Shop Talk: Buying into Grand Strand retail

Inlet Square gets store, sale

Kidz Inc. indoor playground, which hosts children's birthday parties, will open it's second location on the Grand Strand in Inlet Square Mall Oct. 1 across from Ladies Choice Fitness Center.

It has a roughly 5,500-square-foot inflatable playground and toddler area and also offers drop-off care.

Also, the mall will house a consignment sale, Beach Babies Kidsale, Sept. 27 through Oct. 4 with a pre-sale for consignors and volunteers on Sept. 26.

Children's clothes from newborn to size 12 will be accepted and sold during the semi-annual sale across from Regis Hairstyles.

It will also accept and sell cribs, swings, bedding, toys, and other children's items. Consignors get 60 percent on items sold.

Consignment store debuts on S.C. 707

Elena's Boutique & Consignments has opened on S.C. 707 in the Old Salem Shoppes near St. James High School.

The store accepts and sells a variety of items including clothes, jewelry, home decor, art, purses, shoes and accessories.

Owner Raissa Kvelidze said she's been wanting to open the shop for several years, and thought now would be a good time since people are pinching their pennies and looking for bargains.

Her daughter, Elena, owns the original store in New York, she said.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

J. Crew in, Geoffrey Beene out at Tanger

A J. Crew store is scheduled to open at the Tanger Outlet Center on U.S. 17 in late November, according to the shopping center's tenant services manager Nicole Tolbert.

The Geoffrey Beene store there will also likely see some changes, as its parent company, Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., has said it will not renew agreements to operate any of its Geoffrey Beene stores.

The retail chain was expected to be liquidated by the end of 2008, a company announcement said. Of 100 stores, 75 are to close and 25 will be converted into Calvin Klein outlet stores, a brand Phillips-Van Heusen ns.

Ghostly stores appear

Attention ghoul and goblin wannabes: seasonal Halloween stores have started popping up on the Grand Strand.

Halloween Express has set up shop on the Bass Pro Shops side of Myrtle Beach Mall, formerly Colonial Mall - Myrtle Beach, and Spirit Halloween opened for the fourth year at the former Waccamaw Factory Shoppes offU.S. 501.

Both sell a variety of spooky costumes and supplies and have plans to stay open until November.

Other area retailers have put out their Halloween merchandise. At Broadway at the Beach, the Disney Store has Disney character costumes for kids; Build-A-Bear Workshop has princess dresses and Halloween costumes for the bears; and Dept. 56 has Halloween-themed home decor, according to center spokeswoman Nancy Greene.

Florence computer shop expands into NMB

A computer retail and repair shop opened this week at 763 Main St. near the Kroger in North Myrtle Beach.

Grand Strand Computers focuses on repairing any brand of computers, but also sells custom-built computers and computer accessories, said owner Scott Earp.

Earp also owns Florence PC, which he opened in December 2001.

Now, one person staffs the store, but Earp hopes to hire a few technicians, he said.

Local Steve & Barry's to close

Steve & Barry's discount clothing retailer will close its store at Inlet Square Mall as the company restructures under new ownership, company spokeswoman Rachel Brenner said Thursday.

The chain, which debuted at Inlet Square Mall in November, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after sluggish consumer spending and the credit squeeze hurt its growth plans, the Associated Press reported.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge approved BHY S&B Holdings LLC's $163 million bid to buy the chain on  Aug. 22. BHY S&B Holdings, an affiliate of investment firms Bay Harbour Management and York Capital Management, announced at the time it would close some of the 276 Steve & Barry stores.

Brenner didn't have a closing date for the local store.

Gullyfield spot could get new life

Owners of the vacant Myrtle Beach tract where the longstanding Gullyfield Restaurant once was are ready to redevelop the property with restaurant, retail and office space.

Owners Deck and Caroline Dargan want to build a complex on the 2.4 acre parcel that will be called Lakeside Village. It would include an anchor restaurant in the front and shops and offices in the back, amounting to at least 22,000 square feet of leasable space, Deck Dargan said.

The stormwater permits are in place, but there isn't a master plan yet of what will go there, he said.

Much will depend on what anchor restaurant the complex's leasing agency Sperry Van Ness/Tradd Commercial can attract, Dargan said.

"We're pretty much in the preliminary stages of everything," he said. "We haven't submitted anything to the county yet. We don't know exactly who's going to come and what exactly they'll want."

He hopes to break ground on the complex in 2009.

Gullyfield Restaurant stood in that spot on U.S. 17 near Chestnut HIll Restaurant and Chesapeake House for more than 25 years before it was torn down in 2001, Dargan said.

Broadway launches redesigned site

Broadway at the Beach has revamped its Web site as part of its new marketing campaign.

The new site kept the complex's old slogan - "Shop, Dine, Dance, Play...Stay" - but put the events calendar, promotions and ticket packages on the main page and aims to draw a broader base of visitors with its new look that incorporates images of family fun, a night out with girlfriends and a weekend of shopping, according to Broadway at the Beach marketing director Rebecca Feagin.

It's part of a new campaign the complex is launching that includes new outdoor signs, print advertising and radio spots and the Web site redesign. The Web site has gotten about half a million visitors so far this year, averaging about 2,300 visitors a day, Feagin wrote in an e-mail.

The overhaul comes in the midst of a challenging retail environment across the nation and on the Grand Strand. Consumer confidence has taken a hit and local retail sales through May have been down from last year's levels.

Feagin, however, declined to say whether the down economy spurred the new efforts.

“We simply decided after more than four years of running the former creative campaign, it was time for a new, more sophisticated look,” she wrote.

Broadway at the Beach is a Myrtle Beach shopping and entertainment complex owned by Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc.

Store openings at Market Common

Divine Prime restaurant, Rug Decor and Bag'n Baggage are all scheduled to open at The Market Common next week, the shopping center's general manager Sue Bonin wrote in an e-mail.

Other recent openings at the housing and retail complex on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base include jewelry and accessories store Fossil, which opened Monday, and The Big Tuna - which sells specialty gifts and home decor and has a pet photography studio - opened on Tuesday.

Francesca's Collections apparel and accessories store is slated to open Thursday afternoon next to Banana Republic.

Cooperative Bank is slated to open Sept. 15 and Dolce Lusso Salon & Spa on Oct. 1.

Retail sales down

Retail sales on the Grand Strand fell in May according to data recently released by the S.C. Department of Revenue and Taxation.

Gross sales fell from about $888.1 million in April to about $860.3 million in May, mirroring the statewide drop from $13.1 billion to $12.3 billion.

"We think it's the high gasoline prices taking income away from people,'' said Bill Gillespie, chief economist with the state's Board of Economic Advisors.

That brings Grand Strand retail sales to about $4.6 billion for the period December through May, down from $4.9 billion during the same period last year.