It was not too many years ago that shopping along the coast was an extremely limited experience, even in Greater Wilmington. Throughout the first three-quarters of the century, locals with the means often took shopping vacations in New York, Atlanta and Paris to search for finer clothing.

The notion of upscale shopping in the Cape Fear region was foreshadowed in 1915 when a country store named Belk Williams Company opened in three buildings on Front Street in downtown Wilmington. W.B. Berry, Jr., joined the company in 1919. In 1951, then-renamed Belk-Beery opened on South Second Street as Wilmington's first modern department store.

A previously unseen technical marvel -- escalators -- set Belk apart from every other store in Wilmington. Now located at Independence Mall (referred to as "THE mall") in Wilmington, as well as a second location at Landfall Center near Wrightsville Beach, Belk-Beery continues to hold its place as the region's dominant fashion and home department store, closely challenged by JC Penney and Sears.

In the 1980s, Wilmington began to attract other large chain retailers with somewhat different focuses than these successful department stores. Huge discount chains such as Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Circuit City, Home Depot, Office Depot and Target entered the market in a dizzying rush to capitalize on what is widely acknowledged as Wilmington's obsession with bargain hunting. It was a good corporate hunch because these stores are generally packed with people in search of savings on everything from electronics to computers to lumber to 24-pack deals on bathroom tissue.

A segment of the retail market that bears special mention is specialty shops. These "mom and pop" stores comprise the majority of shopping experiences in the region. Independently owned businesses with two to six employees are the norm, a reflection of the entrepreneurial nature of the economy.

Although this book doesn't delve into food shopping, there have been exciting developments in the fare and services offered in area markets in recent years. Wilmington has previously impossible-to-find specialty ingredients, ethnic markets, health foods markets, gourmet shops, specialty bakeries, wine shops, cheese shops and all kinds of interesting additions for the pantry. In response to requests from newcomers from different regions, even the major supermarkets are delighted to test out new items if customers simply make a request.