Garden City Grocery reopens 6 months after being slammed by Hurricane Ian

GARDEN CITY, S.C. (WMBF) - Customers are finally trickling back into a popular Garden City mom-and-pop shop six months after damage from Hurricane Ian forced the store to start from scratch.

Back in October, employees said they walked into Garden City Grocery to find everything floating in about three feet of water.

Owner Paul Hoagland said they had to clear out everything and replace all of the flooring, shelves and products.

He said after months of renovations the deli was too expensive to bring back, but he’s looking on the bright side and said it opened up more space.

Now, the doors are open and the shelves of Garden City Grocery are full once again.

Hoagland said the floors took the longest to replace and they are still waiting to fix one cooler, but Hoagland said it’s great having a source of income again and they are still getting ready for the busy summer months.

“Oh it’s nice, I mean, watching the bank account drain for a few months and now we’re settled in and it’s gonna get better. We’re still not gung-ho yet. Another three weeks or a little after Easter it starts really going then,” said Hoagland.

He said he’s excited because he just ordered a big shipment to prepare for the summer when the store sees around 700 to 800 people a day.

Hoagland said his favorite thing about being back open is seeing both his customers and neighbors once again.

“Seeing all the people I didn’t see because, a lot of businesses like us, they closed, and I haven’t seen a lot of people in quite some time and now I’m starting to see them around. Some businesses moved and others are getting ready for the season,” said Hoagland.

Hoagland said the store reopened in mid-February and just got new doors that will hopefully help withstand future storms.

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