EMERALD ISLE, N.C. — After 155 years doing business in Raleigh, the downtown staple Briggs Hardware General Store is gone.

However, the longtime Raleigh-based business just opened in Emerald Isle.

“The building that stands today is on Fayettville Street, it was built it 1874 and was the southeast's first high rise at four stories tall,” Store Owner Evelyn Briggs-Davis said.

Briggs Hardware built a great reputation in Downtown Raleigh, but 2020 presented several hurdles for the owners to overcome.

“Of course COVID, which is difficult on all small businesses, and then the riots affected us in downtown Raleigh,” Briggs-Davis said. “We had to come up with a way to survive and how we did that was buying COVID supplies from around the country and selling them in our store, that kept us afloat."

She feels that the protests hit the city the hardest and felt the need to speak out.

“Personally I didn't feel safe in Raleigh because the police were told to stand down,” Briggs-Davis stated.

After a disagreement with her landlord, Briggs-Davis knew what her next move would be.

“We just decided let's go back to the beach,” she said.

Now, in her first week in business on the Crystal Coast, she says her new neighbors have been treating her wonderfully and she looks forward to making Briggs Hardware thrive in the new community.