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Apr 13, 2024

Charleston is regaining its Saks appeal

Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. Saks recently opened a

Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free.

Saks recently opened a "styling suite" at a Ritz-Carlton resort in southern California. Provided/Saks Fifth Avenue

Nearly 13 years after closing its King Street department store, Saks Fifth Avenue is plotting a return to the Holy City.

Kinda, sorta.

South Carolina's only Saks Fifth Avenue department store was at King and Market streets in downtown Charleston. It closed July 2010. File/Staff

The high-end retailer recently announced that Charleston is among the cities where it open a Fifth Avenue Club, a newly launched network of standalone “styling suites” and an offshoot of its in-store personal shopping service that goes by the same name.

The company said it's partnering with leading luxury lodging operators, including Marriott International’s Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis flags, for sales outposts at “world-class hotels and resorts across the country.”

“Available to both local customers and hotel guests, these new … suites offer personal shopping and styling appointments, in addition to special events, trunk shows and unique shoppable experiences,” Saks said in a written statement.

The new format will include “an initial consultation either in-person or virtually to discuss style preferences, wardrobe needs, sizing and designer preferences.” Afterward, “a personalized selection of merchandise” from nearby Saks Fifth Avenue department stores will be delivered to the suite.

One of the first locations recently opened at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Beach, Calif. A Saks spokeswoman said the company wasn't ready to disclose details about the Charleston location or when it will open. ‘

Other planned destinations for Fifth Avenue Club include Honolulu, Maui, Napa Valley, Nashville, Orlando, Deer Valley, Utah, and Nantucket, Mass.

Saks operated a small-format “resort store” in the current Target space at Meeting and King streets in downtown Charleston for 14 years. It closed in July 2010. The following year, the retailer opened a Saks Off 5th location at Tanger Outlets in North Charleston. The company’s nearest mainline department stores are in Atlanta and Raleigh.

Anyone trying to follow the public real estate filings in Berkeley County from the comfort of their computers were out of luck for most of the past week.

After a vendor for the Register of Deeds swapped out the server on June 20, newly recorded deeds, mortgages and other land-related transactions were no longer being posted on search.berkeleydeeds.com.

"Everything is still being recorded, but it's just not showing up online," Cindy Forte, who heads up the office, said June 26.

Forte predicted the four-day outage would be resolved by the end of the day, and she was correct. The system was operating normally again by about mid-afternoon Monday.

BMW vehicles are parked at Columbus Street Terminal in downtown Charleston as they await export. The State Ports Authority will spend about $1.5 million on new lights at the terminal to increase efficiency and cut back on nearby light pollution. BMW Manufacturing/Provided

The State Ports Authority plans to spend $1.5 million to to dim the lights at its Columbus Street Terminal on the Charleston peninsula.

The maritime agency's board of directors approved a plan to replace 246 fixtures mounted on 49 high-mast poles at the 155-acre property, where vehicles like X-model SUVs built at BMW's Upstate plant are shipped overseas.

The existing high-pressure sodium lighting equipment is old and inefficient, and the light spills into surrounding areas. The fixtures be replaced with LED variants that are safer, consume less energy and provide higher visibility on the terminal. They'll be directed down to contain the light to the port property.

The SPA's maintenance unit tested fixtures from four manufacturers — Musco Lighting, Phoenix Lighting, Cooper Lighting and Carolina High Mast Lighting — to see which performed best. The authority picked Musco, which provides a 10-year warranty instead of five years for the other brands.

The Iowa-based company's fixtures have also been installed at the Leatherman Terminal and Inland Port Dillon and will be used at the new railyard under construction on the former Navy base in North Charleston.

The replacement project at Columbus Street is expected to take two months and start in September.

GoodVets plans to open two veterinary clinics in the Charleston area. GoodVets/Provided

A new animal clinic plans to set up shop in two locations in the Charleston area.

GoodVets, a veterinarian-led animal hospital platform, signed leases for 2,700 square feet at 1411 Folly Road on James Island and 2,810 square feet at 1125 Savannah Highway in West Ashley. The James Island location plans to open in December while the West Ashley site aims to open in March.

The Chicago-based clinic has 19 locations across the U.S.

GoodVets partners with local veterinarians to lead their own practice.

South Carolina jobseekers needn’t worry that the latest numbers showed a decline in open positions.

There were 172,000 job openings in April, 12,000 fewer than in March, according to seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But that is more than twice as many jobs than unemployed workers to fill them, said Bryan Grady, director of labor market information at the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.

With the limited pool of prospective hires, employers ramped up recruiting efforts by placing 105,000 workers into open roles in April, or 4,000 more than the previous month.

Plenty of opportunities remain, including summer positions geared at students. DEW director William Floyd is encouraging parents to help their teens find seasonal, part-time work through S.C. Works Online Services or by visiting a local S.C. Works Center.

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John McDermott, Warren Wise, David Wren and Jodi Shafto of The Post and Courier contributed ot this report.

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