Blog for Zipline Attraction in the Smoky Mountains
Located in Pigeon Forge, TN and near Gatlinburg and Sevierville.
Your Guide To Fall Shopping, Part 3 – Everything Else
By Ross Bodhi Ogle
Posted on October 27, 2015
For the past couple of weeks, we've spent some time giving you an overview of all the shopping opportunities that await when you visit the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. We know that even if you decide to visit us to do some zip lining in Pigeon Forge, TN, you will still have plenty of time on your hands to discover what else this amazing vacation area has to offer.
For the past few decades, shopping has been one of the big draws to the Smokies, which is why we've already discussed two of the biggest types of shopping around here – outlet malls and arts and crafts. This week, we're going to round things out by touching on the other places where people shop in these parts. It's a catchall category that includes antique malls, flea markets and specialty shops. So shoppers to your marks… Get your credit cards ready… And let's go!
Antique malls and flea markets are popular stops for a lot of hard-core shoppers, especially those looking for items that are vintage, unique, collectible or just hard to find. You'll see the highest concentration of these stores on Tenn. Hwy. 66 (Winfield Dunn Pkwy.), which runs between Interstate 40 (Exit 407) and downtown Sevierville. Along this 6-lane alley of highway are enough shops to just about occupy a whole day if you chose to do so.
There are two flea markets in particular – the Great Smokies Flea Market and Flea Traders Paradise – that offer tens of thousands of square feet of vendor booths, in which you'll find just about everything under the sun, from housewares to clothing to collectibles, a lot of it competitively priced. If you're interested in more bona fide treasures, look for a number of antique stores along the roadside. There you'll run into items that are more of a vintage nature, including high-dollar furniture, estate jewelry and collectibles. Most of these places are packed to the gills with merchandise, and while not everything on display is everyone's cup of tea, if you spend enough time roaming the booths, you're bound to stumble upon something that will catch your eye.
Our final category of shopping we'll vaguely describe as specialty merchandise. And you'll find these types of shops all throughout the communities of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. For example, one cool place to browse and buy is The Village shopping center in downtown Gatlinburg. From its cobblestone streets to its stores' Tudor-style architecture, this cozy little collective boasts more than two dozen shops carrying everything from hard-to-find gifts to fine art to gourmet coffees and desserts.
In Pigeon Forge, Bell Tower Square and Old Mill Village are two must-stops. Bell Tower Square, a small collection of shops steeped in Old Bavarian atmosphere, is anchored by The Christmas Place, a year-round retail destination for all things Christmas. Old Mill Village is a couple of blocks' worth of stores that center on the historic Old Mill on the Little Pigeon River. The mill's neighboring retail ventures – which include hand-made pottery, a couple of restaurants, an ice creamery and several specialty shops – are a popular stop for Smoky Mountain visitors.
One type of shopping that a lot of folks don't immediately think about is the attraction gift store. From Dollywood and the Titanic Museum Attraction to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies and just about every music theater in Pigeon Forge, you can be guaranteed that you'll be funneled through a themed retail shop between the end of the attraction and the parking lot. But if you're a fan of whatever drew you to that attraction in the first place, you'll probably appreciate the specific concentration of merch at any given stop. The Ripley's Aquarium shop is, for example, ocean and sea life themed, while the music theater shops are tailored to the specific artist or style of music at each location.
Wherever your travels take you this fall and winter, we at Smoky Mountain Ziplines wish you happy shopping, and we hope our shopping guide has provided a little bit of direction and inspiration.
