2 Best Shopping in Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand, South Carolina

Two dozen boutiques, gift shops, and restaurants, set in cottages built with old beams, timber, and ballast brick, under a canopy of live oaks, make up this charming shopping district. Outside the Original Hammock Shop, in the Hammock Weavers' Pavilion, craftspeople demonstrate the 19th-century art of weaving the famous cotton-rope Pawleys Island hammocks. Also look for jewelry, toys, antiques, and designer fashions.

This independent bookstore is the place to pick up a beach read or regional-interest book. It's also the home base for authors who want to return home after making it on the bestseller list, via Pawleys Island's "Litchfield Books Exclusive Author Events" series of lectures and classes.