The Zoo Gallery

The Zoo Gallery has held its spot in downtown Grayton Beach since 1979, making it one of the longest-running businesses in the village and, by its own count, 47 years into a run that started before most of the 30A corridor existed as a tourist destination. Chris and Roxie Wilson run the gallery at 89 Hotz Avenue, and the shop still frames itself around the same founding idea it started with: promoting American artists and selling handcrafted work of real quality rather than mass-produced souvenirs.

Inside, the inventory ranges widely. Original paintings and prints share space with handmade jewelry, reclaimed-wood furniture, custom headwear and apparel, pottery, artisan glass, recycled-metal pieces, cards, books, and home goods, made by American artists and makers rather than imported wholesale. The gallery describes its own aesthetic as a “handcrafted haven of art, gifts, and joyful oddities,” and the phrase fits a shop that leans into playful, offbeat pieces alongside more traditional art and craft. Roxie Wilson’s own prints hang among the represented artists, along with work from Trent Manning, Raven Roxanne, Baxter Wilson, and jewelry designer Heather Haase. Pottery studio ZPOTS, run by Eric and Noelle VanHendrick, supplies hand-thrown pieces, and home-goods maker Ashley Benton, along with brands like Bellewaera, Namai, Elements by Jill Schwartz, Flying Edna, and In the Land of Elsewhere, round out a mix that changes regularly enough to reward repeat visits.

The gallery’s location matters as much as its inventory. Grayton Beach is one of South Walton’s original neighborhoods, settled long before the planned communities that now line most of Highway 30A, and it kept a village character that later development along the coast largely traded away. The Zoo Gallery sits inside that older grid of streets, surrounded by other galleries, casual restaurants, and bars with more personality than polish, and the shop’s eclectic stock reflects the neighborhood around it rather than a generic beach-town gift shop formula.

Beyond retail, the Wilsons have extended the Zoo Gallery brand into hospitality with a “Stay at the Zoo” lodging option, pairing the shop’s retail identity with a place to stay in the same village, an unusual move for a gallery of its size and one that underscores how central the business has become to the neighborhood beyond just selling art.

The Zoo Gallery also operates a second location at the Grand Boulevard Shopping Center in Miramar Beach, giving visitors staying farther down the coast a chance to shop the same inventory without the drive to Grayton Beach, though the original Hotz Avenue location remains the one with 47 years of history behind it.

Visitors planning a stop should treat the Grayton Beach location as part of a broader walk through the village rather than an isolated errand. The Studio Gallery and Ria Leigh Gallery sit nearby on Logan Lane, and Grayton General Store is a short walk away for anyone who wants to grab a drink before browsing. Because the inventory turns over with each artist’s output and the seasons, a visit in summer will not necessarily show the same pieces as a visit in winter, so gallery regulars along 30A often treat a stop at the Zoo as a standing part of every trip back to the area rather than a one-time errand. Call (850) 231-0777 ahead of a visit if a specific artist’s work is the goal, since availability of any single maker’s pieces depends on current stock.