TikToker asked how Myrtle Beach beachwear stores stay open. Here is what to know
One Myrtle Beach-based TikToker wanted to know how Myrtle Beach’s many beachwear stores stay open, so she made a shopping trip to find out.
Up and down the Grand Strand, the sight of stores selling swimsuits, towels and other beach apparel is ubiquitous. Often near the ocean, the sometimes large stores occasionally sit within walking distance from one another.
Sydney Laurenne is a TikTok user with more than 12,000 followers, and she wanted to explore this phenomenon by posting her shopping excursion to a Bargain Beachwear store in the Myrtle Beach area Dec. 17, 2024.
At the time of publishing, the video had more than 160,000 views and received more than 10,000 likes. Part of Laurenne’s recent TikTok posts include reviewing Myrtle Beach area restaurants and walking around the Myrtle Beach Mall and X Gym Sports Mall.
Bargain Beachwear has numerous locations across the Grand Strand. Laurenne shot videos of herself trying on several hats and riding a small skateboard before asking an employee how the building stayed open all year despite being virtually empty of customers.
“We all genuinely wonder,” she added before entering the store. Laurenne could not be reached for comment before publication. According to the owner of the building, there’s a simple reason why it stays open.
The store featured in Laurenne’s TikTok also housed the Krave Bagel shop at 1434 Highway 17 South in North Myrtle Beach. Horry County Land Records shows that the property owner of the Bargain Beachwear and Krave Bagel is Laniado Prop LLC.
Joshua Laniado is the LLC’s registered agent and owns the Ocean Escape Condos in North Myrtle Beach. In an interview with The Sun News, he said he owns several other Bargain Beachwear buildings in the Myrtle Beach area, Charleston and North Carolina. He added that he and his brothers founded Bargain Beachwear in 1984. Although Laniado said he still owns several buildings, he sold the business to Eagles Beachwear seven to eight years ago and no longer operates it.
“It’s seven days a week from morning to eight o’clock; we close after midnight. It’s many hours every day. It’s not an easy job,” he said. “You don’t find the money in the street here.”
Laniado said many beachwear stores rely on the Grand Strand’s vacation economy and generate 70% to 75% of their revenue in June, July and August before business tapers off in November. He added that beachwear stores tend to stay open during slow months with shorter hours to keep things up and running while avoiding the drawbacks of shutting down and re-opening every year.
He added that beachwear stores also re-stock for the busy vacation season during the slower winter and look for the latest consumer trends. Laniado also said that stores will get Myrtle Beach-style merchandise based on what vacationers in Florida and the Caribbean buy during winter.
“It’s definitely not profitable,” Laniado added. “We’re making less than 5% of the income of the whole year. So it’s definitely not profitable.”
He added that stores will continue to operate in the Myrtle Beach area, given its status as a vacation destination.
“I don’t see any reason why the beachwear store will disappear,” Laniado said.
