Here are some of the best places to go shopping in Gatlinburg. The town is packed with specialty shops and boutiques of all kinds, so your shopping adventure can reveal treasures around every corner, but also can cost precious time if you don’t know where to go to get what you’re looking for. Here’s our guide to prominent and notable venues for Gatlinburg shopping.
Image courtesy of Gatlinburg Mountain Mall
Shopping in Gatlinburg
Arts and Crafts. Gatlinburg is home to one of the largest and best, independent artisan communities in the nation, offering a plethora of handmade and high quality gift and heirloom items. The scenic 8-mile loop of the Arts & Crafts Trail contains a host of studios, galleries and shops available to peruse, along with eateries to make sure you don’t get famished along the way. The famous Gatlinburg Trolley runs along this route also.
And luckily for shoppers, several times a year the artists and crafters come into town to the Gatlinburg Convention Center and hold one of the South’s largest Craft Fairs. Here you can browse some of the latest and best creations, as well as watch the artisans at work, meeting and talking with the artists, who cheerfully share the secrets of their craft (they even hold a Hands-On workshop each year). This is a great place to commission a custom artwork too.
Mountain Mall. Indoor and outdoor malls are the places to explore a variety of unique shops, and Gatlinburg has its share of venues. The Gatlinburg Mountain Mall is one of the oldest jewels of this sort, a unique indoor mall right on Parkway, with six levels and an escalator to navigate them, feeling almost like an old department store except containing dozens of locally owned, pretty unique shops (and NO chain stores).
The Village. Just a few steps farther along Parkway you come to the Village Shops, an outdoor collection of establishments in a beautiful shopping enclave with a European feel and more than two dozen specialty shops, eateries, galleries and clothiers. This oasis is right off Parkway but free of the bustle, a perfect setting to stroll and browse.
Baskins Square. Look across the street when you’re done, however, and be sure not to miss another little enclave of shops and restaurants, in the Baskins Square outdoor mall. This may be the place for lunch, with some very tempting meals available at various establishments.
Ober Mountain. Head on down a few blocks to Ober Mountain (formerly Ober Gatlinburg). This winter ski area and summer mountain playground also has some great shops to know about, down-slope on Parkway at the foot of the Tramway in the Tramway Mall, as well as up on the mountain in the climate controlled ice rink mall.
Elks Plaza. But along the way to Ober look out for Marketplace Mall on your right and Reagan Terrace Mall a little farther on your left. Both places have fun and shopping that may interest you. And from Ober Mountain, look across the street a few yards up and find the hidden gem of Elks Plaza. If you didn’t eat back at Baskins, now’s your chance make a memory at a locals favorite and one of the best Italian restaurants in town.
Winery Square. If you’re back in the car now and thinking about exploring farther afield and heading to Pigeon Forge for more shopping, and if wine is on your list, check out Winery Square before you leave. It’s off the beaten track a little, but hopefully you know your way around the area from having read our Shortcuts & Back Roads guide. And first, check out our guide to the Best Shopping in Pigeon Forge.
