Biloxi Local Guide
15 Must Know Businesses in Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi has always been more than a beach town. It is shaped by seafood families, artists, shop owners, chefs, makers, musicians, and small businesses that give the Gulf Coast its personality.
Yes, Biloxi has casinos, beaches, and big attractions. But the real character of the city shows up in smaller places. A boutique downtown. A farmers market under the overpass. A brewery tucked near the ballpark. A museum preserving the seafood industry. A local marketplace helping Southern makers reach new customers.
Use this as your guide to Biloxi businesses worth knowing — whether you are planning a weekend trip, shopping local, or just looking for places that feel like the Coast.
01
The Threaded Cork
140 Lameuse St, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo/source: Coast Observer
Half boutique, half coffee bar, and fully committed to being the kind of place where you walk in for a gift and end up with an armload of things you did not know you needed. Apparel, home goods, jewelry, and a full espresso menu share the same warm, sunlit space. Grab a latte, browse the candle section, and do not be surprised if forty-five minutes disappear.
02
The Cornerstone Boutique
922 Howard Ave, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo/source: Coast Observer
Size-inclusive women's clothing, handmade jewelry, and the kind of personal shopping experience that feels like your stylish friend opened a store. The owner is often behind the counter and remembers repeat customers. If you have ever felt invisible in a boutique, this one will change your mind.
03
Biloxi Visitors Center Gift Shop
1050 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Skip the keychains. The Visitors Center gift shop stocks local artist prints, Gulf Coast history books, and souvenirs that actually mean something. It is inside a building shaped like an antebellum mansion with a sweeping front porch and a view of the lighthouse. Worth stopping in even if you do not buy a thing — though you probably will.
“The real character of the city shows up in smaller places.”
04
Charles R. Hegwood Community Market
Under the I-110 overpass at Howard Ave, Biloxi, MS 39530
Image/source: Go Gulf States
Locals just call it the Biloxi Farmers Market. It runs Tuesday and Thursday mornings and brings together growers, bakers, jam makers, and the occasional woodworker or candle vendor. Produce is seasonal and often picked that morning. Go early. The good tomatoes go fast.
05
White Pillars
1696 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39531
Photo/source: Coastal Mississippi
Set in a restored 1900s home with columns, wraparound porches, and chandeliers, White Pillars is where Biloxi goes for a serious dinner. The menu leans hard on Gulf seafood and local ingredients — redfish, oysters, shrimp — prepared in ways that feel thoughtful without being fussy. The courtyard bar is a good spot for a cocktail even if you are not staying for dinner.
06
Mary Mahoney's Old French House
110 Rue Magnolia, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo/source: Mississippi Farm Country
The building dates to 1737. The courtyard oak is over 2,000 years old. The food — shrimp and grits, crabmeat au gratin, snapper — has been drawing crowds since the 1960s. Mary Mahoney's is not just a restaurant. It is a Biloxi landmark, and eating in the courtyard under that ancient tree is one of the best dining experiences on the entire Gulf Coast.
07
Half Shell Oyster House
125 Lameuse St, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo/source: Half Shell Oyster House
Downtown Biloxi's reliable seafood workhorse. Oysters come grilled, Rockefeller, Bienville, or raw. The shrimp and grits hold their own against fancier spots. It is the kind of restaurant where you can show up without a reservation, order a dozen oysters and a cold beer, and leave happy. Good for lunch, better for a casual dinner.
08
Fly Llama Brewing
186 Bohn St, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo/source: Restaurantji
Fly Llama operates out of a converted warehouse near MGM Park. The tap list rotates often — hazy IPAs, fruited sours, and approachable lagers dominate. The taproom is dog-friendly, kid-friendly, and staffed by people who actually like talking about beer. Check the schedule for trivia nights and live music.
09
Ground Zero Blues Club Biloxi
814 Howard Ave, Biloxi, MS 39530
Image/source: Ground Zero Blues Club Biloxi
Morgan Freeman co-owns the original Ground Zero in Clarksdale. The Biloxi outpost brings the same energy — live blues, Southern food, and a room that feels like a juke joint crossed with a roadhouse. The lineup skews local and regional. You might catch a Grammy winner or a kid fresh out of Delta State playing the best set of his life.
10
Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art
386 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The Frank Gehry-designed campus is worth the visit on its own — a cluster of silver-pod buildings that look like they sailed in from another planet and decided to stay. Inside, the museum celebrates George Ohr, the "Mad Potter of Biloxi," whose twisted, paper-thin vessels were ignored in his lifetime and now sell for six figures. The rotating exhibits cover Gulf Coast artists, ceramics, and contemporary work.
11
Dusti Bongé Art Foundation Gallery
814 Howard Ave, Biloxi, MS 39530 (inside the Ground Zero building)
Image/source: Dusti Bongé Art Foundation
Dusti Bongé was Mississippi's first abstract expressionist painter — a Biloxi native who showed alongside Pollock and Rothko in the 1940s and 50s. Her foundation gallery is small, quiet, and free. The work moves between surrealism, abstraction, and deeply personal pieces about family and loss. A hidden gem inside a blues club, which is about as Biloxi as it gets.
12
Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum
115 1st St, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Biloxi was once the seafood capital of the world, and this museum tells that story in detail — the boats, the storms, the canneries, the immigrant families who built the industry. You will see a 30-foot shrimp trawler, historic photographs, and exhibits on Hurricane Katrina's impact on the waterfront. Biloxi makes more sense after an hour here.
13
White House Hotel
1230 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39530
Photo/source: White House Hotel
Originally built as a boarding house in the 1890s and later expanded into a boutique hotel, the White House sits directly across from the beach with a wide front porch made for slow afternoons. The Cora restaurant inside serves steaks and seafood in a room that feels like old Biloxi — dark wood, high ceilings, and a long bar. Even if you are not staying overnight, the porch and a sunset cocktail are worth a stop.
14
Edgewater Mall
2600 Beach Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39531
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / USGS
Edgewater is a standard shopping mall, and that is exactly the point. When the weather turns or you need a break from the sun, it has air conditioning, a decent food court, and stores ranging from Belk to Dillard's. It is also one of the few places on the Coast where teenagers hang out on a Friday night, which counts for something.
15
Main Street Collective
Based in Biloxi — shop online at mainstreetco.us
Image/source: Main Street Collective
Main Street Collective is a Biloxi-based online marketplace connecting shoppers with handmade goods from Mississippi and Southern artisans. Pottery, candles, leather goods, baby gifts, bath products — all made by small-batch makers who sell their work through the collective's storefront. It represents the other side of Biloxi's small business economy: makers who do not have a brick-and-mortar shop but still need a way to reach customers beyond the Coast.
The Places That Give Biloxi Its Personality
Biloxi is not memorable because of one place. It is memorable because of the people behind the places.
The ones running the shops, cooking the food, pouring the drinks, creating the art, and keeping the city moving forward.
The next time you are in Biloxi, go a little past the obvious stops. Walk into the shop. Sit down for the meal. Listen to the music. Talk to someone local. Buy something made by someone nearby.
The best way to understand Biloxi is to experience the businesses that make it feel like Biloxi.
