example of a local bookstore and definitely a spot worth supporting. They opened up…read moreback in June of this year (2025). They are located in Kennebunk and if you find yourself in the area looking for your next read stop in. They have it organized into genres neatly so you will find your preference of books right away. In the middle of the first area you walk into you'll find tables with popular or books the staff want on display. You can then go to the back of the building and you'll find the books for the kids along with a fireplace set up and a couple of chairs. It's a very nice set up for those bringing their kids. Also off the main room you will find another room with additional genres including poetry, world history, essays and more. Then lastly around the check out you will find plenty of merch with their logo which is an octopus holding a book, which is a really great logo in my opinion. Also to mention outside they did have one table if you need to start your book right after you buy it! Price wise I felt as though it was about the same as other local bookstores. Just due to distance and the fact I have closer local bookstores to me I won't be someone who comes here frequent but enjoyed browsing and checking it out. No complaints and a bookstore worthy of your time!

    I was blown away with how much the space had changed and become a beautiful place to browse…read more The kids section in the back of the store is magical! Most impressive for me was the amount of books and variety. My husband likes sci-fi vampire books and he found one he was really excited about. My teenage daughter likes any book that has been featured on TikTok and they had those too! Along with greeting cards, gift bags and books it's a one stop shop. I'm a bit spacey and forgot my wallet so I was really glad that they took Apple Pay and I could just tap my phone. Such a cool store to have in Kennebunk and a must stop if you are in the area.

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    Octopus Bookshop - Books

    Books

    Octopus Bookshop
    Octopus Bookshop - More Books

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    The Knotty Elephant - bookstores - Updated June 2026

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