We have done our very best to get you into the perfect luxury vacation rental this summer.  Now that you’ve booked it, packed your car/suitcase, and traveled to vacation wonderland, there are some basic household items you will need for the week that you’re here which will constitute a trip to the market.

    This should not be a grueling, day-long, errand, stuck in sweaty traffic, and long, angry grocery lines.  No sireeeee Bob, this should be more sport and fun to add to your trip so that you can maximize your leisure time here doing all  things…leisurely.

   With your valuable vacation time in mind, we have put together a list of shopping centers with local directions from the nearest main road closest to your vacation rental, so that you can stop there on your way to checking in, or the next morning, and not feel disoriented by the change of scenery.  After all, we know you just drove, or flew many miles from a place you know very well, to get here, a place you know less about, so let’s try to make the refrigerator-stocking less of a chore and more of a family event!

    Below is a list of places we recommend based on their proximity to your vacation rental. 

PALMETTO DUNES

The Plaza at Shelter Cove
32 Shelter Cove Lane

From any place in Palmetto Dunes: 12-15 minutes drive.
From the gate:
Right on William Hilton Pky (Hwy 278), about 1 mile
Left on Shelter Cove La.

This is a great place to start when you arrive.  Just be careful that you don’t over-do at places like T.J. Maxx, Outside Hilton Head, and Fuddruckers on your first day… being that you have all your cookie-jar cash-in-pocket and credit cards cleared and ready to go once you get here, we don’t want you to spend it all in one place, as they say.  You can stock your refrigerator from the plaza’s anchor store, Piggly Wiggly.

If you turn too soon into Shelter Cove Mall, no worries, keep driving and Shelter Cove Lane will take the back way to Shelter Cove Plaza.  This is a more scenic way to go anyway, with the marsh on your left, and less traffic than Wm Hilton Pky.  Now, if you got confused out of the gate and turned left on William Hilton Parkway, it’s still okay, just read further down under Shipyard’s options and you’ll see about another grocery stop that will be on your right.

SHIPYARD

TWO big options here, and some of you, depending on where you are located within the resort, will have an even-Steven choice as far as distance goes.  Villa complexes like The Greens, Beachwalk, and Tennismaster, are equi-distant from the two shopping places we’ve highlighted, while others like Kingston Dunes, Evian, Golfmaster, and Townhouse Tennis Villas may want to be more strategic when charting their shopping plaza adventure.

1st Shipyard entrance off Highway 278 – You will have passed the Plaza at Shelter Cove on your right with barely a blink. Not a problem.  Being the very concerned Journey Guardian Angels that we are, and knowing you might have missed the Plaza on the way in because your eyes are bleary and you are weary from the long drive, we built another shopping center on the same side of the street called:

Fresh Market Shoppes, where there is a, -duh-  Fresh Market, also Bonefish Grill, Jones New York, West Marine, and Cold Stone Creamery.

890 William Hilton Pky
843-686-6233

Again, this is not something you should over-do on the first day.  I know, I know, but you are better off if you don’t over-do (which would be an over-don’t) so you will have a few extra shillings later in the week, or in case it (gasp!) rains and you all have to go to the movies sun-burnt, whiny, and miserable, you will definitely need your stash then, right?

Circle Center off Pope Avenue
70 Pope Avenue

2nd Shipyard entrance off Pope Avenue, a local road that will take you to whatever you need, whether you turn left or right.  To the left (beachside), there is a Bi-Lo on the right off Pope in the Circle Center near the public beach and FREE parking lot.

    If you miss the Bi-Lo, just keep driving until you hit a rotary called Coligny Circle.  Go all the way around that, past the beach park boardwalk fun exit, and take the next road, called North Forest Beach.  Watch out for major pedestrian, bicycle, stroller, and drunk-stagger traffic in this neck of the proverbial woods.  This is Coligny Public Beach Fun Central, and you will have a blast down here on foot.  (Not so behind the wheel of your car.  Behind the wheel of your car, you might just bust a gasket trying to make a left turn during beach happy hour.)

    Okay, say you’ve made it around Coligny Circle without hitting someone’s dog, you’ll drive one block down North Forest Beach, amidst sunbathers leaving the beach and shoppers walking the boardwalk. You will take a left on Avocet, (the first road you will come to), and drive half a block and turn left into Coligny Plaza.

    You will drive sloowwwwwwwwly through the lot, past restaurants, bars, souvenir/gift shops, until you see a familiar billboard snout, and you will know that you have reached the south’s proudest marketing alliterative effort, the Piggly Wiggly.  This used to be called the Red & White, and was Hilton Head’s first market owned by the truly wonderful Martin family, who still operate the grocery store.  Ask for David Martin and tell him Carmen Hawkins said Hi.  I don’t know if this will get you a discount, but it will definitely get David laughing.

Park Plaza, Office Park Road, Off of Pope Avenue

To the right out of Shipyard’s Pope Avenue gate, you will go to the next stoplight and turn left on Office Park Way.  This road curves around past Time Warner Cable and CVS and goes winding around a little paved back-door road that leads you to the Park Plaza shopping center, where there is a: 

Harris Teeter
33 Office Park Rd
843-785-6185
Park Plaza Cinema, Electric Piano, Marley’s Grill and newly rebuilt family/sports bar restaurant called the Mellow Mushroom. This road is great and if you slow down enough and take a right before you get to Park Plaza, you’ll be right in the thick of things known as Reilley’s Triangle to natives because there are four restaurants (I know, the ‘triangle’ made you think three, but we are nothing if not math-smart after a couple of daiquiris in Reilley’s Triangle), and here you can grab a beer and meet some locals who will tell you the best places to eat, shop, park your beach towels, listen to live music, and watch the most awesome sunsets, than if you just followed the ads and billboards and brochures you picked up on the way in.

   The other great thing about this little road is that it takes you right past the main intersection and Sea Pines Circle traffic jam any time of the day.  Drive slowly and pay attention, and you will not be disappointed in this little gem we just gave you. We are, after all, your Vacation Company Guardian Angels.

   Now, if you spent a little longer than you should have in the Triad, and had Junior with his driver’s permit drive (good thinking!), and maybe he turned out onto a main road, instead of back onto Office Park Way, don’t worry, you are still close to yet another shopping plaza known as:

Island Crossings.
11 Palmetto Bay Rd
843- 842-2632

   However, don’t let that Palmetto Bay Rd. address fool you.  Again, here’s where the Vacation Angels swoop in on their angel wings and carry you a hop and a skip across the road.  Junior takes a right out of the Reillley’s parking lot, and then the next left.   Here, you will find Staples, Starbucks, Publix, and Walgreens, in that order, and all to remind you of home.

Now, if you missed that turn, you will go to the Sea Pines Circle, drive all the way around to Palmetto Bay Rd, and that’s when the address will make some sense.  Take a left at the first light, and there you will be at the Walgreens, Publix, Starbucks, and Staples, in that order.

Okay, if you miss that turn… sigh… you have one more shot at a grocery plaza before I give up on you.  Drive down about a half a mile past that light and on the right is a:

Food Lion
6 Bow Circle

And, FYI, just past the Food Lion, is the main U.S. Post Office, and catty-corner from that is Island Postal Center, from where we ship all your lost and found items, in case you were wondering.

FOREST BEACH

From South Forest Beach (Cassina, Bayberry, Shorewood, Breakers, et al) properties, you would turn right, go straight down to Coligny Circle, half-way around, onto North Forest Beach Rd, one block and left on Avocet. Then left into Coligny Plaza where the Piggly Wiggly is.

If you miss the half-way around exit, take the next exit off the circle, which is Pope Ave. and take the second left off Pope Ave., which is Nassau.  The Circle Center is on the right where the Bi-Lo is.

From North Forest Beach (SeaCrest, North Shore Place, Quail, Driftwood, Mallard, Dune, et al), you are down the road and across the street from Coligny Plaza and the Piggly Wiggly.  This is by far the easiest place to be to get lost and still find the grocery store.

SEA PINES

    If you are staying in the Harbour Town neck of the neighborhood, you will find going back out the main Sea Pines gate to Harris Teeter easiest.  It is the first right outside the gate, and probably the easiest turn of this whole blog post.

    If you are staying in South Beach, or South or North Sea Pines Drive and points in between, you are better off driving out the back gate, take a left on Cordillo Parkway, drive about 2 miles to a stop light (you will be opposite Shipyard), intersection with Pope Avenue.  To the right is the Bi-Lo described above, to the left is Harris Teeter and Publix, also aforementioned.

   I hope this has helped clear things up for you as you embark on your vacation week.  And if you have any questions, always know you can call us at The Vacation Company, and we’ll be glad to give you more directions and shopping options.  Or just mosey around the HiltonHeadsUp blog index to the right, and you may find what you need here, too.  Thanks for reading, and have a great day!