19 Best Places to Shop in Asheville, North Carolina

At this unusual bookstore and bar, you can relax on an overstuffed chair or sofa while sipping one of 80 wines and champagnes by the glass. The inventory includes more than 20,000 secondhand books, with special strength in Civil War, American history, and North Carolina subjects. It's pet friendly, too, with an "espresso dog bar." 

The biggest and arguably the best art gallery in town has changing exhibits of regional sculpture, paintings, fine crafts, and photographs.

Shopping is excellent and local all over downtown Asheville, with around 200 boutiques, including more than 30 art and crafts galleries. Several streets, notably Biltmore Avenue, Broadway Street, Lexington Avenue, Haywood Street, and Wall Street, are lined with small, independently owned stores. In fact, there are only two chain retailers in all of downtown.

The line often extends into Pack Square at this premium chocolatier for truffles, ice cream, cookies, brownies, various kinds of hot and cold chocolate drinks, and specialty coffees and teas. Adjoining is the grab-and-go Chocolate Boutique. The owners also have a small chocolate factory and tasting room at  821 Riverside Dr., with guided tours daily, starting at $12.

Just before its opening in 1929, the Grove Arcade, which covers an entire city block, was trumpeted as "the most elegant building in America" by its builder, W. E. Grove, the man also responsible for the Grove Park Inn. He envisioned a new kind of retail, office, and residential complex. Grove died before completing the project, and a planned 14-story tower was never built. Still, the building is an architectural wonder, with gargoyles galore. Now it's a public market with about 40 locally owned shops and restaurants, along with apartments, office space, and an outdoor market. A self-guided architectural tour (download a map from the website) takes about 45 minutes.

This is what an independent bookstore should be, with an intelligent selection of new books, many author appearances and other events, and a comfortable café. Staffers speak many foreign languages, including Hungarian, Russian, Italian, Spanish, French, and German.

Somewhere between an art gallery, an antique mall, and a craft fair, a stroll through Marquee is like touring a museum of Asheville's most creative visual artists. Offerings range from whimsical decor to functional furniture. There's an on-site bar to sip while you browse, and leashed dogs are welcome. 

Odyssey has the largest number of working clay artists in the region. It has two ceramics galleries, plus pottery studios and clay classes. Browse the ceramic works, both functional and decorative, as well as figurative and abstract sculptures by juried clay artists. 

In a 1938 building that once housed a five-and-dime, Woolworth Walk features the curated work of more than 170 crafts artists, in 20,000 square feet of exhibit space on two levels. There's even a working soda fountain, built to resemble the original Woolworth luncheonette.

Sponsored by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), nearly everything at this downtown market is local. Offerings usually include produce, free-range eggs, homemade breads, cheeses, and crafts from some 60 local farms, bakeries, and craftspeople. Every Saturday morning it covers an entire city block on North Market Street. ASAP publishes a print and online guide to local food sources and tailgate markets.

This 1887 brick building, one of the oldest industrial buildings in Asheville, is a former factory once owned by Moses H. Cone, whose family mansion is on the Blue Ridge Parkway. With an exterior covered by a colorful mural, it's home to a music venue, photographers, boutique seamstresses, and a trendy tattoo studio.

Chocolate truffles and sea-salt caramels are favorites here, but you can also buy made-on-site items such as chocolate in the shapes of cowboy boots and high heels. Most items are sold for takeout, but there's limited in-store seating if you just can't wait to scarf down these delicious sweets with a cup of rich hot chocolate.

With working studios and exhibits by about a dozen artists, CURVE Studios displays ceramics, textiles, jewelry, sculpture, and furniture in three storefronts.

Nearing a century old, this stunning historic building's glass roof fills its corridors with light on sunny days—and is a welcome escape during a summer thunderstorm. It's home to restaurants, a bookstore with a bar inside, and shops that include a wooden instrument maker and an apothecary. 

The gallery's 9,000 square feet hold high-quality ceramic, glass, fiber, wood, and other crafts, along with furniture in what the gallery calls "the Asheville style." 

In this 1928 landmark building decorated with polychrome terra-cotta tiles, about 100 artisans show and sell their crafts.

Established by the late arts entrepreneur John Cram in 1972, New Morning Gallery has more than 13,000 square feet of exhibit space in a prime location in Biltmore Village. The gallery, which has a national reputation, focuses on more popular and moderately priced ceramics, garden art, jewelry, furniture, and art glass.

More than 60 artists, craftspeople, and entrepreneurs in ceramics, painting, textiles, woodworking, and jewelry work in this complex of studios and galleries in the River Arts District. Several of the artists offer classes, and there's lots of free parking.

This large brick building holds more than 30 independent art and crafts studios, along with the popular Wedge Brewery. Grab a bite from one of the food trucks that appear in rotation in the Wedge parking lot and eat at a picnic table outside. Wedge Brewery has a second RAD location behind Riverview Station next door to 12 Bones.