Tower painted to resemble beach ball

Coastal Business

MARION COUNTY

Tower painted to resemble beach ball

A giant beach ball will greet tourists bound for the Grand Strand on U.S. 501 as they pass through Marion County.

The county painted the water tower in the Marion County Industrial Park to resemble the inflatable beach toy, aiming to put the county on the map for those focused on getting to the Grand Strand.

"I think travelers will get excited when they see the beach ball knowing they are close to their long-awaited vacation destination," Rodney Berry, the county's economic development director, said in a written statement.

Tourists will recognize they're in Marion County and might stop at Marion businesses on the way to the Grand Strand, said Berry, who is also the mayor of the City of Marion.

CONWAY

Seminar to aid business owners

The Coastal Area Small Business Development Center, which is at Coastal Carolina University, is sponsoring a tax seminar for small business owners from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 16 in the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Auditorium.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

The seminar will be led by representatives of the Internal Revenue Service, the S.C. Employment Security Commission and the S.C. Department of Revenue.

Sessions consist of four hours of federal tax issues, one hour of state tax issues and one hour with the S.C. Employment Security Commission.

Topics include which federal and state forms to file, record keeping, type of entity to operate as, how to make payments online, employee/independent contractor and other subjects to help the small business owner comply with state and federal tax laws.

To register, visit www.coastal.edu/sbdc/seminars.html, or call 349-4009.

GREENVILLE

Rite Aid pushes discount groceries

Rite Aid Corp. said Tuesday it will add discount groceries to some of its stores in South Carolina as it tests out a partnership with Supervalu Inc.

Rite Aid said it will add Save-A-Lot grocery products to its 10 stores in and around Greenville.

The stores will be remodeled by October, and renamed Save-A-Lot Food Stores/Rite Aid Pharmacy.

The Camp Hill, Pa., company said pharmacy operations at the stores won't change, but it will cut back on its selection of health and beauty products.

Save-A-Lot is a unit of Supervalu, which is based in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Its stores sell produce and meats and household goods. There are about 1,200 Save-A-Lot stores in 39 states.

Rite Aid had 4,747 stores in 31 states as of Aug. 28.