New Hotline Thrift Store in Frisco will officially open on Wednesday, June 26, with a grand celebration

After months of anticipation from the Hatteras Island community, the new Hotline Thrift Store in Frisco will officially open its doors to the public at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 26, and the store’s opening day is shaping up to be a grand celebration.

“The outpouring from the community has been unbelievable,” said Bronwyn Thornton, Executive Director of Outer Banks Hotline. “People have wanted to help us every step of the way, and that includes our opening day.”

Upon hearing the news of the imminent opening, Tavern on 12, Frisco Sandwich Company, and Frisco Rod and Gun reached out to Outer Banks Hotline and offered to provide free food and drinks for the event. In addition, the Frisco Volunteer Fire Department offered to bring along one of their fire trucks to mark the occasion.

“The kids are going to be so excited when they see the fire truck,” said Thornton.

The enthusiasm for the opening is understandable, because for a brief spell in 2024, the island community was concerned that the store was in danger of permanently closing.

Hotline has been a fixture on Hatteras Island for more than 35 years. The first-ever Outer Banks Hotline Thrift Store opened in 1987 in Rodanthe, (a store that remains operational to this day), and a second store followed in Hatteras Village a decade or so later, before it moved to Buxton after Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

After leasing retail space in Buxton for roughly two decades, the store discovered in 2023 that they would need to find a new location by the end of January 2024.

Unfortunately, the options were limited at the time, and the Hotline Thrift Store temporarily closed while they searched to find a home.

Popular with both residents and visitors, Hotline has always been known as a resource for folks who need essentials, as well as anyone who loves to shop without breaking the bank.

However, the charity thrift store is much more than a cheap and convenient one-stop shopping destination. On a much larger scale, it serves as the frontlines for the non-profit Outer Banks Hotline organization to connect with the southern Hatteras Island community.

As a result, it’s the place that people often turn to first when they are in dire need of help, particularly when it comes to sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking situations.

Hotline collects funds through store purchases and donations, and the organization also works with Dare County Social Services and other resources to help the residents of southern Hatteras Island when they need help the most.

“That store is our gateway for helping with domestic violence and sexual abuse situations on the southern Outer Banks,” said Thornton in an earlier interview. “It’s a store, but it’s our window to reach out to that community as well.”

In April 2024, after a months-long hunt, Hotline announced that they had purchased a new home at 53321 N.C. Highway 12 in Frisco, which was the former Surfside Casuals retail building.

The sale officially occurred in mid-April, and since then, stakeholders and volunteers have worked tirelessly to transform the empty space into a new and revitalized thrift store.

“The building was so open that we ended up having to put up some walls, add a pad for handicapped parking, create a fence in the back for the donation area, add gravel to the driveway, and extend or add ramps to make it handicap accessible – there were a lot of things that needed to be done,” said Thornton.

The interior of the store was also an undertaking that required new displays, counters, and carved-out spaces for donations and store items.

“When we renovate our [existing] stores, we know what the space is, and what we have to do,” said Thornton. “But here, we had no idea until we had walls up and started moving things around what the interior would look like. So, we did it from scratch.”

Thornton attests that longtime manager Donna Covey is the reason why the structure went from a blank slate to a sparkling new store in just 10 weeks.

“Donna did it all – she had the design and the map in her head from the beginning, and she has done an amazing job,” said Thornton.

There’s a long list of other people to thank, too. “The people who showed up to help, the contractors who gave us amazing rates and amazing deals, Daniel Covey – Donna’s son – who was instrumental in getting the construction done… there was just so much help and support.

“I think it’s a good representation of Hotline’s connection to our community, and to our southern beaches.”

There’s still one gap in the Hotline Thrift Store’s long-term future, however, and that is enlisting help to run and manage the store in the weeks, months, and years to come.

“We still desperately need volunteers,” said Thornton. “Cashiers and keeping the floor stocked are our two biggest needs right now.”

Folks who are interested in being a volunteer can contact the Outer Banks Hotline at 252-423-4674 or send an email to bronwyn@obhotline.org.

Meanwhile, everyone is invited to join in the June 26 celebration to see how these vast community-wide efforts have paid off.

Starting on June 26, the Hotline Thrift Store in Frisco will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., so there will be many more opportunities for folks to go shopping on a budget while supporting an essential local organization.

“Everyone is going to be so excited,” said Thornton, “and we can’t wait for our community to see the new store in person.”