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Hatchet Jack’s in Blowing Rock Closing Down, Items Discounted Between 10 to 75 Percent

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Hatchet Jack’s is having a “going out of business” sale. Photos by Ken Ketchie

By Jesse Wood

Located along U.S. 321 near Blowing Rock, Hatchet Jack’s Trading Post is closing down soon.

Jack and Becky Hall, owners of Hatchet Jack’s, recently put up a “closing sale” sign along the highway.

While there isn’t a definitive closing date, Hall said he hopes to be out of the building, which he leases, by the end of September.

Hatchet Jacks, which has a vast array of antiques and goods that you can’t really find anywhere else, is a far cry from the gift shop on Main Street called Sunset Tees and Hattery that the Halls also own.

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Becky and Jack Hall

The long running joke is that the trading post and its assortment of goods was Jack’s hobby.

“Let’s put it this way … Sunset Tees has been paying for the hobby over there long enough,” Jack said. “It’s time to shut the museum down.”

That’s another inside joke. In December 2011, High Country Magazine featured the Halls and their businesses in an article titled, “The Real McCoy and a Main Street Mainstay.”

Here’s the opening passage:

“More than once, Jack Hall has joked about charging a $1 entrance fee to Hatchet Jack’s Trading Post, an emporium in Blowing Rock that has anything and everything in its 8,000-square-foot space.

“I’ve threatened at that a time or two,” Hall recalled. “We get a lot of people who come in here and reminisce and … treat it a lot like a museum.”

While people sure do like to browse without taking their wallets out, Jack pointed out that he could stay open if he wanted to. In fact, one of the reasons he’s closing down Hatchet Jack’s is so that he and his wife can go on some vacations and enjoy the fruits of their exhaustive labor.

Since the mid ‘80s when the Halls quit their day jobs to open Sunset Tees – Hachet Jack’s opened more than a decade ago – the couple has worked long, long hours every week to become successful entrepreneurs. Between both stores, they work seven days a week. Sunset Tees only closes on Christmas Day, and Hatchet Jack’s only closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

“I’m closing because I want to, not because I have to,” Jack said. “I want to change up and do something different.”

While the store is still open, merchandise in Hatchet Jack’s will be discounted anywhere from 10 to 75 percent.

Hatchet Jack’s is located at 109 #2 Aho Road in between Boone and Blowing Rock. For more information, call 828-295-6433.

Check out some other photos of Hatchet Jack’s below:

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This is the view of the showroom floor from the second level. The store is jam-packed with all kinds of stuff. Photo by Ken Ketchie

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