The Waterfront Shops in Duck: Quacking Up!

The Waterfront Shops in Duck are an adorable collection of shops connected via waterside board walk. This is a great place to stretch you legs and mix up your beach vacation on the outer banks.

The Town is Called Duck

Yes, if you are not aware, there is a charming little town called Duck NC north of Kitty Hawk. The Waterfront Shops in Duck is a waterside, outdoor shopping area at the heart of this charming, outer banks town. You will arrive via NC-12 which is the primary road for the majority of the outer banks and it runs right through Duck. Duck is only 20 minutes away from the Wright Brothers Memorial and the Jockey’s Ridge State Park.

Parking was not an issue for us but the weather was not great when we came. The Parking lot could fill up during peak season on a weekend. The board walk connects all of the main town areas so consider parking at some of the other shopping centers to the south. The town of Duck does have its own playground with parking attached to this network. Consider parking there and making the 1/3 mile walk either along the scenic board walk or on the slightly more direct sidewalk.

The Coastal Shopping Mall You Were Looking For

The Waterfront Shops are exactly that, cute shops on the waterfront. These are best experienced on a fair weather day. Even on those few rainy days, you can still hop from shop to shop with an umbrella with ease. The shops boarder the sound side coast of Duck and are connected to the town’s cute boardwalk system.

This makes an ideal shopping spot for paroozing on vacation. When we visited, there were mainly toy shops, art galleries, boutiques and a pet shops in the area. You can find all sort of neat items between these places that will make great souvenirs and gifts.

We found lot of cute gift ideas for our family while we were here. Madilyn was not with us on this trip but she would have gone nuts at the books section of the toy shop. We did not get a chance to go to Outer Barks (the pet shop) but I very much so appreciated the name.

Some of the shops were a little lack-luster and others were quite charming. Definitely a mixed bag. Nothing really wowed us but we felt satisfied that we got what we came for. The variety of shops kept our visit interesting. We found it funny that there was a small herd of husbands that moved from shop to shop but refuse to go in. Clearly the shops knew this would be the case because there are benches outside each shop for these unamused husbands.

Keep Exploring

There is also a cute coffee shop that you cannot miss in the parking lot area. Duck’s Cottage boast of being a combination book shop and coffee house. The books are tastefully and selectively curated to have something for everyone. Even kids. The coffee selections is top notch as well. We will write a full review on Duck’s Cottage one day soon. This is the perfect place to pick up a drink before you start paroozing the shops.

If you Coffee and tea is not to your taste, worry not. There is also a Ice cream shop right on the board walk. The easy service window gives you a great pit stop to cool off on a summer day. No real food is served at any of the shops when we visited.

Overall

The Waterfront Shops in Duck provide an ideal day out shopping experience on the coast. Between the art gallery, boutiques, waterfront, coffee shop, and “husband benches” it is clear these shoppes were engineered to attract shoppers on vacation. This is a great place to stretch you legs and mix up your beach vacation on the outer banks.

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