Best small towns in the SE for boutique shopping
Boutique shops offer a wonderful shopping alternative to malls, big box stores, or shopping online. Boutique shops come in all flavors, from children’s clothing to local arts and crafts to custom furniture. They can provide a much more intimate shopping experience and in most cases, offer products that were made in the US. If you fall into that category of preferring small and locally owned shopping venues, and you plan on traveling or relocating, it can be a bit tricky to find cities that offer a wide variety of boutique shopping options. We searched our NextDiggs database to hunt for small towns (less than 10,000 population) in the SE United States, which includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Here are 3 great small towns for boutique shopping.
Top 3 spots
Palm Beach, FL – Population 9,251. Probably not a huge surprise on this one, but the number one small city in the SE for boutique shopping is Palm Beach Florida. With 40 boutiques, you will likely run out of money before you run out of places to shop.
Denham Springs, LA – Population 9,834. Another great boutique shopping option is Denham Springs, Louisiana. About 20 miles to the east of Baton Rouge, Denham Springs has a rich history, as it was originally settled in 1828. Over the last 20 years, the downtown district has been transformed into a collection of antique shops, small restaurants, and 30 boutiques. The downtown is now recognized as a cultural district and is known as the Denham Springs Antique Village.
Georgetown, SC – Population 8,960. Located on the South Carolina coast along Winyah Bay, about 60 miles to the North of Charleston, Georgetown is one of the oldest cities in South Carolina, originally settled in 1729. It has become a destination spot for heritage tourism and has 21 unique boutiques in its downtown core. As a matter of fact, there are no chain stores in their historic downtown area, every store is locally owned.
Finding your best place to live
It can be hard to figure out where to live in the US. Everyone has a different idea of what the best means. Someone with a young family might have different needs than recent empty nesters. Someone who likes to shop at boutiques wants something different than someone who prefers to go to the mall.
Maybe you think that none of these cities sound just right, or maybe there are one or two other things besides shopping that you should consider before traveling or relocating. That’s why we created the NextDiggs quiz. You can choose to answer all the questions, or only the ones pertaining to criteria that are important to you. So go ahead and take the quiz and find your own “top 3”.
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