Charleston, SC.
Downtown and surrounding areas.
Our extensive research has come to a close and here’s the real truth about the city with History and Southern Charm.
Over the past 6 months we have done just about all things touristy, as well as ate, explored, shopped and lived as a resident would.
Now on the surface, our first impressions of the Downtown area were impressive and historical.
We walked the darkened streets at night, tip toed in the cemeteries, took in the sites, paid too much for parking, felt up the old walls, snapped too many pictures of old houses, marveled at the preservation of most things and snarled at others.
Then I stepped in a pile of steaming dog poop with one foot and a pile of cigarette butts with the other. Not really, but I’m sure someone has. We’re dog lovers and it disgusts us to see people walking their dogs with no bags in hand to discard waste. Also, the pile of cigarette butts outside of one hospital on the sidewalks makes us gag.
One summer day, the sky grew dark and the rain came and we were trapped inside by the five feet of dirty water flowing down the streets, heading towards the Art district, hospitals and fancy shops. The site of a car floating by did most certainly say, Historical Roads with No drainage. I mean, is this not a major concern for anyone…anyone, hello?
(courtesy of City Paper) 
(courtesy of us)
You would think in this day in age that the Mayor (Mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. is widely considered one of the most visionary and highly effective governmental leaders in America. First elected Mayor in December 1975, Mayor Riley is serving an unprecedented tenth term) would have had a vision of fixing the roads so that the tourist that come to spend money won’t have a damaged car. Especially since Charleston Average rainfall in July, Aug & Sept is over 6”, national average is roughly 3”. The locals say anything over 5” of rain brings is “High Tide”, and they’re not talking about the beaches people. Having to use your kayak to go shopping may appeal to some, but us non-kayaker’s prefer the more traditional method of walking or driving. When we talked to many people who live and/or work downtown their reply to us was “there’s nothing we can do, this is Charleston.” Many have had their cars flooded and even totaled by insurance. I guess that’s Charleston’s way of cleaning up all the dog poo and cigs? Perhaps this explains all the potholes that are located everywhere in and around the city. We had to fix two tires in six months due to poor road conditions.
Eating:
Moving on to Food…we love food! But we don’t love Charleston’s food. Although we have Not tried every place there is to dine, we’ve tried enough to give an honest opinion. Seafood seems to be the big draw here, with many fine restaurants serving up their flare for the local catch (filled with dog poo and smoking a cigarette after it rains). You can also find plenty of steak and chicken on the menus, but that’s typical of any city. The few times we par took in some seafood it was good, but not great as for the prices are high. Some prices were the same as we paid in larger cities, such as Boston or LA. Most of the servers were pleasant, although a lot of people were transplants and couldn’t tell us much about the local tourist things to do, but they all knew about the flooding. The one thing we noticed was the inconsistency with quality and quantity.
Shopping:
Downtown there seems to be only one street for shopping and that is King Street, which has many upscale stores along with privately owned shops. If the upscale doesn’t suit your needs, then there’s always Walmart. There are more Walmarts in the Charleston area then I dare to mention, but I guess I just mentioned it. There are only two malls, if you want to call them an actual mall, since many of the stores are empty. Your other option would to go to the Outlet mall. The hotels here point you to shop at the Outlet, but most local people say they go to Charlotte NC to shop, but our experience in Charlotte is a whole other story!
Grocery stores; Publix and Foodlion are the most noticeable, with Piggly Wiggly and Harris Teeter here and there. The one thing we found when doing our food shopping is most the employees and managers don’t know their product. When we have to spend ten minutes educating them on a certain product, like Soda or sausage, then something is wrong there. We will say that Harris Teeter is among our favorite, however their prices tend to be higher, but you’re paying for a nicer shopping experience.
Lodging:
Hotels; you will pay a LOT more for a LOT less Downtown and there’s no free parking. On the outskirts, such as North Charleston, MT. Pleasant and West Ashley, you will pay a lot and get even less, but you have to drive everywhere, however the hotels have parking!
The couple Hotels we stayed at Downtown had a nice view and charm, but room service, especially at the Mill House, was terrible. How do you screw up scrambled eggs? When we notified the manager and he was smart enough to offer to remove the cost of the breakfast and throw in some complimentary meals. That does not make it ok to serve a poor quality and expensive meal. The pool deck was nice to relax and it is attached to a parking garage, which made it convenient. Let me mention the parking garages. They charge $1 for every half hour. The Hotel recommended a taxi service back to the airport, which is a huge flat fee of $40 for an 11 mile ride. Most hotels have their recommended taxi service. The other hotels that we visited, most were national chains, were typical, smelly, small and overpriced.
Bed and Breakfast places, OMG some prices of these places are insane. Most of them you will pay around $400 (more than Cali and New York) for a room in someone’s house. Yeah, they may have nice window treatments and the house may be on the historical registry list, but come on! This place isn’t paradise, its Charleston. I guess when one magazine rated Charleston as one of the top places to vacation, the owners of these places saw dollars signs and a tax breaks rather than customer service and a great experience. I’m not talking about all the B and B’s, because there are some good ones, but you really have to do your research before booking.
Rental property; if you’re a student at one of the many colleges, then you may be ok with sharing a room in a house downtown, but I hope your parent have money. One of cheapest places downtown to rent is at The Courtyard on Meeting street. You will pay almost $800 for a very small studio. New Yorker’s right now are saying, Hey that’s a good deal, but this aint New York! Given that the Estimated per capita income in 2009: $28,043 and the Median gross rent in 2009: $914 (I’m sure the rent average is much higher now, but this is an example) that means almost half your income goes to rent. That does not include the high cost of utilities. You will pay roughly $120 in electric during the summer in a 600 sqft place and roughly $54 in water with only two people (that’s without a washer and dryer).
Bottom line is this; Charleston is very expensive for what they provide, which is not much. They expect you to pay bookoo bucks and only offer the basics. When vacationing, if history is your thing, I would consider an alternate location, such as St. Augustine Florida, the oldest city in America. If you have a large budget, I would consider a cleaner place with more to do. If you are considering living here, reconsider! The cost of living here is 11% above average, but the income is slightly below average, you do the math. There’s not too much to do here and after a few weeks Downtown, we were bored and broke!
Forbes Meets Webb - Extreme Business Consultants 