The Variety Store

Needed some water for the ferry ride back to Hatteras. Stopped in, saw a lot of people and said to my aunt, let’s not get the water, there’s too many people. This lady, who was my elder, heard me and spoke up. «Honey, by the time you get that water, these people will be gone, go get it.» Off we went. Grabbed some waters, got to the register and there she was. No line! She was grinning like a cheshire cat as we thanked her so much! Very nice people here! Gotta love people who do hard work in a place where there are so many spoiled tourists and smile about it!!! Thanks Miss Lady!

Killer beer selection! They even carry 21^st Amendment’s Hell Or High Watermelon! Friendly locals too.

It is the local grocery store on the island. It is not anything special. Some of the groceries are insanely priced but if you need anything this is the place you can get it, even non grocery items.

They don’t sell large condoms and tell you to talk to management if you ask why it. Big penises need protection too. Hey management, get some magnums on the island.

Not really an impressive place, just a small grocery store. I walked in and was almost instantly confused as there is really no organization in here. All items seem to be just crammed in where they could cram it into.
I came in to grab a quick snack to hold me over until I could get some real food. To try and find a snack in here took me a decent amount of time. I had to really serach for something I could eat that wouldn’t effect my allergies. You have to remember that it is a small grocery store on an island.

The best deal on beer on the insland — $ 18 twelve-​packs of New Belgium cans.

Now that I am traveling with a gluten freer (GFers), I feel the need to update. GFers can’t really catch a break here. There’s rice and that’s about it. No GF pasta or crackers, no quinoa or grain substitute, and there is no refuge in the frozen food section either. I also don’t remember the prices being as high as they were, but like a football stadium, we are a captive audience, so it’s not so surprising.

Selection, location and price.
OK, never mind that it’s right next to the ABC store.
This place is your one stop shop for food, beverage, dry goods and gifts.
They have managed to expand and take on the additional business since the Community Store in the Village on Silver Lake went under.
I really like they have the 20 lb bags of ice for only $ 4 bucks.
The two pics I added are murals painted on each side of the wall as you exit,

The staff is nice and the «variety» is definitely there. I went with intention to purchase a swimsuit and I found one, the only one which was only 1 size too big (They only had one sz8 and like 25 sz14’s, where’s the variety here!) and also the only one that didn’t look like it was meant for an older person. But $ 30 for a bikini, hey, I can’t really complain.

This is a nice grocery/​hardware/​ABC store on Ocracoke that we visited about a month ago while there for my birthday. They have a pretty good selection of things and provisions for those camping on the island (we weren’t but plan to in the future). They also have little souvenir items as well which are nice, It’s definitely a good place to stock up while you’re on the island :)

Everything you need and then some!
So this guy (who is no stranger to tent camping) decided to visit the magnificent and beautiful Ocracoke Island for vacation, with the plan being to camp in the island’s national park. Sounds like a wonderful idea, right? Well, it was except for the fact that I forgot perhaps the singly most important item for a camping trip… you guessed it… THE TENT! Now I figured this surely to be too great of a mishap to be overcome on this very tiny and quaint island, but the Variety Store proved me wrong as they had tents in stock! What’s even more amazing is the fact that the store did not charge an arm an a leg for the tent (which they very easily could have), which was instead very reasonably priced. In short, you would be safe in saying that this store saved my vacationing life to some degree.
Aside from providing needed camping shelter, this store has pretty much everything else you could require during your stay from groceries, beer/​wine, camping equipment, essential beach items, and touristy stuff (postcards, magnets, etc). Like the tent, everything is very reasonably priced. With such a decent selection of goods at «land» prices, you could really live off of everything found in this one store (I wonder if any of the locals do just that?).
Another very useful feature of this store is the fact that they have the menus from nearly all the local restaurants posted outside of the front door. This may seem somewhat trivial, but believe me it is not when internet access can be spotty and some of the restaurants do not have their menus posted on-​line. A few crucial dining decisions were made by those in my party at this menu mecca! The Variety Store is also your go-​to destination on the island for any firewood that you may need during your vacation. After all, who doesn’t love a romantic beach fire?