Retirement - Senior Scene

The Grand Strand and retirees have a passionate love affair going. And this perfect coupling is not only compatible, but also seems to be intensifying every year as more and more active seniors come south to embrace the comfortable coastal lifestyle. In the past decade the number of adults age 65 and older has increased by almost 50 percent.

Who can blame them? They’re finished with the workaday world but not with life. They come to get ultimate quality out of the golden years under the warm Carolina sunshine. Many of our retirees hail from colder regions to the north where they spent many a winter shoveling snow, wrapping kids in knitted scarves, and navigating icy roads. Here seniors can enjoy the freedom of a temperate climate, partake in the luxury of walking barefoot along a sandy coast, and, for the most part, get far more purchasing mileage out of their dollar.

In turn, they have wooed and won the hearts of Grand Stranders with the skills and experience they apply to local civic groups, churches, the arts, and governmental entities. Retirees have become and will remain an integral part of this community. As one 69-year-old widow put it, “I moved to Myrtle Beach . . . and have a busier schedule than ever before. No one needs to be lonely in Myrtle Beach. There’s just too much to do.”

Overview

The Myrtle Beach area has been named by Money magazine as one of the top 20 places to retire in America. The Southeast Journal edition of the Wall Street Journal also ranked the Grand Strand as one of the dozen hottest retirement spots in six Southeast states.

Many retired folks volunteer at area schools and hospitals. They serve on boards and councils, operate community projects, head up fund-raising drives, and participate in cultural programs. The Long Bay Symphony can credit its very existence to retirees who worked in the music business and performed with symphonies in larger cities. The over-55 set have their own acting troupe, the Grand Strand Players, which puts on three productions a year. The Waccamaw Carving Club, the Waccamaw Arts and Crafts Guild, the Grand Strand Concert Band, and the Long Bay Photography Club would all have slim membership rolls without retirees.

Horry’s seniors have their own newspaper, Fifty Plus; their own annual trade show, the Lifestyles Expo, held each winter in the Myrtle Beach Convention Center (see the Annual Events chapter); and their own production company that puts together a 30-minute program each month for Cox Cable TV.

The Grand Strand also entices migrant retirees, usually referred to as “snowbirds,” who follow the sunshine south to escape the harsh northern winters. They rent houses and apartments or stay in hotels, taking advantage of lower winter rates. Around March or April, when temperatures start to rise, they head home. No one seems to have a good grasp of just how many snowbirds winter along the Grand Strand, although estimates range upwards of 50,000.

The Carolinas are perfectly positioned to attract the new generation of retirees. Younger, more active seniors are choosing destinations like South Carolina because it is at least a day closer to their northern homes than Florida, offers a break from relentless heat and humidity, and provides plenty of activities beyond shuffleboard or a dip in the pool.

Jobs and entrepreneurial opportunity are also high on the list of desirable qualities, since many of today’s retirees want to continue to work at least part time or wish to start their own businesses.