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Shopping in SC


motonenterprises

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I think Charleston is the best (by a long shot). It's the only SC city where you can get almost ANYTHING you want downtown. In fact, I'd say it's one of the best downtown shopping cities in the SE (nearly on par with Miami Beach).

And of course there are plenty of malls which contain the same stores and merchandise as the malls in Greenville and Columbia, however the vast downtown shopping district puts Charleston in a different league.

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We have 3 very different cities here, with 3 different setups. When you say best shopping, what do you mean?

Charleston as a whole has a wider variety of stores that other cities, but the main ones are located downtown or in that N Chas area, so the convenience is varied depending on what part of town you live in.

Columbia has 2 major shoping areas within its metro- Harbison area and the Northeast area, each with many of the same stores, but as a whole it offers a good deal of variety I think. Its not as convenient if you live in the center city or southside of town.

Greenville has one area- the Haywood/Laurens/Woodruff Rd area. It offers a variety similar to the othe cities. Its pretty convenient if you live nearby, but I suspect that its not as convenient forthose in the outer suburbs like Taylors/Greer.

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We have 3 very different cities here, with 3 different setups. When you say best shopping, what do you mean?

Charleston as a whole has a wider variety of stores that other cities, but the main ones are located downtown or in that N Chas area, so the convenience is varied depending on what part of town you live in.

Columbia has 2 major shoping areas within its metro- Harbison area and the Northeast area, each with many of the same stores, but as a whole it offers a good deal of variety I think. Its not as convenient if you live in the center city or southside of town.

Greenville has one area- the Haywood/Laurens/Woodruff Rd area. It offers a variety similar to the othe cities. Its pretty convenient if you live nearby, but I suspect that its not as convenient forthose in the outer suburbs like Taylors/Greer.

Spartan, I guess I mean how many different variety of stores, the traffic to get to those stores, what stores do some cities have that others would like to see in their cities, etc. In Greenville aren't Pleasantburg, Augusta Rd., White Horse Rd., Wade Hampton Blvd considered to be big shopping areas here in Greenville too?

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Spartan, I guess I mean how many different variety of stores, the traffic to get to those stores, what stores do some cities have that others would like to see in their cities, etc. In Greenville aren't Pleasantburg, Augusta Rd., White Horse Rd., Wade Hampton Blvd considered to be big shopping areas here in Greenville too?

Those and Cherydale are all secondary/localized shoping areas..... They are not primary ones which are the areas that have the chain stores that are unique to the city. A prime example is Best Buy. There is only one in Greenville, and it is on Woofdriff Road in teh new Greenridge shopping area.

Columbia has two Best Buys in its respective area.

The exception to this rule is Charleston. Its main shopping area is out on Rivers Ave around Ashley Phosphate (sorta). Downtown is the exceoption here because it does offer a variety of stores.

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Those and Cherydale are all secondary/localized shoping areas..... They are not primary ones which are the areas that have the chain stores that are unique to the city. A prime example is Best Buy. There is only one in Greenville, and it is on Woofdriff Road in teh new Greenridge shopping area.

Columbia has two Best Buys in its respective area.

The exception to this rule is Charleston. Its main shopping area is out on Rivers Ave around Ashley Phosphate (sorta). Downtown is the exceoption here because it does offer a variety of stores.

Interesting! But there are 2 Circuit Citys and 2 Barnes and Nobles in Greenville. Haywood and Woodruff Rds respectively. Would these not be considered 2 shopping areas?

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Haywood and Woodruff are definitely two seperate shopping areas. and Augusta Rd is on up there with those. It's not at the same level because of a lack of large stores (for lack of good explanation), but it definitely is above the other locations that it was classified in with. Also, The West End is becoming a "women's fashion district" so says the Greenville Journal... SOOOO......

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Interesting topic. I have only done extensive shopping in Greenville and Charleston, very little in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. But I do have statistics for retail sales from all over the state(from SCDOR); Numbers alone don't speak for the experience of shopping, with that said here are the retail sales numbers:

Cities: (amounts are in billions of dollars)

$4.6, North Charleston (leader for atleast 12 years straight, location obviously.)

$3.6, Columbia

$3.1, Charleston

$2.7, Greenville (not bad considering population)

Counties:

$9.8, Charleston County

$8.5, Greenville County

$8.4, Richland County

I wouldn't be able to give a fair review because I know where just about every shop in the Charleston metro is, I find it very convenient shopping here. :P

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Those and Cherydale are all secondary/localized shoping areas..... They are not primary ones which are the areas that have the chain stores that are unique to the city. A prime example is Best Buy. There is only one in Greenville, and it is on Woofdriff Road in teh new Greenridge shopping area.

Columbia has two Best Buys in its respective area.

The exception to this rule is Charleston. Its main shopping area is out on Rivers Ave around Ashley Phosphate (sorta). Downtown is the exceoption here because it does offer a variety of stores.

As Mike pointed out, the Rivers Avenue area in the North area has the most in terms of how much money is spent. However, don't forget other major shopping areas besides the northside and downtown in Charleston. Mount Pleasant has a major retail area with its Town Center, and West Ashley has a large retail area with the largest mall in the Charleston area (Citadel Mall).

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If look at shopping from the quality of merchandise, it would definitely be Charleston, then Greenville, then Columbia.

Charleston has King Street with high end shopping from Saks Fifth Avenue, Gucci, St. John Knits, Mont Blanc, etc. and fun stores like Lucky Brand. Definitely the most high end shopping in South Carolina and for many stores their only SC location.

Greenville has come on strong with the better brands and stores, though not high end: Pottery Barn, Aveda, J.Crew, Whole Foods, Harold's, White House Black Market, etc.

Columbia has alot of shopping but is still missing many of the national better brands, such as the ones above.

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If look at shopping from the quality of merchandise, it would definitely be Charleston, then Greenville, then Columbia.

Charleston has King Street with high end shopping from Saks Fifth Avenue, Gucci, St. John Knits, Mont Blanc, etc. and fun stores like Lucky Brand. Definitely the most high end shopping in South Carolina and for many stores their only SC location.

Greenville has come on strong with the better brands and stores, though not high end: Pottery Barn, Aveda, J.Crew, Whole Foods, Harold's, White House Black Market, etc.

Columbia has alot of shopping but is still missing many of the national better brands, such as the ones above.

I agree with you're rankings, but you're just thinking about the Haywood and Woodruff stuff. Augusta St has a lot of high end retail. There's Augusta Commons, Capers Place, Lewis Plaza, McDaniel Village, and more that i'm missing and others that aren't in an actually shopping center. And of course, going towards downtown, into the West End, there's a lot of places that carry LaCoste and "Lilly" (whatever that is, but apparently it's nice). We may not have the big national retailers that are fancy and expensive, but we DO have the high-end stores that have the "quality merchandise" that you starting speaking of.

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I agree with you're rankings, but you're just thinking about the Haywood and Woodruff stuff. Augusta St has a lot of high end retail. There's Augusta Commons, Capers Place, Lewis Plaza, McDaniel Village, and more that i'm missing and others that aren't in an actually shopping center. And of course, going towards downtown, into the West End, there's a lot of places that carry LaCoste and "Lilly" (whatever that is, but apparently it's nice). We may not have the big national retailers that are fancy and expensive, but we DO have the high-end stores that have the "quality merchandise" that you starting speaking of.

Agreed. I was simply looking from the national high end/upper end perspective.....from a corporate perspective of companies outside South Carolina. I think Charleston, Greenville, Columbia are all lucky to have many high end local retailers.

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Agreed. I was simply looking from the national high end/upper end perspective.....from a corporate perspective of companies outside South Carolina. I think Charleston, Greenville, Columbia are all lucky to have many high end local retailers.

my ranking would be quite different. 1st i would say myrtle beach has more outlets and more fashionable outlets than charleston. after Myrtle beach its Charleston, then after it's Columbia*, then Greenville. to be honest everybody has all the same stores except Myrtle beach with the outlets. everybody has a koss, dicks, etc, it's no real major labels but in chuck town!!! sorry...

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Interesting! But there are 2 Circuit Citys and 2 Barnes and Nobles in Greenville. Haywood and Woodruff Rds respectively. Would these not be considered 2 shopping areas?

I think of Woodruff and Haywood as the same only becuase they are both connected by non stop commercial properties via Laurens Rd. and Congaree. And because If I was shopping on Woodruff I would have no problem zipping over to Haywood Rd to go to something else.

Whereas say if I was on Wade Hampton and had to go to Woodruff I would be inconvenienced (sp?)

Urban Planet needs a built in spell checker so I can stop makeing myself look like a fool!!!

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my ranking would be quite different. 1st i would say myrtle beach has more outlets and more fashionable outlets than charleston. after Myrtle beach its Charleston, then after it's Columbia*, then Greenville. to be honest everybody has all the same stores except Myrtle beach with the outlets. everybody has a koss, dicks, etc, it's no real major labels but in chuck town!!! sorry...

I have to agree. Myrtle Beach is also a shopping destination and as a result has a huge amount of shopping available that you don't see in the other parts of SC. (even Charleston)

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Charleston has been missing Outlet shops but that will soon change with the Tanger Outlet Center at Centre Pointe in N. Charleston. One of the main reasons for a lack of Outlet shopping in Charleston was due to the competition it would bring onto the many retail shops around here. I'm not exactly sure what changed for them to decide to go ahead with TangerOutlets but I welcome the addition.

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I think of Woodruff and Haywood as the same only becuase they are both connected by non stop commercial properties via Laurens Rd. and Congaree. And because If I was shopping on Woodruff I would have no problem zipping over to Haywood Rd to go to something else.

Whereas say if I was on Wade Hampton and had to go to Woodruff I would be inconvenienced (sp?)

Urban Planet needs a built in spell checker so I can stop makeing myself look like a fool!!!

Your wish will be granted in a future version of UP! :thumbsup: We all would love one of those readily available. ^_^

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