Country clubs. Pet salons. A full list of ‘essential’ businesses in Beaufort County
After S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster issued sweeping executive orders at the end of March and in early April, closing a large swath of businesses due to the coronavirus pandemic, only those deemed “essential” were allowed to stay open.
In Beaufort County, those businesses included charter fishing boat companies, pet salons and country clubs, according to a review of S.C. Department of Commerce “essential” business designations.
McMaster said S.C. businesses should reach out to the department for clarification on whether they were allowed to stay open.
The agency released the list of those businesses, which had a few inconsistencies.
One flower shop in Beaufort was initially deemed nonessential, according to the Department of Commerce tracker, but the owner said he got the green light to stay open shortly after.
“We were only shut down three days,” said David Fields, manager of Artistic Flowers Shop. “I sought clarification and explained that we could take web orders and do non-contact delivery.”
“They agreed and granted me to open back up,” he said.
The Department of Commerce, on the other hand, says Fields’ shop had been deemed nonessential but can now operate due to McMaster’s recent order letting retailers reopen.
Fields said the difference is negligible because “everyone assumes that I’m closed” due to the pandemic.
On Hilton Head, other essential businesses include the Long Cove Club, the Sea Pines Country Club, and the Wexford Plantation Homeowners Association. Also listed are the Dataw Island Club on St. Helena and the Callawassie Island Members Club.
All these organizations sought clarification from the Department of Commerce and were granted “essential” status because they operated tennis or golf courts, which were not required to close, or offered services such as curbside food orders, according to Alex Clark, the agency’s director of marketing and communications.
Clark said homeowner associations “were not mandated to close.”
Additionally, at least eight fishing charters on Hilton Head and in Bluffton were deemed essential, according to the list.
Though not essential in the traditional sense, charter businesses were able to keep operating by making the case to state Commerce officials that they would keep groups on boats small and follow safety guidelines.
In Sea Pines, the Harbour Town Fishing Charters was told it was essential soon after applying and being cleared by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
Another Hilton Head charter company, however, had a harder time.
Palmetto Lagoon Charters said it reached out to the Department of Commerce on April 3 asking for clarification. Two days later, the department said the business was nonessential.
Then, nearly two weeks later, the agency emailed the business to say it had been approved as an essential business, according to owner Kendelton Malphrus.
She said that two-week period closure period was hard on her family and her business.
“It was a nightmare. Super scary. People think because we are on Hilton Head that we make millions of dollars. We don’t make millions of dollars,” said Malphrus, “We live paycheck to paycheck.”
What is ‘essential’ anyway?
After McMaster’s order, the Department of Commerce’s definition of “essential” did not mean keeping only the most important businesses open.
Quite the opposite.
“The directive was to keep as many businesses open as possible as long as they were doing it in a safe manner,” said Clark.
Eight pet salons were approved to be essential across the county, the agency’s list shows.
A few gyms have also been listed as essential in the past week since the Department of Commerce updates its list every day, according to Clark.
The gyms’ change of status is due to the governor’s latest orders relaxing some of his earlier restrictions on businesses.
“We are continuing to get inquiries regarding clarification. As it has been during this process, the companies are responsible to operate under what the governor’s orders are,” said Clark.
As to why there may be discrepancies in the listings of some businesses as nonessential, Clark says a lot has changed in the last month.
“It very well could be that there are companies that sought clarification several weeks ago but now fall into a retail category that can operate,” she said.
For businesses in the county, being “essential” meant they had to go to state government to ask for that designation.
That was the case for Van Der Meer Tennis on Hilton Head.
But for owner Pat Van Der Meer, it was about more than a business designation.
It was about a legacy.
Van Der Meer, wife of the late Hilton Head tennis legend, said after the governor announced his first wave of closures, she sat down with her employees and asked what they wanted to do.
When members of her full-time staff said they wanted to stay on, she wrote to the Department of Commerce asking for clarification about tennis businesses.
Emails shared by Van Der Meer show the agency responded within a day and granted “essential” status.
As to why she wanted to keep the courts open during the initial shutdowns, Van Der Meer said she was thinking of her late husband, Dennis.
“He’s the reason why I’m trying to keep everything going,” she said.
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 4:50 AM.
