Day: February 19, 2020

Come Join the Cart Life by Melissa LaScaleia King of Carts in Surfside Beach is a popular local business that sells, rents and services golf cars. They specialize in buying off-lease vehicles and remanufacturing and customizing them for their retail store. Pat Dye is the general manager, and oversees all day-to-day operations along with his right hand Todd Barlow. King of Carts has a sales and service team, staff to manage the rentals, and a customer service team to help coordinate custom car builds and accessory sales. King of Carts was founded in 2009 and has been under its current ownership since 2015. It’s located in the historic Legends in Concert building. Step inside what was concert seating area to find a showroom full of custom golf cars, built to exacting specs and with a full warranty. Pat Dye, general manager (right), along with Todd Barlow (left), create a fun and lively atmosphere while getting things done, to ensure that their customers’ stop at King of Carts will always be an asset to their vacation. — Photo Meganpixels Parker “A brand new car similar to ours can cost between $10,000 to $14,000, but our remanufactured, customized ones are around $6,000,” Pat says. “We can completely rebuild a car and it can look brand new. We install lift kits, custom tires and wheels, brush guards, LED lights, blinkers, arm rests, golf bag attachments, custom steering wheels, and more. “We have a lot of people who come in, look around and say, ‘Do you have anything used in here?’ But the answer is, they all are.” “We have a jovial, light atmosphere here,” he continues. “During the summer months, Myrtle Beach is busier, and people can get stressed out. A lot of the time, we’re the first stop that people will make when they arrive for their vacation. After many hours in the car, they’re ready to decompress. They’ll come here to get their car before they even check into their vacation property, so we try to make it a positive, fun experience. — Photo Meganpixels Parker “It’s also a great work environment and everyone is well trained. Our employees love working here. Everybody has a job to do, but we all have fun while we do it. We also have a tremendous number of customers that come back year after year, and those customers are like family.”  King of Carts has over 200 cars that they rent during the summer months. The company stays open late, from 8am-7pm daily, to accommodate the needs of their customers. And they offer short term hourly rentals as well as long-term rentals that can last the entire summer. The company can also deliver your rental car, so it’s waiting for you as soon as you get to town. If you prefer, you can pre-order your car and it will be waiting for you to pick up at their location on Hwy Business 17. The company’s redesign and remanufacturing process is so well executed that customers often don’t realize that their cars are used, not new. — Photo Meganpixels Parker They exclusively carry the Club Car brand, because it’s the only major brand that won’t rust in the salty ocean environment of Myrtle Beach. “Being at the beach, you have a lot of issues with salt air and salt water,” Pat explains. “Our units have an all aluminum alloy frame which limits corrosion and wear and tear.” For service work, they do everything from manual maintenance and repairs to complete rebuilds. They can freshen up an 8-year-old vehicle, and offer custom paint jobs. Their laid-back, happy vibe, quality of their offerings, and excellent customer service has paid off; the company has more than doubled in growth in the past few years. And they’re competitively priced— they haven’t raised their rates in three years. King of Carts Facebook Globe Phone Map-marked-alt

Where Moore is More by Melissa LaScaleia The story of Moore and Associates dates back to the late ’70s when Melvin Truett started working in the insurance industry with Nationwide, in Florence, South Carolina.  In 1985, he relocated to Myrtle Beach, with the intention of opening his own small insurance agency. In 1991, he purchased Moore and Associates in Surfside Beach. His son Sammy has jointly run the business with him since that time.    Moore and Associates had been operating as an insurance agency in Surfside Beach since 1979, and the name was known throughout the area. After the purchase and transfer, Sammy and Melvin chose to keep it the same so the community would still recognize them. Today, Moore and Associates is a full service insurance agency offering property, casual and commercial coverage, as well as life and health policies. Their customers can choose from a wide array of insurance carriers— and they’re constantly expanding that list. “The best part of what I do is dealing with the public and being there for my clients when they need me,” Sammy says of his company. “People need agents that they can trust to help them with their claims. We submit all claims for our clients through the individual insurance company, and we’re there for them every step of the way if they need anything additional during the process.”  The biggest challenge that Sammy sees for people is that they don’t understand their policy, what they are protected from, and are covered for. This is what he and his team are ready to help their clients address. “As a company, we’re big on consumer education,” says Amanda Vibbert, a licensed insurance broker with Moore and Associates since 2006. “Not just about the nuances of your policy, but things like: why rates are the way they are, endorsements, and owner responsibilities. Regardless of whether people choose to go with our agency or not, they should understand the basics of insurance so they can make informed choices, and shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions.”  It’s important for people to know if they have enough coverage. And an important topic and one that is rife with confusion is flood policies and flood zones. “Everybody in our area is in a flood zone, but not everyone is located in a high-risk flood zone,” Amanda says. “Many people think they don’t need flood insurance because their home is not located in a high-risk flood zone, but over 50% of floods happening now are coming from areas that aren’t designated as such. If you look at data across the nation over the past four years, the low-risk zones are flooding more than the high-risk zones. “We see this reflected in Conway, Georgetown, and Socastee. You can’t predict it; it’s just Mother Nature. Additionally, the topography of the land is changing. We’re seeing an uptick in construction, and flooding is a lot more prevalent these days as a result. As greater numbers of homes are being built closer to the water, it becomes harder for the storm water run-off to flow efficiently. “Also, you can’t control for rain; with this past storm at the end of summer, the water simply flowed north to south.”  “Flood insurance is actually quite affordable, but people aren’t protecting themselves because they’re not getting the correct information,” she adds. “They don’t even know that they need it.”  Another area of confusion for people is their personal financial responsibility with their policies. After Hurricane Matthew in 2016, a lot of consumers didn’t realize that insurance companies had changed their deductibles into what is known as a split-wind deductible, leaving consumers with a higher dollar-amount responsibility. Amanda (left) and the team of Moore and Associates believe in the importance of educating their clients about policy nuances, rates, and consumer responsibilities so their clients are empowered and prepared in the event of a disaster. — Photo Rachel Ogg “We’ve made a big effort to make sure that consumers are aware of the changes to their policy so that there’s no sticker shock in the aftermath,” Amanda says. “Each policy has subtle nuances. People really need to understand their endorsements and how their deductibles work.”  For house insurance, Amanda and her team recommend a full-replacement-cost policy. This ensures that there is no depreciation of the value of your home or goods, and you are only responsible for paying your deductible in the event of a disaster. Conversely, an actual cash value policy will add the depreciation of your home in addition to a deductible before the insurance company will pay out— a scenario which can leave many consumers devastated both emotionally as well as financially. Moore and Associates tries to bypass situations like these by adhering to their tenets of client education. Additionally, they try to encourage people to take a full inventory of their home and their possessions to have on file when they sign up for insurance, to make making an insurance claim, easier. “A lot of times, after a storm is over, people are devastated, and they can’t remember what they have,” Sammy says. My Home Scrapbook is a free mobile app designed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that offers a digital way to inventory your home. With it, you can even scan barcodes of your possessions to send to your email as an Excel document. Moore and Associates has all avenues open and available to help their clients in the event of a disaster. They provide their customers with online channels for support as well, in case they themselves are without power, or don’t have a building standing. As a way to further their mission of educating the community, Moore and Associates offers an informational video series about all things insurance related that people can watch on their website. On it they address some of their most frequently received questions. If you’re looking for advice on a certain topic and they haven’t done a video about it, contact them, … Read more

Your Place for Special Ordinary Things by Melissa LaScaleia Sora Bora Boutique in the Market Common carries upscale casual clothing, accessories, and jewelry for women of all ages. “The pieces are classic and elegant but with a little twist of fun and a bit of sweetness to them that correlates to the Myrtle Beach lifestyle,” says owner Eunice Han. She also carries a thoughtfully acquired selection of natural body products. Eunice sources all of the items in her store from trade shows in her native NYC that she attends bi-annually. She handpicks everything herself, offering a selection that is appealing because the items are high quality, yet simple, classic, comfortable, and easy to wear. “The products have a New York flavor but are perfectly suited for the laid-back Myrtle Beach lifestyle,” she says. Eunice was born in Korea, and moved to Philadelphia when she was seventeen-years-old. She later relocated to New York City where she lived for twenty years. She and her husband met there, and called it home until they recently took a vacation to Myrtle Beach. They fell in love with this place, and within the year, the two had traded in their life in the big city for Myrtle Beach. Eunice shows just as much taste and artistry in the decor of her store as she does in the clothing and accessories she fills it with, having created the design and personally executing all of the labor herself. “I wanted to bring aspects of what some of the quainter streets and parks of New York City look like into my space,” she says. — Photo Meganpixels Parker Owner Eunic Han blends the timeless grace and simple elegance of New York fashion with the easy-going, fun, and happy vibe of Myrtle Beach into the upscale, casual women’s clothing and accessories she carries in her boutique. — Photo Meganpixels Parker — Photo Meganpixels Parker — Photo Meganpixels Parker — Photo Meganpixels Parker — Photo Meganpixels Parker — Photo Meganpixels Parker — Photo Meganpixels Parker Previous Next The result? Visitors feel a sense of intimacy and warmth when they visit— as if each garment had been hand-selected for them.  Although this is her first brick and mortar business, Eunice is no stranger to entrepreneurial ventures. For years she ran a successful online store on Etsy, where she designed and crafted women’s handbags and backpacks. “I’ve always been fashion-oriented and creative,” she says. Now she devotes all of her time and creative passion to making Sora Bora a success. And she’s well on her way. Her store has something to offer customers of all ages, from teens to retirees, as she seamlessly intertwines components that appeal to a wide range of ages, both in terms of her products as well as the layout of her store. Her mission? “I want to help people make every day special and every event memorable through the clothing they wear,” she says. “I’m building my business very personally. I am happy that with Sora Bora, I can make a positive and lasting contribution to the variety of what is offered here in the Market Common. “With Sora Bora, I love that I can be creative and share my own unique style with the community. I enjoy being in the store and meeting different people— little by little, forging relationships and instilling a sense of beauty and extraordinary into people’s everyday lives.” Sora Sora Boutique Facebook Globe Phone Map-marked-alt

An Anti-Bullying Leadership Program by Melissa LaScaleia The mission of Healthy Concepts Inc., 501(C)(3) is to work with the community to help children combat bullying and improve self-esteem in a safe and nurturing environment.  The program is the brainchild of Lisa Melendez, who has been building it since 2015. “Bullying is an epidemic right now,” Lisa says. “My husband and I own a karate studio in Myrtle Beach and we work with kids all the time. We can see it. We ran an after-school program in Brooklyn, and when we came to Myrtle Beach and realized the epidemic of bullying extended even to here, we knew that this was something we needed to continue.”  Statistically, 156,000 youth across our country do not go to school every day for fear of bullying and harassment. There are over 40,000 latch-key kids across our country, children who come home to empty houses and have no one to talk to about their day. “Consequently, many are dealing with mental illness or depression, and are either victims of bullying or are the bullies themselves,” Lisa says. “We began this program to make sure we got to our youth and let them know that they matter.”  As a way to learn how to support these children, Lisa and her team of volunteers who share in her passion and mission began training with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI is a national support group for people who have family members who are diagnosed with mental illness. “In this way, it’s a full circle,” she says. “We work with the kids and bring in the families to be able to offer this support. If the families are not involved, then there’s a gap. We act as the bridge between the kids and the school and kids and the parents. We are the other adults that these kids can come to for support.”  The specialty focus on anti-bullying developed organically. “We structured the time we spent with children into what we call WRAP sessions, where we teach soft skills for coping with life’s challenges,” Lisa explains. “The W stands for wellness; R for respect; A for acceptance; and P for protection. As part of the P, we taught self-defense, anti-abduction workshops, and anti-bullying. “And when we brought up the anti-bullying, it took off and took a life of its own. We thought it was going to be a small section of the program, but all the kids started talking about it, opening up about the things that were happening on the bus, and the things they saw— adults bullying one another; what they saw on the news; cyber bullying. So we started to do more research and realized there was a huge need here.”  “Last year, Anti-Bullying made a huge impact,” Lisa adds. “We had a 10-year-old boy in our program who wanted to kill himself because of bullying. Because of our support, and the support of his peers in the group, he’s no longer in a dangerous space mentally, and is receiving professional counseling.”  Anti-Bullying and Healthy Concepts have been gaining media exposure— they’ve been on WPDE, WMBF news and Channel 13. But because of a lack of funding, they lost their space to host the program for this year. “We are trying to secure funding so we can continue and expand,” Lisa says. “We have a goal of raising $50,000 to secure a location and provide scholarships for children to attend the program. We would love to have this program running again by the next school year, August 2020. All of your donations go directly to these children and this space; everyone who works with us is a volunteer.”  Donate at Lisa’s Go Fund Me page: Leadership Anti-Bullying Program, and contact her if you have a space you’re willing to donate, or can offer assistance in launching the fundraising aspects of her 501(c)(3). Currently, she and her husband host a family enrichment night every other month. This is a free program that the whole family can attend to learn about bullying, what it is, how to report it, how to cope with it, and how to offer support in the face of it. Healthy Concepts Facebook Globe Phone