07/30/2026
Throwback Thursday: The Beginning of Ben Franklin in Kitty Hawk
This week’s Throwback Thursday takes us back to the building that would eventually become Daniels’ Homeport of today.
The color photograph was taken in late 1982, while the original Ben Franklin store in Kitty Hawk was still being completed. One detail helped us place it: the Food-O-Rama building had not yet been constructed on the north side.
In early 1983, Karl and Debby Daniels opened Ben Franklin of Kitty Hawk. Karl was only 27 years old, Debby was beside him helping build the business, and their son Shawn had recently been born.
The opening was met with tremendous local interest. During its first week, the store produced sales equal to a six-figure amount in today’s dollars—an extraordinary start for a young family opening a new retail business on the Outer Banks.
The black-and-white photographs show the store during its early years, when Ben Franklin carried far more than the craft and souvenir merchandise many people remember. The sales floor included men’s and women’s clothing, housewares, hardware, gifts and other general merchandise. You can even spot several prominent Esprit displays, which perfectly capture the early-to-mid-1980s retail look. Not pictured here, sadly, is the toy department.
Based on the clothing, merchandising and heavy Esprit presence, these photographs appear most consistent with approximately 1983–1985. Since they were provided by noted local photographer Walter Gresham III of Kill Devil Hills, we suspect they may have been taken for newspaper coverage or promotional use. We hope to narrow the date further as we locate more advertisements, articles and family records.
This was not Karl’s first business venture, but it was his first independent store developed with Debby. It became a success in many respects and helped continue a retail tradition already well established in the Daniels family. The related Ben Franklin store in Nags Head still operates on much the same general model today.
Over time, the Kitty Hawk building and business would change, expand and evolve into the Daniels’ Homeport our customers know today.
Want to learn more? We have only begun sorting through the photographs, newspaper clippings and advertisements connected to this story. There is much more to come about the Daniels family, the stores that preceded Homeport and several generations of doing business on the Outer Banks. In the future, a site dedicated to archiving this data will be made publicly available.
📷 Black-and-white photographs courtesy of Walter Gresham III
📍 Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
🗓️ Exterior: late 1982 | Interiors: likely 1983–1985
