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Carolina Moon Gallery is a New Age Gallery which blends modern and ancient ideas together. We feature jewelry, clothing and vintage one-of-a-kind items selected just for you.

Serving the Outer Banks of North Carolina since 1982, we bring you the largest selection of earrings on the east coast.

Carolina Moon Gallery is an ageless place where heart and imagination can feast on the fantastic riches not found anywhere else. We revolve around you.

Call 252-619-4298 for store hours, especially during off season.

Scarborough Faire Shopping Village
1177 Duck Road, Duck, NC 27949

Visit us on social media!

Facebook.com/carolinamoongallery
Etsy.com/Shop/CarolinaMoonGallery
Instagram.com/CarolinaMoonGallery
Pinterest.com/LouBartscher/

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FEATURED PROFILE


Carolina Moon Gallery Celebrates 40 Years

by Julie Matthews

In 1982 Lou Bartscher opened the doors to her specialty shop, Carolina Moon Gallery, and this year marks the 40th anniversary. Her journey as a small business owner has been interesting to say the least. In the 1970s she had a store in Ellicott City, Maryland, which was in business for 10 years. During this time she participated in craft fairs and science fiction conventions held all over the country and on one of her trips to the Outer Banks (the first of which was actually her honeymoon) she made a quick decision to relocate her shop to the beach resort despite not having a place to live.

Lou and her business have been a part of the Outer Banks community since then. Over the past four decades she has had 12 different store locations on the Outer Banks, and at one point had four shops open, including three on the Outer Banks and one in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. Lou says her shops and inventory have evolved over the years. She now has the one shop in Duck, which is the location she has always wanted. “It is hard to describe until you see it,” Lou says. “It’s more of a curiosity shop. You don’t know what you will find.”

While Carolina Moon sells tropical-style shirts, it is far from your typical local beach shop. This new age gallery offers customers a unique shopping experience with an eclectic assortment of one-of-a-kind items ranging from vintage to 1970s to modern. Jewelry is the main draw at the shop, which carries a large selection of earrings. The inventory also includes charms (customers can create their own jewelry), clothing, greeting cards, pottery, crafts, books and more. Lou makes some of the jewelry herself and some is made by others. “We will help you find the right piece for you,” she says. “Carolina Moon revolves around you.”

Lou’s business partner is her Golden Retriever named Snow, who joins her at the shop every day. She says that sometimes visitors will come into the shop a few times a day just to see Snow—and get their pet fix while on vacation since they’re missing their own furry friends.

Lou encourages people to visit Duck while they are in the Outer Banks. “There’s a lot to be seen in Duck,” she says. “It’s a little village. I find the more serious shoppers come up to Duck.”


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Duck
252-619-4298
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Shopping
The Cotton Gin

The Cotton Gin

For those traveling to the Outer Banks, The Cotton Gin is a beloved landmark with its large windmill and picturesque gardens. The Cotton Gin has stood in the same location since 1929, starting as a working cotton gin and growing to a gift store with 4 locations. Visitors are treated to a unique shopping experience in our main store in Jarvisburg, as well as our beach stores in Corolla, Duck, and Nags Head. Explore room after room filled with décor for your home and coastal fashions for both men and women. Discover the brands you really want, like, Vera Bradley, Vineyard Vines, La Mer Luex, Simply Southern, Lindsay Phillips, Scout, Pandora, Kameleon, Brighton, Spartina, Tommy Bahama, Southern Tide and Salt Life and Old Guys Rule - all under one roof!

 

Don’t forget the gourmet market, or shop our beautiful linens for your bedroom and bath. We also feature coastal books and fine art, or just a whimsical fun gift to bring home to family and friends. Stop by soon and don’t forget to try our estate grown wines in our stores or visit our vineyard and winery, Sanctuary Vineyards, located adjacent to the original Cotton Gin in Jarvisburg.

 

Most know The Cotton Gin as a must-stop shop for fine gifts, beachwear, souvenirs and so much more, but this retailer has a long-standing history within the Outer Banks. A local landmark that holds almost a century of memories, The Cotton Gin started from humble beginnings and continues to adapt to the times and tourists. Tommy Wright’s family has been in the Outer Banks for nearly 200 years. His great-great grandfather, Jacob Francis Wright, shipwrecked in Duck back in the early 1800s. Calling these barrier islands his new home, Wright and his family acclimated to their new environment.

 

Adaptation is a common theme for the Wright family. Tommy and his wife Candace, who continue to steer The Cotton Gin, have seen not only their business change with the times, but the Outer Banks as a vacation destination as well. A farm market in Jarvisburg eventually transformed and flourished into several retail locations dotting the Outer Banks.

 

“As the area changed and tourism took off in the 1960s, the family saw people coming for vacations, so they began to grow vegetables and things developed from there,” says Tommy Wright. The Wright family expanded upon the farm market and began to remodel a working cotton gin, later transforming the gin into The Cotton Gin general store in the late 1960s. While the additions to the farm store drew visitors, it was their encounters with the Wright family that kept people coming back year after year, which is something that remains true today.

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