TOWNSEND, TN — A special Open House event with food samples, door prizes, discounts on merchandise, and live entertainment is planned for Friday and Saturday, November 9th & 10th at the Apple Valley Mountain Village (formerly Apple Valley Stores & Café). The Townsend retailer rebranded earlier this year as part of a campaign to highlight the popular shopping center’s proximity to the Great Smoky Mountains.

Minute Man. Image courtesy of the Civil War Trust

Mark and Sharon Oldham, owners of both the Apple Valley and Dancing Bear brands, said the name change better describes the stores’ location in the Smokies and the variety of new apparel and cabin décor offerings continuing to arrive ahead of the holiday shopping season.

For a good number of those visiting the Smokies, Apple Valley has become the Unofficial Welcome Center - a great place to stop and stretch their legs, walk the dog, enjoy a bite to eat, browse the fun shops, listen to live music, and launch the day’s adventures near Cade’s Cove since it first opened in 1993.

Apple Valley Mountain Village consists of multiple businesses on one 4-acre property, including the Apple Valley General Store, the Apple Valley Café, the Dancing Bean Coffee House, and the Apple Valley Mountain Store. The coffee house opened in July and has become a popular new destination for travelers and locals alike.

The November 9 & 10 Open House is scheduled in conjunction with the long-awaited opening of the Foothill Parkway Extension, a 1.65-mile-long “missing link” that connects Walland to Wears Valley as part of the 72-mile long road traversing the western and northern perimeters of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Apple Valley will do a live remote with WIVK-FM 107.7 Knoxville.

Planned Open House specials for shoppers include:

General Store
• Receive 30% off various clearance items from the General Store on Friday and Saturday, November 9 & 10, along with free butter samples, meatball samples with Apple Valley BBQ Sauce, door prizes, and $1 raffle ticket sales for a Buck Shot Grill Giveaway at 3 pm on Saturday (benefitting repairs to the Special People’s Park accessing Little River across the Parkway from Apple Valley).

Mountain Store
• Discounts of 20% off on the new merchandise from coveted “performance apparel” brands like Mountain HardWear®, and Southern Tide® at the Apple Valley Mountain Store on both days, plus door prizes. Apple Valley Café:

• Two-for-one Fried Apple Pies and $5.99 Pulled Pork Sandwich plates with Fries at the Apple Valley Café on both days, and guests visiting the Apple Valley Beer Garden receive free balloons.

Dancing Bean Coffee House (located across the parking lot from the main Apple Valley General Store)
• Get 99-cent brewed coffee until 4 pm on both days, a free Cinnabon ™ Cinnamon Roll with the purchase of a specialty drink or lunch item until 4 pm on both days, samples of cookies and scones and free brewed coffee for anyone wanting to play chess, checkers, cards, or any of the various board games available for guests from 4-6 pm on Friday, November 9, and “Jammin’ at the Coffee House from 4-6 pm on Saturday, November 10, with free brewed coffee and food samples, along with live music.

The new coffee house offers regionally produced Kombucha, Nitro Coffee, fresh fruit smoothies, custom sodas, bottled juices, and Cruz Farm dairy products, along with imported beers and six Tennessee-sourced bottled beers. The Dancing Bean also sells locally roasted fresh ground coffee by the pound or whole bean coffee by the pound for carry-out; a specially crafted Dancing Bear Blend pairs Mexican, Guatemalan, and Sumatra beans for a rich, earthy flavor and pleasing aroma. Guests can also find Dancing Bear’s delicious benne seed bacon and house-made granola to take home as souvenirs of their trip to the Smokies.

Those interested in following the new developments at Apple Valley Mountain Village can get updates on the brands’ website AppleValleyStores.com, along with their Facebook page at facebook.com/AppleValleyStores/.