Highlands, N.C. Mountain burg has right stuff for browsers
Highlands, N.C. – Blame it on the altitude. There’s something about the air at 4,118 feet above sea level that renders you powerless over all that merchandise calling your name from the rows of shops along Main Street. The spiffy clothing, the dazzling jewelry, the hand blown glass Christmas ornaments, the antique cuckoo clock from the Black Forest, the mint-condition Majolica, the Bubba teeth . . . the Bubba teeth?
The decaying, gap-toothed dentures straight out of “Deliverance” were flying out of the Toy Store on Main Street at $15 a pop — a novelty among the mostly upscale offerings in this mountain shopping mecca that has been charming browsers and buyers for decades.
Highlands was founded as a summer resort in 1875 by Samuel Kelsey and Clinton Hutchinson, whose names are immortalized in the new Kelsey & Hutchinson Lodge perched above the town at Spring and Fourth streets. In 1928, the Highlands Country Club was built and Old Buckhead headed north for the summer.
While the permanent population of the Highlands area is 3,000, in summer the number rises to 20,000. But more and more, the town is becoming a year-round haven for hikers, anglers, white-water rafters, golfers, skiers — and shoppers.
“Used to be we didn’t open the door until Memorial Day and we closed it up after Labor Day,” says Christy Kelly, executive director of the Highlands Chamber of Commerce. “Now, most merchants are open at least through December or January, and many are staying open all year.”
The day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the season. “Everybody comes up Thanksgiving,” says Ann Jacob, who runs galleries in Buckhead and Highlands. “They come in droves.”
It’s hard to imagine the town being more crowded than on a recent October weekend, when No Vacancy signs were ubiqitous and cars cruised Main Street in a game of motorized musical chairs, drivers hoping to snag a freshly vacated parking space.
“The town lighting is Friday night after Thanksgiving,” says Kelly, “and we have a wonderful Christmas shopping season.”
That’s the good news. On the flip side: There are no longer the deep discounts retailers offered on Thanksgiving weekend to clear out their inventory before closing for the season.
One thing is certain: The shopping opportunities continue to grow.
It’s not exactly urban sprawl, but the shopping district is no longer confined to two blocks on Main Street — home to such mainstays as Wit’s End Shops (classic ladies apparel since 1940) and Scudder’s Galleries — and “on the hill” along Fourth Street between Main and Spring streets. New businesses have opened just blocks away at Highlands Plaza, Wright Square and Mountain Brook Center and on U.S. 64 toward Cashiers, where you’ll find the Apple Mountain Shoppes, Celtic Crown and a new location (still under construction) of Thoroughbreds women’s clothing store.
Serious shoppers should pick up a shopping guide and map at the Chamber of Commerce in Town Hall, a block off Main Street on Fourth Street. Shop serendipitously, picking a starting point and taking a methodic loop route, going in and out of doors, pausing when something catches your fancy.
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