Fire & Spice Gourmet

Nice enough shop selling kitchen gadgets plus a large Wine selection in the back. My wife picked up two kitchen mitts. Counter person was friendly. In the back of the Cotton Exchange, near the German Café.

I always seen to make a stop in Fire & Spice on my visits to downtown Wilmington. Like Ann H mentioned, I am always afraid it won’t be there when I return because it is such a specialized store, I am always worried about how it stays afloat.
It is situated at the back of the Cotton Exchange, facing the river. They have a ton of varieties of spices and sauces. I like to stock up on unique blends and also grab some gifts while we are here. It is also a great place to buy wine since there doesn’t seem to be a wine store in downtown Wilmington. We buy a few bottles for use during our trip, some to take home, and usually a bottle for whomever is taking care of out pets while we are away.
The owner has always been the one working the store when we shop, and is SUPER friendly and funny! If you want to smile, he’s your guy! It’s almost as much fun just to visit for the experience as it is for the products that are sold.

This is my favorite store in downtown Wilmington. I love the huge selection of hot sauces — I never leave without buying at least one! Another favorite item is homemade pasta in a box — little nests of whole wheat 100 calorie servings. This item has helped a lot in trying to cut back on pasta when eating-​in. I also love the little room in the back with locally made items — I have bought many jams & preserves at reasonable prices. Delicious!
The cashiers are always very nice and cheerful. I wish this was a full-​service grocery store because I would definitely shop here more often!

I can never figure out how these types of stores manage to stay in business. There’s a lot specialty foods and food-​related items here, mostly those that fit into the category «fire and spice» and are not, for the most part, standard offerings in a local grocery store. And maybe that’s the appeal — regional specialty items. As part of that, Fire and Spice has a pretty well stocked wine section with small vineyard wines and wine-​inspired gifts next to the other bar-​theme accessories.
To its credit, there’s a small room in the back of North Carolina produced goods. This area of the store has things that I’ve wanted to try, but never wanted to actively seek out. This would be a three-​star store for me – only because it’s really a souvenier shop of food items, but the lady working the counter that day was a sweet grandmotherly woman who didn’t let computer problems at the check-​out get in the way of customer service. Sometimes a computer problem paralyzes staff who have no idea how to handle a transaction manually. Kudos to places with employees who can think on their own and bigger kudos to the people who
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If you know anyone who likes anything spicy, you have to come here.
Like a bajillion fancy, cleverly named hot sauces, barbecue sauces and marinades. Lots of kitsch-​y spice related stuff (tabasco aprons, funny little shot glasses, etc). We even got 3 different flavors of microwaveable spicey popcorns!