Carolina Blue Ridge Shopping

Bargain hunting  is a big part of  vacations  . A survey by the Travel Industry Association found that almost 63 percent of  vacationers  said that a vacation just isn’t complete without some shopping.

Many tourists visiting the  Smoky mountains  on vacation enjoy  hunting for bargains. The  Smoky  mountains  are a region of small towns that are not much more than a few stores and a post office. You won't find large crowds, traffic jams, mammoth malls, or theme parks.

 Among the favorite items for shoppers are mountain crafts, antiques, North Carolina furniture, specialty foods, local wines, books and apparel.   Hard core shoppers  know where to shop and how to take advantage of the competitive sales.

Outlets
 Outlet malls offer  great bargains. Like elsewhere in the world  Smoky  mountain outlet stores or factory outlets sell high quality merchandise with a well-known brand at discounted prices. The items usually contain slight manufacturing defects and are leftovers from last season or the previous year. As a result, they are always discounted 20%-40% below department store prices.

Antiques
Antiquing  is just a fancy term for driving in circles through the countryside and stopping in towns that you might not stop in otherwise just  to poke around among things you might not notice , a little worn, a little beaten up, but designed simply and built to last. The inventories of antiques shops in the  Blue Ridge mountains  spill out onto the sidewalks and consist of just the right ratio of trash  to treasure.

Gifts and Crafts
In the North Carolina mountains  shopping for traditional arts and crafts is always a pleasure. Gift shops abound in the small mountain towns of  the Carolina Blue Ridge .  At distinctive shops located throughout the region  you'll find   handmade crafts, local and regional art, unique clothing, sportswear, souvenirs, and memorabilia. 

 Its easy to find that  something  special in the mountains. Numerous galleries and folk art centers showcase pottery, textiles, paintings, musical instruments, metal work, jewelry, and wood carvings. The Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway and The Southern Highland Craft Guild shop in Asheville offer one-of-a-kind  arts, crafts, pottery and keepsakes unique to  Smoky mountains . Enjoy the mountain air and scenery as you search for that perfect gift

Food and Wine
What you really want to know  when you're traveling in the mountains  is, "Where do the locals go for the most authentic and delicious mountain food around?"    
The people of the Blue Ridge mountains  have a healthy respect for the tender flavors and rich tastes of beef, pork, poultry, fish and, of course, home grown vegetables . The harvest of the season is one of the main reasons for a  party in the  Blue Ridge .

 Blue Ridge  cooks pride themselves on preparing  gourmet dishes from locally grown fruits and vegetables. Visit local Farmers Markets, usually open on Saturdays and one or two days during the week, you'll get a delicious insight into how much the locals  appreciate the home grown goodness of mountain fruits and vegetables.
 
Tour  a century old grist mill or  relish   home baked goods in bakeries and restaurants wherever your travels take you.  Smoky mountain  style  desserts  piping hot fresh fruit pies, hand made candies, oven baked sweet rolls  are the perfect delicacy to complete every meal of the day.

Wine Country tasting tours in western North Carolina  take on a special mountain hospitality  an inspired glow. From native grapes  to imported varieties, Carolina vineyards are producing exceptional, award-winning wines. Tours of mountain vineyards, local wine events and exclusive tastings offer all our guests, including the most discriminate of wine connoisseurs, opportunities to enjoy the award-wining wines of the Carolinas

Books
Everywhere you turn in  the Smoky mountains  there are amazing stories and storytellers.  Majestic mountain views, peaceful pastoral country scenery and small town charm seem to be torn from the pages of such authors as Thomas Wolfe and Carl Sandburg, who had homes in the region, as well as frequent visitors: Ernest Hemingway, F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and O. Henry.

The  Blue Ridge  literary trail is a  winding path that passes through Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain to Jan Karon’s “Mitford” novels. The Carolina Blue Ridge  is   filled with quaint book shops  that offer the works of these and several other local authors, each with a special story to tell .

Home Furnishings
 North Carolina manufactures 35 percent of all home furniture in the world.  More important, leading furniture manufacturers, such as Broyhill, Thomasville, and Henridon, sell their top-quality furniture at deep discounts straight from their factories in the region.

 The North Carolina  mountains  also offer a large selection of accessories and decor for mountain homes. From  rustic figurines to kitchen accessories to living and bedroom log cabin furniture the region is filled with quaint shops with mountain crafts and country furnishings.

For most vacationers  to  the mountains  street markets, country stores. and unique  specialty  stores  that are off the tourist grid are typically the best bets for good finds when it comes to mountain mementos .