Take a vacation from your Grand Strand vacation with a visit to Market Common, an upscale shopping, dining and entertainment district that looks more like a scene from Manhattan than Myrtle Beach.
Built on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, Market Common features rows of brownstone-style buildings that serve as storefronts, patio cafes and boutiques. They form an urban village that span about five square city blocks. Sidewalks and pedestrian crossings make the Market Common easy to hop from shop to shop and restaurant to restaurant as if going for a stroll through the neighborhood.
Shopping is the main attraction at Market Common, which offers more than 50 stores ranging from exclusive national retail outlets to locally owned mom-and-pop shops. Popular brands such as Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Coldwater Creek, Fossil, Justice, Orvis, Victoria’s Secret; Tommy Bahama and more give locals and visitors the chance to shop at some stores not found elsewhere on the Grand Strand or at home.
And if all that shopping makes you hungry and thirsty, you don’t have to go very far to get your fix. Great restaurants like Crepe Creation, Divine Prime, Gordon Biersch, King Street Grill, Nacho Hippo, P.F. Chang’s and Toffino’s offer a wide range of food and beverages. Open-air patios and sidewalk cafes allow visitors to relax in the scenic setting and refuel for more fun, and there are plenty of ice cream shops and pizza parlors to keep the kids happy.
This 100-acre complex also features a state-of-the-art movie theater, book stores, day spas and plenty of green space with walking and biking trails, playgrounds, picnic shelters and sports fields. Special events are held throughout the year at Valor Park or Grand Park, including Art in the Park, the Beach Boogie and BBQ Festival, Bluegrass, Brews and BBQ and the Dragon Boat Festival, just to name a few. There’s a party of some sort going on all the time at Market Common, which also offers residential housing to give the district the lived-in feel of an urban community.
Market Common is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays during the summer months. For more information, call 843-839-3500 or visit the website at www.marketcommonmb.com.
(posted 4/4/14)
