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Coastal Style

Easy, breezy, casual and fun.

Experience the magic of the Outer Banks when you shop The Cotton Gin's coastal and nautical collections featuring home decor, accessories, gifts and jewelry as well as beachside fashions for the whole family.

What's in a 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 3 locations.

Visitors are treated to a unique shopping experience at 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 Luxe, Simply Southern, Scout, Pandora, Brighton, Spartina, Southern Tide, Salt Life, Hey Dude, Katin USA, Marsh Wear, and Bogg Bags - 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 The Cotton Gin in Jarvisburg.


THANK YOU for Voting Us a GOLD WINNER in the 2025 BEST OF OBX Contest!
Best Women's Boutique
Best Gift Shop

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FEATURED PROFILE

Adapting a Local Landmark

From Quaint Farm Market to Popular Retail Shop, the Wright Family Doesn't Shy Away from Change

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.

"It's still centered around the origin that you met the people and created a relationship," Wright explains. "That's why people would keep stopping to see us. They, of course, wanted to buy something from us, but they also wanted to see us again. That's what a small business is."

Because of that connection with their customers, the Wright family has never been afraid to take risks when it comes to The Cotton Gin, creating an even better experience for visitors.

After construction was completed to ease traffic on the Outer Banks, the Wrights took the opportunity to open additional locations and broaden their Cotton Gin vision. The Cotton Gin now has locations in Corolla, Duck and Nags Head, all offering the same family feel as the original Jarvisburg location people know and love.

Continuing to adapt, the Wright family planted grapes on their seaside Jarvisburg farm in 2002, later starting Sanctuary Vineyards. The vineyard, boasting about 25 acres of native, French and Italian grapes, is managed by Tommy and Candace's son, John Wright. "It's just another chapter in the story," Tommy says. "It's another generation that can do something on the land."

–Interview by Arielle Patterson

 

Store Hours
Open Daily, 10 AM - Closing

Hours are seasonal.

Corolla
Nags Head
Hours
*Off-season hours may vary*
Call 252-453-4446 for current hours.
  • Monday10:00AM-06:00PM
  • Tuesday10:00AM-06:00PM
  • Wednesday10:00AM-06:00PM
  • Thursday10:00AM-06:00PM
  • Friday10:00AM-06:00PM
  • Saturday10:00AM-06:00PM
  • Sunday10:00AM-06:00PM
Ben Franklin

Stop by Nags Head's Ben Franklin at Mile Post 10 on the Bypass where you will find everything you need for the beach! From Clothing, T-shirts and Swimwear to Boards, Chairs, Umbrellas and Tackle. You'll find it all…and of course, we have the best selection of Souvenirs anywhere on the Outer Banks. Enjoy your vacation! Independently owned by a member of one of the Outer Banks’ oldest families, the Ben Franklin store is stocked with just about everything a visitor would need to go to the beach.

 

Ben Franklin stores were once part of a five-and-dime retail empire, with about 2,500 locations across the country in its heyday. As decades passed and the times and customers began to change, many closed their doors, leading to fewer than 150 of these nostalgic shops. Nags Head Ben Franklin, however, has withstood the test of time and adapted to the needs of its customers to provide a memorable shopping experience on the Outer Banks.

 

Debbie Terry Tolson, manager of the Ben Franklin location in Nags Head, recalls working with former owner Tommie Daniels. Daniels’ father, Moncie Daniels, started the business in downtown Manteo in the early 1900s. The Daniels family has been a longstanding fixture in the Outer Banks business community—Moncie even sold gas to the Wright brothers in 1903.

 

Tommie, with an excellent business mind, saw the opportunity the new Bypass presented and, in 1977, he opened the Nags Head location of Ben Franklin. He was one of the first businesses on the Bypass,” Tolson says.In addition to a new location, the Ben Franklin store saw a new group of customers.

 

“People would come from all around because Tommie had a little bit of everything—it was more like a five and 10 then,” Tolson explains. “As he went to the beach, he began to get more tourists, so he started catering more and more to visitors.”

 

Today, the 21,000-square-foot souvenir shop quickly catches the attention of anyone driving by thanks to the ocean-themed mural that decorates the façade of the building, painted by local artist Rob Snyder. This Ben Franklin location has become the must-stop shop for both first-time visitors to the area and generations of families who escape to the Outer Banks annually.

 

Tolson credits the great prices and friendly customer service to the success of the location, which keeps families returning.“People come in all the time and tell me, ‘my grandmother or my grandfather used to bring me here and now I’m bringing my children,’” she shares. “One of my favorite parts about working here is seeing the people come back year after year.”