Outer Banks Originals: Stormy Seas Bottle Shop

Small, locally owned businesses are the backbone of the Outer Banks. In the Outer Banks Originals blog series, we visit with local entrepreneurs who are taking chances on their ideas by building Outer Banks businesses that are uniquely their own and along the way shaping the character of our barrier islands.

This edition brings us to Seagate North Shopping Center at milepost 5.5 in Kill Devil Hills, one of the town’s most vibrant dining and shopping complexes. As of July 2025, Seagate North is home to a bottle shop and tasting room that has quickly become a community social hub.

Stacy and Todd Ortel opened Stormy Seas Bottle Shop in July 2025. The retail shop sells craft beer, fine wine, hard ciders, seltzers, THC/CBD beverages and non-alcoholic options, while the tasting room serves the same and invites conversation and connection at a tasting bar and comfortable table seating.

In this Outer Banks Originals Q&A, Todd and Stacy, who moved to the Outer Banks from Maryland, share the story behind Stormy Seas — and how they created a whole new life on the Outer Banks in their 50s.

Hands-on owners Todd and Stacy Ortel (on right) chat with local customers at the bar.

How long have you lived on the Outer Banks?

Todd: We bought our place in 2019, and moved down full time in 2021. When we moved here, I was still working for the government. I retired at the end of December 2025.

What were your careers before beer and wine?

Stacy: We were both in IT. Todd worked for the federal government for 35 years.

How did you come to own this place? Whose idea was it?

Stacy: I would say both of us came up with it together. We have both worked with craft beer and wine. We’d always thought we could do it.

Todd: I’ve been into craft beer since the ’90s — I homebrew — and then we started getting more into wine, too. So we figured: instead of working for someone else, we’ll open our own shop. Everything lined up. I retired and that gave us the room to make it happen.

You already had experience in beer and wine — did that help?

Stacy: Definitely. We’ve both worked in service industries before, so it wasn’t like we had no idea going in.

Todd: What’s nice is this is basically a retail store that also has a bar. We serve beer and wine — not a million liquor drinks and complicated cocktails. That would’ve been a much steeper learning curve.

Photo: Locals packing the house. One customer who lives nearby called Stormy Seas a neighborhood clubhouse.

What does the name “Stormy Seas” mean to you?

Todd: I came up with it. I wanted something alliterative. And at the beach, everything is usually “sunny” or “soundside” — real beachy. But living here, especially as we’ve seen in the last few months, it can be stormy. We get nor’easters and all of that. So we went the opposite direction — the other side of living here.

What was the hardest part of getting open?

Stacy: Finding a place was the hardest part.

Todd: We were looking for affordable, with parking — and we love that we have lots of parking here. This space was bigger than we thought we’d get. It was basically empty except for two corner bathrooms. We started building out in March — built everything, doing all the work that we could ourselves— and it took about four months. You hit these moments where big things come together fast, and you feel so close. Then you get to the tiny details — but ultimately you still have to open. It’s still a work in progress.  Contractors were the biggest variable: plumbing, electrical — you can’t do that yourself. But the town was really quick and responsive. We’d submit plans and they’d call the next day with a yes or no and exactly what to change.

How did it go after your initial opening?

Stacy: We opened mid-July, so we were thrown into the off-season pretty quickly after opening, but locals have been really responsive.

Todd: We really like our location. We have huge neighborhoods nearby, and people can get here easily. One of our friends and regulars from a nearby neighborhood said “Thank you for building us a clubhouse!”

Photos: Wine flights at the tasting bar are a great way to learn what you like before you buy a bottle to take home.

How did you get the word out?

Stacy: It’s scary when you’re brand new and nobody knows you’re here. It was a lot word of mouth at first.

Todd: We go to a lot of other local businesses and so we talk to the staff and owners, and there’s a lot of synergy between businesses here. That’s helped a lot. And we did the Misfits Bars of Christmas, which gave us a lot of exposure. Down here, word of mouth is huge.

Have you had a moment where you thought, “Yes, this is what we’re supposed to be doing”?

Stacy: All the time.

Did you have a business plan and have you followed it?

Todd: We had a business plan and that was not to overextend. Our plan was to ramp up inventory instead of going too big too soon. We both worked on large government projects so we know about things like scope creep. You don’t want to keep spending money just because another idea pops up.

Stacy: People always have great suggestions — and we keep them in mind — but we can’t do everything at once. We are pacing it slowly.

Todd: We're going down the punch list of necessary things we already had planned as the money comes in. We’ve got to get to that list first and then we’ll start in on the new ideas.

Photo: Stormy Seas has 12 rotating beer taps.

How many taps do you have and do you serve any local beers?

Todd: We have 12 taps and there are no macrobrewery domestics on there. But we do have Utica Club, an American lager, the first beer that was sold after Prohibition, for those who like a lighter beer. But everything else rotates out. We try to keep the front six taps at lower ABV, then we always have two to three IPAs. In the summer, we carry a sour. And we usually have two dark beers and a cider for people who are gluten intolerant. For local beers we have had Swells’a, 1718, Whalehead, and Seven Sounds. And we carry Sanctuary Vineyards wines too.

Do you think you get more beer drinkers or wine drinkers in here?

Todd: It's pretty much even. Some customers are both depending on the night. Some drink both in the same night. We sell a lot of bubbles, too. We have three or four different bubbles, two in splits. We offer some prosecco and wine cocktails.

Photo: Friday night Vinyl Nights with DJ Redacted have been very popular at Stormy Seas.

What are some of the ideas you hope to incorporate?

Todd: More art, definitely, but organically. We want it to feel like a home where everything has meaning. We’ve started wine tastings with our sommelier Erni Miller — usually once a week — and we’re continuing that through the summer. We close at 6 on tasting nights and do tastings from 6 to 8 so it stays focused.

Stacy: We also do vinyl night on Friday nights — people bring their own records. If they don’t have one, our DJ, DJ Redacted, brings options. We do different themes, and it has been really fun. As the season picks up we hope to do live music, trivia, music bingo.

Todd: We also want to do beer tastings and “Beer & Wine 101” nights — especially for people who feel intimidated. We want to keep it unfussy: come in, ask questions, no judgment.

You carry THC/CBD beverages — how do they fit into your shop?

Todd: It’s been going really well, and it brings in some people who maybe wouldn’t come otherwise. We carry lower-dose options — like 2 to 10 mg — because some people want just one casual drink before bed, not something intense. It fluctuates day to day, but it’s been a strong category for us.

 What do you hope people feel when they walk in?

Stacy: Welcome.

Todd: Comfortable. We’re not pretentious. We’re kind of like the middle ground. Not stuffy but not a dive bar.

Stacy: Yes, we want people to be comfortable to bring food in. Bring the dog. Sit and play games. People say it’s like a living room vibe.

Photo: Cans and bottles are available to sample in house or take to go.

How does being on the Outer Banks shape this business?

Todd: You could do a bottle shop anywhere, but the community here is smaller and so supporting. That creates a different kind of place, like a meeting spot. A lot of local business owners come in here, too. Like most places on the Outer Banks, we are owner-operated too, so it’s good to meet and support each other. We can talk about things and compare notes. That just doesn’t happen in the Baltimore/D.C. area.

What’s your favorite part of running Stormy Seas?

Stacy: Seeing it full. Seeing big groups of locals coming in. It feels good, and it’s heartwarming to form relationships.

Todd: I love learning and sharing what I’ve learned, trying new beers, explaining them and learning more about wine through tastings and talking with reps. It stays interesting.

What are the challenges of owning a bottle shop and tasting room?

Stacy: You work every day.

Todd: There’s always something — cleaning, ordering, money management, planning. People think you “turn on the lights,” serve and “turn them off.” But it’s constant. We do have three staff members, mostly coming in around 4 p.m., but during the day Stacy is here for deliveries and all the behind-the-scenes work. I also run a business called Junk Patrol OBX, so I’m out doing that but I can come in if Stacy needs to run out.

What’s been your biggest learning curve?

Stacy: Taxes and payroll. Town, state, federal — plus alcohol-related layers. QuickBooks helps, but it’s a lot.

What’s something people might overlook about what you do?

Todd: The hours. People look at a bar and think owners show up at 4, hang out, collect mone. But you’re mopping, cleaning, ordering, managing, fixing things. You’re also the “maintenance person” half the time.

Are there any customer moments that stick with you?

Stacy: The dogs. We love that people bring their dogs in — you’ll have four different dogs in here hanging out together. We designed with that in mind, like the concrete floors. And honestly, if we served food, we couldn’t do the dogs — and we’d rather have the dogs.

Would you recommend this “second act” — big career first, then the dream — to someone starting out?

Todd: Yes. Because you have a parachute — especially with retirement. And the life experience helps with things like budgets, schedules, planning. When you’re younger, you might jump in and learn the hard way. This way, you plan for it and don’t start cash-strapped or buried in loans.

Stacy: We always talked about opening something — maybe a bar — but we didn’t want a kitchen. Then we saw businesses like this and realized: it’s what we do want, without what we don’t want.

Want to go?

Stormy Seas Bottle Shop