Oat Willie’s

Bought a nail here that broke and melted into my couch the second time I used it. Nothing was done but asking me to leave. Guy said it was a durable quality nail too

I stopped by Oat Willie’s today to purchase some incense for my father for Father’s Day. I had my 3.5 year old daughter with me. When I entered the store, I was greeted with a bored hello from one of the staff members. While we were looking/​smelling the incense, the two female staff began loudly, (as in, shouting from across the store), talking about the owner/​managers of Oat Willies… their «discussion» was permeated with expletives, and I am sure the owner would not appreciate how the staff view him/​her. Now, I get it. Most people don’t bring their small kids into shops like Oat Willie’s…I myself don’t frequent head shops, but just wanted to run in, grab some incense for my dad, and run out. I didn’t think that the staff would be so crass as to see a woman with a small child in the store and continue to curse/​rant about management. It was incredibly unprofessional, but by far not the worst thing I witnessed while in Oat Willie’s.
A few minutes after I arrived, a few young, black, men entered the store. Immediately one of the staff members demanded to see their ID’s, in an unnecessarily rude tone of voice. Two of the men were able to provide ID’s, but the others were not. The Staff member was very rude to these men, and was quite hostile as soon as they arrived in the store. It’s important to note that although the Staff member said that it was store policy that she check ID’s on everyone who enters the store, she certainly never checked my ID, nor the ID of another (white) woman who entered the store after I did. Now, maybe I look waaaaay older than 18, (likely), or maybe the Staff member was being racist, or maybe this staff member was just having a really bad day. Either way, it was alarming and disturbing to witness the amount of hostility she showed to these young men, (they remained polite throughout the exchange, though they did ask her why she was being so hostile). They ended up leaving, (even the two with their ID), because they didn’t appreciate how she talked to them. I don’t blame them. I wish I had spoken up on their behalf, so this Unilocal review will have to suffice. I want to make clear that I absolutely understand if Oat Willie’s has a policy regarding being over the age of 18 to be in the store, but I also want to emphasize that the two white women (myself and another woman) in the store were never ID’d. I also want to emphasize that there is a polite, cheerful way to ask for ID’s without being hostile and running away business. Bars manage to do it every day, why can’t Oat Willie’s?

Been in this store at least 4 or 5 times. Good service, hit or miss. Today, miss. Walk around for a few minutes. Not looking for anything in particular, just looking. 2 people behind the counter, no acknowledgement that I’m there. I go up to the counter. See something I want to look at, maybe ask a couple of questions. Nothing. I guess he’s doing inventory or checking receivables. She’s looking at her phone. Nothing. Crickets. As I’m walking out the door, she says have a nice day. Great, but what about when I was ready to spend some money? Never again will I go in there.

Customer service is crap! Young chick behind the counter seemed to be bothered that a client came in when no one else was in there. Her co-​worker didn’t even acknowledge that someone walked in. If this place wants to survive they need to hire quality employees that care about the customer. As we all know the feds are trying to shut this place down for selling a questionable product that is deemed dangerous to the public. Lawyers are not cheap and not having great employees that can sell product to make this business profitable is not going to help.

About the worst service I’ve had at any smoke shop. One guy was bossing around another while not even asking for my specific need, and was on his phone while speaking to me as well. I was about to make a purchase on a vaporizer and a expensive piece but lost business with their dick attitudes.

Great place, mostly great folks behind the counter. They can be pretty helpful most of the time. Overall, not a bad place to go but definitely not the best either. So, if mediocrity is your bag, head on down to Oat Willie’s.

Customer service here is hit or miss. Today it was totally miss. My girlfriend and I decided it was time to add a new piece to the collection. As we walk in the store, we notice 4 people behind the counter. No one says hi, but maybe they’re busy. We start to look at the knick-​knack and stash boxes, no one comes to help us. I walk to the counter and start looking at grinders, no one asks if I want to see one. Hmm, I think, maybe they don’t see me. Granted I am almost 300 lbs and standing 10 feet from all 4 of them, but hey, maybe they have bad eyesight. So I walk away from the counter for a moment to look at something else. Shortly I return to the counter and notice this time that one of the «employees» appears to be doing inventory. I know how obnoxious it is to have a customer interrupt inventory, so I patiently wait for another «employee». 5 minutes go by and all 4 «employees» continue to play the silent game. Finally, the «employee» doing inventory stands up and makes eye contact with me. Success!!! He mutters a «Hirgh», and continues to the back of the store. That’s it for me, I grab the missus and we high tail it out of there. We find another store with excellent customer service and drop $ 500 on a new piece and a new grinder. Not sure what was going on today with the «employees», but I have always gotten the snobbish hipster/​aficionado vibe from this store. Even though it is a block from me, I will never go back. I have found the head shop oasis in a sea of stuck up counter clerks and will be writing a great review for them shortly.
TL:DR — Horrible customer service, «employees» act snobbish and condescending.

I’ve never done this before for a tobacco shop this way, but I just wanted to say that the staff at this Oat Willie’s is awesome right now. I’ve met other good ones at other Oat Willie’s but I think that these particular folks deserve some props at this juncture.

Well I just moved to Austin and got the apartment cross the street from this place. Actually I liked it, went to check this place if they have a coal for hookah… they have it and ppl are nice there. Will be back.

This place used to be my go to smoke shop, and it’s not even the closest one to me. I went in there about a week ago, and I felt like I had never been a customer before. The staff that used to pay attention to my frequency/​purchases, are all gone. The people that work there now are impolite, standoffish, and not knowledgable at all in the products that I am interested in. Wish they could bring back the staff from a year ago, but I’m sure they had a good reason for leaving this place, as they were almost over qualified for the inventory. I’ll be taking my money elsewhere for now.

I only check in here because i stop by to get a new chronicle and check out the new items on the market. The staff is always knowledgeable and ready to help.

Casual atmosphere, friendly staff, good selection.

Let’s take this review from a couple of different directions. First: I’ll admit it, I frequent head shops. They are all different from each other in terms of who owns it and in terms of who works there. It’s like this: head shops tend to not have a lot of turnover in staff, so if you repeat-​visit a particular location, you will discover the different attitudes of each counterperson.
Expanding on the same thought: I hate the daytime staff at the South Lamar Planet K. The store is pretty cool but there’s a definite air of superiority going on… and I’m sorry, but if you work at a head shop, by now you should be able to work stoned. If you get stoned and then become inefficient, you probably should just call out sick and play some more Bio-​Shock. Which leads me to the staff of South Oats. I’ve been here enough since I moved to the neighborhood that they recognize me and that’s always nice. Some of them are more chatty than others but that’s how it goes.

Solid shop with a good selection of eclectic items. I had always thought of them strictly as a tobacco shop but they actually carry a lot of different things to decorate your home, as well as clothing, and incense.
I went in for a pipe but ended up also buys a couple of small knick knacks and some new incense. Not the closest place to my house but a good spot to find some cool old school Austin-​y gifts.

I love this store for the shopping: beautiful tapestries, clothing, and jewelry. But the employees are incredibly rude, I went in there needing help and stood there at the counter for a while as the employees ignored me and talked (very CRUDE conversation) amongst themselves. Not sure I will go back and even when I look at the item I purchased it reminds me of their negative energy.

Perfect location for me, and they have everything to fit my needs here. Not the best customer service, but its the kinda place where you almost always know what you need.

I go there occasionally to pick up… things. They have a decent selection of smoking accessories, and a limited selection of clothes, knick-​knacks and novelties. The people that work there are usually indifferent to the customers, and usually don’t stop their conversations with each other when helping customers. Hey, you can get what you need for your smoke, but don’t expect much else. I still go there, I’m just not enthusiastic about it.

Oat Willies just happens to be next door to my favorite Phở place and this is how I discovered the place. I am pretty sure it’s been around for many years, I want to say I remember driving by one as a little girl.(I started driving at 5) I don’t smoke cigarettes, cigars or the green stuff, but if you do, this is a pretty cool place to go. They have a great array of pipes and bongs… for tobacco of course. This is Austin you know… where no one smokes marijuana. You can get flavored & decorated papers for rolling your own cigarettes. Everybody’s doing it:) They have hookah’s which I do love and will smoke if I happen to be around one. Its a great gift store as well with a variety of unique things to give. You can find things like fighting nuns, ninja guns and other off the wall things there. They also carry some really cute clothes, love the dresses! You can also get your naughty on in the magazine section. Well preferably at home after you purchase your magazine of choice.

I stopped by this place the other day for looking for a tip tray and some, umm, incense. Staff was very friendly and i got a really cool wall calender for free. Surely, I’ll be back