Southport Magazine

Troy Knight, the well-known founding pastor of Generations Church in Southport, is also the owner of the Southport Smoke House.  Pastor Troy, who professes a passion for smoked meats, opened the barbecue restaurant about 10 years ago, and it quickly became a favorite amongst locals and tourists. As the business grew, Troy hired pit masters and managers to run the daily operations, eventually expanding with locations in Leland and Monkey Junction. For many years, Troy leased the restaurant building from property owner Phil Hemphill. In 2023 Troy purchased the property, which came with a bonus — a collection of quaint retail stores located directly behind the restaurant. The popular pastor and successful restaurateur is now also the owner of The Olde Southport Village Shoppes.

A Village History: 

The Olde Southport Village Shoppes, located at 1102 N. Howe St. behind The Southport Smokehouse, is an eclectic collection of colorful cottages that offers shoppers everything from coffee and cookies to clothing, decor and gift boutiques. There’s even a hair salon, a massage parlor, and a photography studio in this little village. The shops are laid out on either side of a brick walkway and connected by covered wooden porches, so shoppers can easily stroll from one shop to the next.  

The Village was the brainchild of the original property owner, Phil Hemphill, who salvaged and transported most of the buildings from locations all over Southport and its neighboring towns. The retail shops are great, but the buildings themselves are full of fascinating history.  

Almost all of the cottages in the Village were relocated to the current site by Phil back in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Each long-neglected structure was lovingly restored and given a new lease on life in this small village of retail shops.

Phil purchased the Howe Street property in 1996 with a vision.  The original restaurant building was known as The Pines, a popular burger joint and hangout for soldiers from Sunny Point in the 1940s.  Over the years, it also served as a bar, a pool room and a church.  The building had been empty for 8 years and in a terrible state of disrepair when Phil bought it.  After a lot of hard work, Phil reopened the place as the “Olde Southport Village Barbeque” and ran it successfully for four years.  He built a stage behind the restaurant for live music on Friday nights, with an old live oak tree incorporated in the roof structure adding to the charm of the place.  Eventually Phil sold the restaurant, at which point he converted the music stage into a shop – tree and all!

The only other structure original to the location was a small garage, which Phil converted into a second retail shop by adding a new tin roof, a porch, and a bathroom. The original wood floor was preserved, and the building was moved to the back of the property as Phil began building his dream village.

A few years later, Phil learned of a small house on the corner of Leonard and Atlantic Streets that was ready for demolition.  It was known as a “shotgun house,” with all the doors lined up so you could shoot a shotgun in the front door and out the back door without hitting anything else!  Phil had the shotgun house transferred to his village, where he remodeled it, once again adding a tin roof and porch.  

Pretty soon, folks around town started telling Phil about other small houses that were in need of some TLC.  Over the next few years, several “rescues” were brought to the Village.  Since every village needs a church, Phil found an answer to his prayers with a small building owned by Dosher Hospital. He added cedar siding salvaged from an old downtown Southport property, constructed a vestibule and added a steeple. The windows Phil placed in his chapel were salvaged from the Methodist Church on Lord Street. The floor and roof of the pink chapel are original as well.

The General Store in the Olde Southport Village is situated in a building that was transported from Oak Island. Outside the building, there is a working water wheel that Phil built himself with wood from a 150-year-old cypress tree. Inside, the store is as rustic as it appears, with a wood burning stove for heat and a storage room door with a crescent moon window that came from an old outhouse.

Phil installed a brick walkway in the Village, utilizing bricks salvaged from the old Dosher Hospital and the now-demolished city pump station. Over the years, people donated other bricks from all over the world. There is a brick from Africa with straw in it and a brick from the oldest house in Bathe, NC, built in the early 1700s.

In a neat coincidence, the cottage that houses the Village coffee shop was originally the police station on Long Beach (now Oak Island), where the grandfather of current owner Troy Knight’s wife served as police chief.

THE VILLAGE UNDERGOES A FACELIFT

The Village has undergone a facelift in recent months, with interior renovations and a fresh coat of paint giving new life to several of the historic buildings. But new owner Troy Knight has no intention of changing the ways things operate in The Village Shoppes. Troy says the shop owners are great tenants and he is happy to let them run things as they see fit.  

The shop owners are part of an association that allows them to make mutually beneficial decisions regarding things like advertising, social media posts, events in the common areas, and hours of operation.  With several new retail tenants, the Village aims to position itself as Southport’s trendiest shopping district. 

You’ll find an Artisan Market at the Olde Village Shoppes from 10 am to 4 pm on the first Saturday of every month, March through December, with local craft vendors and artists alongside live music and food vendors.  New in 2024, The Olde Southport Village Shoppes will host a farmers market on Wednesdays from 9-1, May through August.  

NEW NEIGHBORS IN THE HOOD 

SOUTHPORT COOKIES, featured in the April issue of Southport Magazine, sells vegan and gluten-free cookies. Owner Joelle Ingram opened shop in early 2024, after testing the waters with a home-based business for about a year. Do not let the Vegan nomenclature fool you – you would never know these cookies are made with all plant-based ingredients, but you will know they are delicious! Southport Cookies can be found at Southport restaurants Café Koa and Fizzy Janes as well.  

THE VILLAGE GENERAL STORE certainly has the look and feel of a bygone era, but new owners Greg and Amanda Feltz have plans to bring in some fresh ideas, as in fresh pasta!  Look for Greg’s own line of pasta products, including gluten free pasta, this summer, alongside the store’s popular jarred sauces, jams and jellies, and honey from Bees by the Beach in Bolivia.  

Greg, a professional chef by trade who worked at Ports of Call and Castucchis, found the late nights and high stress restaurant environment tough to maintain with two young kids. The Feltz’s purchased The General Store in December 2023 and now enjoy a great work-life balance.  These days Greg loves the fact that he can not only pick up the kids after school, but he gets to bring his two unbelievably cute (and fluffy!) dogs, Butter and Peaches, to work every day.

“It’s one of the perks of ownership, and they attract a lot of customers when we sit out on the porch.”

MOODY BEAN

Tori Howard opened this cozy little coffee shop in April.  After working at the Frying Pan restaurant in Southport for 11 years, she wanted a change.

“I was ready to do something on my own.” Tori said. “And I like girl power! I’m proud to be a female business owner. I tried to reflect that in the décor.  And I made sure the shop was kid friendly.”

Tori’s daughters — 4-year-old Ryann and almost 6-year-old Blake — are home-schooled and hang out with Mom during the day. Pint-sized couches and chalk boards in the corner give kids a fun distraction without detracting from the hip coffee shop vibe. The Moody Bean has a few small sales displays with earthy-crunchy artisan jewelry and mini succulents for sale.

Moody Bean has a great selection of hot and cold drinks. Tori brews five different beans, roasted by Luna Café in Wilmington, and offers three types of pre-packaged coffee. The menu offers something for everyone, whether you’re in the mood for a basic cup of Joe, a latte, a wellness drink, a frozen fruit drink, or a funky-flavored specialty drink. 

“The most popular drinks right now are the coconut cream cold brew and the cookie butter lattes – they’re so good!”

(Note – I was in heaven as I sipped my Mina’s Monkey Bread latte!)

SOUTHPORT SASS

Taylor Cooper opened her “happy place,” a women’s clothing boutique, in February 2024.  Taylor, a former paralegal, says she always had an eye for fashion.  

“I loved to dress up for work!”

After fantasizing about owning her own shop for years, Taylor tested the waters with an online clothing business in 2023. Success came quickly, giving her the confidence to open a brick-and-mortar location after just one year.  

Southport Sass is bright, colorful, and chic, and so are the clothes! The store carries casual yet stylish apparel for teens through mature women. Taylor does the buying herself and, I have to say, her taste is terrific!  After testing a lot of vendors, Taylor now has trusted sources whose quality meets her demands.  

“I think clothes should be pretty, but also comfortable to wear.”

As a South Carolina girl, Taylor brings a distinctly Southern charm to her Southport boutique.   

Taylor and her fiancé, self-proclaimed diehard fans of the TV series “Revenge,” made their first trip to Southport in 2016 to see the towns where the show was filmed. They fell in love with the area and moved here permanently in 2022. Now married with a 4-year-old son, Taylor loves her new home and her new career as a boutique owner in the Old Southport Village Shoppes. 

HIVE SWEET HOME

Kim Sirkin, a lifelong local, opened this sweet little boutique in March of 2023.  Hive maintains a retail spot at Crossroads in Oak Island that does well, but Kim needed more space for inventory storage and displays, so she opened a second location in The Olde Southport Village Shoppes.  

According to Kim’s super-supportive, techie husband Zach, who mans the shop when she is busy with her other business as a wedding planner, Kim loves the interaction with customers that her own shop provides.

“Kim really wanted to have face-to-face time with customers.  That’s the fun part for her.”  

Hive carries home décor and gift items (think great hostess gifts), beaded handbags and accessories, children’s clothing, toys and trinkets.  There is also a small selection of clothing for women. Everything in this shop is cute and colorful!

NEEDFUL THINGS

Needful Things relocated to the pink chapel in February of 2024, having previously been in the building next door. I have nothing but praise for this shop — it’s got an entire room full of books for sale!  A super cozy vibe is achieved with couches, a fireplace, twinkly lights, plants, and painted bookshelves.  Needful Things features a great collection of books by local authors, as well as a small selection of new and gently used bestsellers.  The store’s “Blind Date with a Book” display is highly popular with customers. These books are wrapped in brown paper, with nothing but the genre revealed. Needful Things also sells fun bookmarks, pretty journals, gifts for the gardener, bee-based products, crystals, home décor, and jewelry.

Owner Amanda Lake, who serves as the current president of the Village association, worked as a stay-at home-mom before she opened her retail shop.  With three children, ages 11, 15, and 18, Amanda decided the timing was right to pursue her own interests.

“I always thought it would be neat to own a gift shop.”

But how, I asked Amanda, did she figure out how to do it? 

“I learned as I went, trying out a lot of different products to figure out what sells.  My husband is an electrician who owns his own business (Thomas and Sons Electric in Southport), so he’s helped me a lot when it comes to the business side of things.  And the other shop owners have been great too.”

 Amanda’s family has also been supportive of her venture.  Daughter Emilee, who makes bees wax lip balm, can often be found helping out in the shop after school.  

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To learn more about the origins of The Olde Southport Village Shoppes, look for the historical signs posted at the entrance to each building.  Hours vary at some of the stores, so check out The Olde Southport Village Shoppes on Facebook before you head over.