Wink's of Corolla

I have loved this store since 1984 when I could spend my allowance on penny candy!The convenience of this little shop at the end of the road has been a lifesaver more than once in the last 40 years.

Back in the summer of 1996 I came to my beach house in Coralla North Carolina. I had finished high school that year and my hair was still blond for a musical I had done in high school.Actually, I had dyed my hair blond not because of a musical play, but because I said I would be doing it after Christmas break for my senior year. I had taken a liking to the hair style of Wesley Snipes in the movie Demolition Man. My hair was in the same style and color as I saw in the movie. I was later told to change me hair color back to black because it wasn't natural for African American to do that sort of thing....this is a story in its self, but to make a long store short, several teachers, myself and my parents fought this stupid decision by some of the other higher up faculty members.So when I walked into the Winks store near the light house of Carolla North Carolina, I looked like a young black punk to some of the older women who worked there. I looked around but did not find anything I liked. I tried on some sunglasses, but found nothing I liked and put the glasses back where I found them. Then I walked over to the porno magazines to looked at some voluptuous naked women. Penthouse, Club and Hustler were three magazines I liked. They had voluptuous women in those magazines that playboy did not seem to offer...It was then that the ladies there spoke up and asked if I was 18 years if age. After seeing I was 18 years old they shut up or so I thought. One of the women called the police on me and told the cops that I was a shoplifter.The police offer greeted me as I was about to leave the store and found nothing on me. One of the ladies walked outside to the police officer holding pair sunglasses that I was supposedly trying to steal. The ladies tried to get me arrested and were pissed off about it when they failed. They told me to never come back to this store. At the time my mind did not notice that they were racially profiling me.The cop had to let me go, but came looking for me later on. The cop had nothing on me, but was trying to scare me and it did not work. Nevertheless, after looking at someone's profile on Yelp, I saw they had visited this store, but did not write a review. Seeing this store brought back this memory. I have been back to this store years later to see these two women, but they have either moved elsewhere or are dead.It was my first experience of racial profiling, but not my last. I once got stopped by 6 or 7 cops for walking through a neighborhood in Seattle Washington to visit my Aunt, but that too is another story.Just thought I would share this experience at Wink's.

I've loved Winks since the early 80's. They've been a life saver of convenience dozens of times over the decades. Not sure what happened to the 1-star person because I couldn't get past the part about the hair dye, but the Winks staff have always been kind, helpful and professional in my experience.

We're from out of town, and it's rare to come across such hospitable, caring, and helpful individuals. We had an unforeseen occurrence on our vacation, and the staff went out of their way to assist us. I would highly recommend stopping there for a great selection of products, a nice family run and operated convenience store, and staff who are genuinely good people.

We visit Winks daily on our yearly trip to Corolla. They have a little of everything you need for beach life. Sunglasses, clothing, ice, a great selection of beer. Prices not out of line. Last stop for supplies before the 4WD beach.