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Retailers ringing up success in Berkeley County
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Angie and Bill Scull are brewing up their recipe for success in Moncks Corner one cup of coffee at a time.
They and other entrepreneurs and retailers have awakened to the fact that Berkeley County is the place to be, right in the path of growth.
“We’ve been so very well received by Moncks Corner,” said Angie Scull, co-owner of the Wholly Ground coffee shop in the Bi-Lo shopping center off U.S. Highway 52 and the 52 bypass. “We’ve got our regulars that come in every single morning, and we know them all by name. We know what they’re going to drink, we’re happy to see them and every person who walks in and says, ‘I can’t believe we finally got a coffee shop here in Moncks Corner.’
It makes us feel like it’s definitely going to make it. We’re right where we need to be.”
The Sculls opened the shop in January just across from Point North Community Church, which they have attended since it started with 24 people meeting in a member’s living room.
On any given Sunday, the church welcomes 1,000 people to its sanctuary in a former Kmart store.
“It has grown exponentially,” Angie Scull said.
The couple also has noticed Moncks Corner growing from a small town full of older folks to a bustling area attracting young families.
“We’ve actually even thought about a second location a little bit closer to where the Google facility will be,” Bill Scull said. “It’s going good, we’re paying the bills. We’re a couple months ahead of our plan, revenue-wise.”
Retail follows rooftops
The Sculls can expect some company on the retail front as Berkeley County continues to welcome new rooftops, including the nearly 30,000 residences planned within three developments: Cane Bay Plantation and The Parks at Berkeley, both in the unincorporated area of the county, and Carnes, the Daniel Island Co.’s mixed-use development at Carnes Crossroads in Goose Creek.
Charlotte-based developer Lincoln Harris just announced that a 48,756-square-foot Harris Teeter supermarket will anchor The Market at Carnes Crossroads, which will feature 60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
The area also will get a multiplex cinema next year when Starmax Entertainment of Mount Pleasant opens a movie theater, bowling alley and sports bar.
Jeff Molinari, assistant city administrator for Goose Creek, said business license revenue for the city has steadily increased during the past five years and housing permits have not declined as they have in other areas. Housing starts more than doubled between 2003 and 2005, from 244 units to 503 units, and leveled off in 2007 to 479 units.
“With all the residential development coming, I think what you see going on at Carnes Crossroads is the retail side catching up with the residential,” Molinari said. “Our retail and commercial growth has been very strong, but I think as time goes on you’re going to see our commercial base expand to see more sit-down restaurants and more specialty shops. I think that’s in line with the evolution of the city, (which is) becoming not only a place where you can live, but where you can shop and play.”
At Cane Bay Plantation, a new high school is scheduled to open this fall, followed by an elementary school in 2009 and then a middle school. The Del Webb retirement community also plans more than 1,000 homes.
Bill McGill, a partner with Seaboard Commercial Properties and a broker for Cane Bay Plantation, said the development has a commitment from a grocery store and is in negotiations with two banks and two restaurants.
“It’s been very active out here, even though the housing market is down,” McGill said.
More revenue, more retailers
Retail trade in Berkeley County grew by 38.7% between 2002 and 2007, according to the S.C. Department of Revenue, which recorded more than $2.6 million in gross retail sales in the county in 2002 compared with more than $3.7 million in 2007.
With growth comes competition for longtime business owners as well as an onslaught of fresh consumers.
“For so many years, we were not isolated but insulated from attachment to the greater Charleston area because there was relatively little or no development between Goose Creek and Moncks Corner,” said Kevin Housand, president of Central True Value Hardware & Supply, a company his family has owned since 1976.
Housand said population infill in just the past three years has made the delineation between the greater Charleston area and Moncks Corner less distinguishable than it once was. Along with the greater population growth, however, have come the big national retailers: Lowe’s, Home Depot and Wal-Mart.
“We have absolutely felt the pressure from those companies; however, with the population growth we’ve experienced in recent years, we have overall more market share,” Housand said. “It’s just a smaller share of a bigger market.”
Housand and his brother and sister recently expanded their business, which began as Central Hardware & Supply Co. in the 1940s. They relocated seven years ago from their original Main Street setting to the corner of Main Street Extension and Rembert Dennis Boulevard. They also have grown their lumber sales while adding an equipment and tool rental business.
“We’re quite a different company substantially than what we were even as recently as seven years ago,” Housand said. “We just couldn’t sit still and make things work and stay viable. For us, it was a pretty big investment in a new facility, but the area dictated that.”
Elaine Morgan, president of the Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce, said the county’s smaller communities now are closer to retail services, including specialty retail that formerly did not exist in the area.
A native of the Bethera community, Morgan remembers when the local gas station doubled as a grocery store and post office. For movies or a haircut, she had to travel to Moncks Corner or St. Stephen.
“Now, in Moncks Corner, we’ve got two brand-new little cafés,” Morgan said. “I know in Charleston that might not sound big, but to have cafés where you have lattes and things like that here is interesting. Before, we had some retail for basic needs, but you’re seeing that next level of retail coming in. We just need to help foster and help those businesses grow to make sure these services are here for residents who have lived here or have moved here for that quality of life.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@scbiznews.com.
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