Ocracoke Variety Store

 We have one all-purpose general store on the island: The Ocracoke Variety Store.  The Variety Store includes a grocery store and a hardware store and they stock everything we need to live here.  Tommy Hutcherson, who with his mother, Miss Julia, own the store, works very hard to stock what we want and need and to get things here even when weather and seasons make that especially difficult. The store is also a good employer.

Local residents have charge accounts at the store.  We don’t pay when we shop…it just goes in our bill and then we pay once at the end of the month  This sure is convenient!

Hurricane Dorian flooded the store in 2019 but Tommy and his staff worked through night and day to reopen almost as soon as the storm had passed.  There was, however, long term water damage which is now showing up in a big way.  Therefore, this winter, the store is undergoing a major rebuild and expansion.

Right now the hardware side has been totally rebuilt from a new floor up to the ceiling and some expanded space.  Following that the grocery side is not under work.  You can see the big red box in the parking lot that is receiving all the damaged wood that is being torn out.

When we go inside special care is being taken to insure that we still have access to everything we need during the construction.  Almost daily stock is relocated from place to place so we can find what we need even as parts of the store are closed off while 24 hour a day work goes on.  Customer care is always the highest priority.

So try to support the Variety Store as much as we can because they always take care of us.