TAMMY CONNOR Owner, Tammy Connor Interior Design
PAGE 4 VOLUME 28 NUMBER 2 ■ CHARLESTONBUSINESS.COM
Part of the
FEBRUARY 7-20, 2022 ■ $2.25
network
Retailer adds e-commerce distribution center By Jenny Peterson
Refined taste
Reimagined commercial space opens on the peninsula. Page 13
Special delivery
S.C. Ports Authority receives its first chassis for pool to help alleviate gridlock. Page 9
H
Contributing Writer
ampden Clothing, a Charleston clothing boutique at 314 King St., has leased a 7,200-square-foot distribution center on north Meeting Street to keep up with demand from shoppers both in person and online. “In-store sales have increased at a pace of 107% over the past year while our e-commerce sales have increased 48% compared to last year.
Online sales have grown to be 30% of our current business,” said Stacy Smallwood, founder and owner of Hampden Clothing. “During the pandemic, many of our clients began to utilize our website for the first time and have not looked back.” Opening a 1,500-square-foot boutique in 2007, Hampden Clothing now occupies more than 10,000 square feet of retail space in adjoining buildings on King Street that includes its designer shoe store, James, along with 5,000 square feet of office space above its storefront
SEA ISLAND SALE
The sale of 55-acre Hoopstick Island to developers serves as another push against lagging inventory and development opportunities across the region. Page 8
Capital investment
See E-COMMERCE, Page 10
Boeing hopes 787 inventory takes off soon By Teri Errico Griffis
L
MUSC approves fundraising for a new academic building. Page 14
tgriffis@scbiznews.com
ast year was a rebuilding year for Boeing — there’s just not a whole lot of building new 787 jets here in South Carolina. Deliveries of the jet have been halted since May when the Federal Aviation Authority requested to look into further production quality issues regarding tiny gaps found between the sections of the fuselage. About the width of a human hair, the gaps were not a safety of flight issue for the in-service fleet, but the company has been working since to address the problem. Last year, Boeing only delivered a total of 14 jets manufactured in North Charleston, a far cry from the 53 recorded in 2020. Zero were delivered in the final quarter of last year. After months of delivery delays caused by Federal Aviation Authority and zero deliveries in the fourth quarter, Boeing now has 110 airplanes in inventory as of
Economic boost
Gov. Henry McMaster allocates $17 million for training state’s workforce. Page 11
INSIDE
Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 Small Business Spotlight........ 4 In Focus: Architecture, Engineering and Construction....................... 13 List: Engineering Companies...... 15 Charleston Under Construction....................... 18 At Work...............................27 Viewpoint............................ 31
where an in-house e-commerce team works. Sarah Shelley, with NAI Charleston, represented Hampden Clothing in the lease of 747 Meeting St. Day-to-day life at the distribution center reveals the inner workings of how to keep a thriving boutique and e-commerce site going. It’s a long and tedious process that includes receiving and processing up to 40 boxes of new clothing every day, carefully photographing
Hoopstick Island can be accessed by a single road across Bohicket Creek. (Photo/Keen Eye Marketing)
See BOEING, Page 11
CHARLESTON UNDER CONSTRUCTION Who is building what in the Charleston area? Projects, companies, prices, projected timelines, photos and stories. Page 18
