13 Best Places to Shop in The North Carolina Coast, North Carolina

Located in the historic Kress Mall, C. Foy Tonsorial Parlor and its third-generation owner are bringing back old-fashioned (but upscale) barbering, complete with hot-towel shaves, shoulder massages, and shoeshines. There's a shoeshine booth and a chess table to pass the time before your appointment. For the ultimate experience, ask for the New York Mint Julep Cocktail Facial.

This art gallery and shop focuses on upscale crafts, glass and metal work, and fine art by regional artists of every genre. You'll find pottery (it's owned by a local potter), jewelry, wood carvings, and all manner of paintings and prints.

Once the headquarters for the largest cotton exporter in the world, this historic warehouse complex now comprises a dense concentration of locally owned boutiques and restaurants—nearly 30 of them—in a rambling maze of courtyards and hallways. Clothing and footwear, arts and crafts, gourmet food supplies, books, and comics are all here. While you're here, check out the Wilmington Walk of Fame honoring local celebrities like David Brinkley, Michael Jordan, Charlie Daniels, Roman Gabriel, and nearly a dozen more.

With strong local support, this enduring mainstay has survived hurricane flooding to stock an admirable collection of literature on the Outer Banks, cuisine, history, nature, lighthouses, shipwrecks, and folklore, as well as related fiction. Local author readings are frequent. The owners operate a sister store in Duck, Duck's Cottage, that's also a coffee shop.

A two-block side street off the beachfront S. Virginia Dare Trail road, now known officially as Gallery Row, is home to several local artist studios and retail displays, including the Glenn Eure Ghost Fleet Gallery and the SeaGreen Gallery, where works are created from driftwood, buoys, and other reclaimed maritime items. There's plenty of parking on this quiet residential street, meaning you can easily walk from gallery to gallery.

If you're intoxicated by the smell of well-worn books, you'll be addicted as soon as you step inside this store. Among its thousands of treasures are rare paperbacks, gently used cookbooks, and recent novels. Grab a coffee or a local beer from the small bar while you peruse the largest collection of African American literature in town and a huge selection of Judaica, plus theater books and movie and film scripts. The shop hosts events, such as a book club and literary walks.

A bookstore, a woodwork-focused gift shop, a tattoo parlor, clothing boutiques, and a coffee bar are among the businesses sharing space in this 1880 building that once housed the city's farmers' market.

Peek into the production room and take home a bottle of Kill Devil Rum from this small-batch distillery, where the Wheel House Lounge bar doubles as a popular hangout for locals sipping sweet rum cocktails.

Ocracoke's per capita population of artists far exceeds most towns, and the work of the island's best jewelers, wood carvers, painters, and metalsmiths is on display—and for sale—at this charming out-of-the-way gallery, open since 1970.