Olde Kinston Gazette: Shells by the Sea, a tradition continues
Originally written by Bonnie Edwards
(Retyped by Kristy Bock)
The local folks at Indian Beach laughed when Detroit native Allen Armstrong and his wife Nancy began selling seashells out of the four-room house where he rented sailboats to people camping out on the Salter Path beaches in the early 1970s.
That was before highway 58 cut through the quiet community to carry greater numbers of inlanders to the beach from Swansboro. The beach folk were accustomed to tossing the shells into piles where they were stashed out of the way. When the Armstrongs began selling what they were throwing away, the locals told him he was crazy.
Armstrong would find huge sand dollars that had been discarded as trash. Cleaning up the shells and bringing out the colors that had been muted by the sea salt was a “smelly job”, but it became a big money maker for the Armstrongs at the little shop they named “Sails & Shells.”
People heading to the beach loved the seashells and gladly paid for them. So many people came that it reached a point where they couldn’t all fit into the store.
The little 14 by 20 foot shop with an eight foot porch across the front had opened June 1, 1971. By July of that year, the store had expanded another 20 feet. The Armstrongs kept having to expand the shop for the next six years.
The little shop drew a lot of attention once the Armstrongs perched a sailboat on top of the building to attract more sailboat rental business. (Don’t look for it now, though. Hurricanes have taken their toll.)
Allen and Nancy were a big hit with the families that came through during the summer months when they inflated rafts and floaters for the kids at no charge.
The shop would stay open late on Saturday nights, with the music of Guy Lombardo playing. Customers danced in the aisles until 10 p.m. (That was late back then.)
“We were very lucky,” said Armstrong, who retired and sold the store to another couple from whom it was purchased by its current manager Betty Davis and her partner Larry Link, a vice president of Fidelity Bank of Lexington, NC.
“We hit the right spot at the right time. There were no other gift shops here.”
“After seven or eight years, the highway came through, and we moved back 40 feet. We left everything in the store, and not one item was broken.”
The store became so successful that, while other stores began closing for the season in September, Sails and Shells remained open until New Year’s Day. The Armstrongs would attend gift shows and reopen the shop in February.
When the Ramada Inn moved to the area, the Armstrongs helped with the interior decorating. Betty Davis pointed out that the restaurant decor today includes several items that are impossible to find.
Betty and Larry have renamed the shop the “Old Island Store” and try to carry on the same tradition of friendly and helpful service that made the Armstrongs popular with beach travelers and local folks. Betty and her staff often meet the children of customers who had grown fond of the Armstrongs.
Betty doesn’t rent sailboats, but she does still inflate the rafts free of charge. She helps customers with their interior decorating needs and likes to make one of a kind lamps with unique faces. Her interest in making lamps came about a couple of years ago when a lady asked her to make a shell lamp like the Armstrong used to carry in the store.
“The light shines through the shells beautifully,” Armstrong noted.
Always on the lookout for something different and unusual, Betty discovered one day that there was an old figurine under the shop. It was almost rotted. Armstrong told her it was an early version of the “Old Salt Figurine,” much like the ones she sells in the store today.
Betty says it’s hard to find the wooden and unusual any more, because all the sales representatives bring the same things to everybody.
The Old Island Store has some things from New Bern and Kinston within its walls.
During one of the many expansions of Sails and Shells, Armstrong installed some columns from an old building in New Bern that was being torn down at the same time.
Betty has created some displays made from old wood that was given to her by Henry Everette when he tore down an old farm house in Kinston.
The store has two beautiful mantles, one over 100 years old from the Kinston home, and the other one that Armstrong retrieved from New Bern. Both are used in a couple of the many displays in the store.
Betty is still looking for the unique and unusual so call her at (919) 247-3414 if you have something she might like. And if you are looking for a gift to present to the person who has everything, they might not have anything like the goodies you’ll find in The Old Island Store. Come see her at 1600 Salter Path Road (NC HWY 58), Indian Beach, NC. And if the drive to the beach has grown long and tiresome, stop by for some southern hospitality.
For the kids, there are hermit crabs, taffy, and a mechanical talking “Toby the Pirate” all decked out like Blackbeard.
Mom and dad will have 5000 square feet of shopping space filled with everything from shells and corals to lawn and garden accessories, rugs, netting, souvenirs, and beachwear.
