16. Cadwell’S Flea Market
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 334-5051
Address: 116 East Main St.
Description: This large flea market is just up Main Street from the Branson Landing’s Hilton Hotel. For more than two decades it has attracted Branson visitors and locals with its large selection of the old and new. We know of a local girl who financed a semester of college with a 1930s Mickey Mouse toothbrush holder and cup that she bought for $25 and resold.
17. Cedar Creek Dulcimers
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 334-1395
Address: 3010 West Highway 76
Description: Sandwiched between the Presley Theater and the Hollywood Wax Museum, Cedar Creek Dulcimers is in tune with what musicians want. Whether you are a professional picker or a rock star wannabe, this shop offers quality instruments from around the world. Their wide selection of instruction books, accompaniment CDs, and beginners’ kits are sure to inspire songsters of all ages and abilities. Even if you are more into music appreciation than performance, don’t miss the chance to see the Irish penny whistles, Australian didgeridoos, Native American flutes, or Indian sitars on display!
18. Music For A Song
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 336-4420
Address: 300 Tanger Blvd.
Description: Located in the Tanger Mall, Music for a Song has music videos, CDs, cassettes, and DVDs. No matter your taste, they have it. Jazz and classical, rock and rap, and, of course, country! What they don’t have they’ll order for you. And they carry the cases and boxes to store and carry your music collection. There’s a special section devoted just to Branson-area musicians.
19. Alaska Down South
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 339-2800
Description: Just south (opposite) of Branson Heights Shopping Center is Alaska Down South, tucked “down under the hill.” It’s a store that you could easily miss while gawking on The Strip. But it is one of the gems you can discover shopping in Branson and then go back home and rave about. It has nature-themed art, crafts, home decor, and furnishings—including unique wildlife decor from Alaska to Zimbabwe.
20. Beehive Tattoo & Body Piercing Studio
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 339-9155
Address: 210 West College St.
Description: If you’re looking for a souvenir to take home that will never get lost or broken, we suggest a trip to Susan Keller’s Beehive tattoo studio. It is just one of three in Branson. The studio has thousands of designs to choose from, or the tattoo artist will customize something new just for you. (How about a permanent Branson bracelet?) A basic tattoo starts at around $40, but the average cost ranges from $50 to $200. Some of the more popular designs include dragons, flowers, butterflies, unicorns, hearts, and military-style tattoos. The studio is open every day.
21. Dickens Gift Shoppe
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 334-2992
Description: This shop is a bit like Charles Dickens’s Old Curiosity Shop—it has a bit of everything. You’ll find everything from upper-end collectibles such as Department 56, Boyd’s Bears, Cherished Teddies, Precious Moments, Emmett Kelly clowns, and Norman Rockwell items to Branson souvenir key rings and T-shirts, birdbaths, lawn ornaments, and concrete deer, frogs, and gorillas. (Now you know where McGuffey’s Restaurants got their gorillas!) Dickens is a great place to spend some time between shows.
22. Dick’S 5 & 10
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 334-2410
Address: 103 West Main St.
Description: Here’s a store where you can easily spend several hours strolling the narrow aisles, gawking at the more than 50,000 different items in stock, and listening to the old-time tunes on the authentic jukebox. Not only the items for sale but also the museum-type displays will bring back memories of the old five and dime. It’s been a landmark store since 1929. You can find what you need and lots that you don’t, but we bet you won’t leave the store without buying something! Blue Waltz perfume, fragrant rose pod sachets, paper dolls, soap-on-a-rope, Necco candy, pant creasers, marbles, mothballs, Clark’s Teaberry gum: you’ll see why Dick’s says, “We’ve got what you forgot!”
23. The Flagstore
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 334-1776
Address: 212 S. Commercial St.
Description: With the International Festival at Silver Dollar City and the Veterans Day and Independence Day celebrations (see the Annual Events chapter), Branson is frequently awash in flags and color, and the place to get it is from Betsy Ross (honest!) at the Flagstore. For flags from every nation and every occasion and for historical flags, people seek out one of Branson’s most unusual stores. The store also has flagpoles from 12 feet to 120 feet, wind socks, religious flags, seasonal flags, patriotic bunting and decorations, decals, bumper stickers, and pens. If you don’t find the flag that you want, they’ll make it to order.
24. Kringles
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 336-7246
Description: Christmas in July and August? Yes! Believe it or not, next to December, that’s the busiest time at Missouri’s largest Christmas store. There are three large rooms devoted to Christmas decorations, ornaments, and wrapping paper. One caters to a Victorian theme, one to the comical and whimsical, and the third to Christmas collectibles, including Department 56. During the hot summer, stepping into Kringles may just be the way to cool off!
25. Mountain Man Nut & Fruit Co.
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 336-6200, (800) 336-6203
Address: 3300 Gretna Rd.
Description: The Mountain Man says “Nuts to you!” and this store provides all kinds of nuts for you, imported as well as the king of nut meats, the Ozark black walnut. The stores also have a wide array of dried fruits, jams, and jellies (our favorite is the muscadine jelly), more than a dozen different types of trail mixes, honey, regular and sugar-free candies, gourmet coffees (ever try Fuzzy Navel coffee?), and exotic and unusual foods. It’s fun to taste the free samples and wander around the gift-filled nooks and crannies of the store, and it’s a great place to shop for a special snack to take back with you.
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Address: 601 MO 165 at Green Mountain Drive
27. The Wine Company
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 334-4551
Address: 1447 MO 248
Description: The Wine Company has a large selection of domestic wines, including Arkansas and Missouri vintages (Stone Hill, St. James, Les Bourgeois, and Wiederkehr), as well as imported wines and micro-brewery and specialty beers—more than 133 and still growing. They have some great wines and great labels. A bottle of Toad Hollow or Fat Bastard is worth the price just for the label. The store advertises itself as having “Taney County’s largest wine selection,” and it seems an undisputed fact. They also feature premium cigars and imported cigarettes. They have wine gift packages, and gift wrapping is available for other purchases.
28. Books-A-Million
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 239-3702
Address: 985 Branson Hills Pkwy
Description: This is Branson’s newest bookstore. It’s small enough to be comfortable but not large enough to get lost in. It has a small cafe. Go in and have latte and read when you need to rest. They don’t mind.
29. Half Price Used Books
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 334-7970
Description: Heidi Sampson has a large selection of all sorts of used books, paperbacks, and hardcovers, which run the range from romance to science fiction to local history to biography in this crowded but comfortable book outlet. In the almost two decades it’s been here, the store has become a local fixture, and it also features antique books, maps, and collectibles. It’s a great place to browse on a rainy day. When you stop in, be certain to give Calvin the cat a pat.
30. Metz Book Outlet
City: Branson, MO
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (417) 339-2424
Address: 4540 N. Gretna Rd.
Description: Metz is large, well-lit, and made for wandering. They have the area’s greatest selection of children’s books and travel guides, but they also have a good selection of books, guides, and self-help for the computer user. Though discounted books are their specialty (up to 80 percent off), they also carry the latest best sellers and a large selection of local and regional books. It’s a favorite gathering place for quick readers, and readers are encouraged, but it is a rare person who can resist the book bargains found there and walk out without one in hand.