On Island Time: The Cottage Shop
As seen in Waterfront Living 2025.
Located in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, The Cottage Shop aims to be a lifestyle shopping experience for customers who are decorating their beach homes — or taking a piece of the beach home.
The Cottage Shop concept was originally created by the Kellogg Supply Company — a building materials and home center since 1946 — at its Duck, North Carolina, location in 1986. The shop was added to offer cottage owners direct access to the latest trends and fashion in coastal living décor.
Launched as The Cottage Shop in 2001, it grew to be the home of Outer Bank style for visitors and locals alike — featuring home accents, unique coastal gifts, beach fashion, holiday décor and outdoor furniture. The shop has two locations on the barrier islands, including Duck and Nags Head, North Carolina.
COASTAL CORE
The Cottage Shop’s mission is to inspire its customers through a lifestyle shopping experience — helping them visualize how a special piece will fit in their home — whether they live at the coast or just love the coastal vibe and want to take it home.
“Our bread and butter has always been and still remains coastal home décor and accents,” said Amy Smith, home decor buyer and marketing manager for The Cottage Shop. “However, as a small business, we have evolved and adapted with the times and trends to encompass gifts for every occasion — many drinkware lines, a ladies boutique of clothing, loungewear, beachwear, sandals, jewelry and accessories — which have proven to be great additions to our product mix.”
Best known for its selection of coastal home décor and gifts, The Cottage Shop’s typical customer base is women who possess a love for the coast and all accoutrements to its look and lifestyle.
With its wide variety offerings, Smith said The Cottage Shop’s bestsellers include Illume Candle’s Sea Salt Fragrance and Swan Creek Timeless Jar Candles; Clarkware Handmade Ocean Lace Pottery; C&F coastal-themed bedding; drinkware from Yeti, Swig, Frank Green and Rolf Glass; and jewelry from Kendra Scott, Alex Carol and Dot & Dash.
Smith’s personal favorites include Umgee clothing and Kendra Scott jewelry, which are part of the store’s new ladies’ boutique — an expansion on its women’s clothing and accessory offerings.
YEAR-ROUND VACATION
For a long time, coastal home décor had a distinct look with accent pieces shown very prominently, like sealife or beach icons, Smith said. Now, the coastal décor is more subtle — still enhanced with sealife-inspired products, but softer and leaning into coastal colors that inspire the same feel without being over-the- top. She added that industrywide, the selection of coastal products varies by year but does feel harder to source.
“I’m sure you have heard the phrase ‘on island time’? Well, sometimes industry trends take a while to get to the coast and even be accepted,” she said.
Recently, Smith has noticed an uptick in gold accents for coastal décor.
“We have a lot of vacationers in our area, and we do see them taking a little more time to contemplate and choose that special vacation purchase which aligns with the consumer mindset,” she said.
Beyond beach décor, The Cottage Shop gives back to the Outer Banks community through its parent company’s Kellogg Cares Program. So far this year, the program has contributed over $75,000 to various community groups, from nonprofits to school sports teams and more. The Cottage Shop also participated in the Couture By the Shore Fashion Show, an annual fundraiser for the Outer Banks Relief Foundation.
Smith feels confident in The Cottage Shop’s ability to adapt and pivot to create a successful future for itself — whether it’s following a new trend, adjusting for a pandemic or challenging economic conditions, or just because the shop wants to try a new product concept in its stores.
“Who doesn’t love the beach?! We are fortunate to live in a special area that welcomes many visitors to our barrier island so we plan to enjoy helping them enjoy the Outer Banks for a long time,” Smith said.
