What's New in Murrells Inlet Beyond the Marshwalk?
Murrells Inlet's waterfront restaurant lineup changed again this year. At the same time, a longer-term redevelopment is underway at a shopping center that sat half-empty for years.
Start with the obvious story first, because it's worth knowing even if it isn't the point.
In February 2026, Inlet Shipwreck Bar & Grill opened at 4139 U.S. 17 Business, taking over the address most recently occupied by Sloppy Jose's Cantina. Sloppy Jose's had only opened in 2024, and before that the building was Neptune Bistro. That's two full concept changes at one address in roughly two years, not counting whatever run Neptune Bistro had before any of this started.
Sloppy Jose's itself was a partnership between two familiar Grand Strand names. Zach Baker, who runs Neal and Pam's in Surfside Beach (open since 1985) and El Cerro Mexican Bar and Grill (a fixture in North Myrtle Beach since 1991), took on the space to build a Caribbean and Latin-inspired concept. Baker was candid with WBTW about what it meant to add a third restaurant to the Marshwalk's lineup.
"It's scary, but you're in good company down there."
Sloppy Jose's closed within about two years, and Inlet Shipwreck moved in with a pirate theme and a painted vintage truck out front. The pirate-ship playground has been there for years.
The Murrells Inlet waterfront has seen restaurant changes over time, alongside a few restaurants that have remained for decades.
While individual restaurants come and go, the Marshwalk's summer promotion has stayed remarkably consistent. Right now, through August 31, all eight of the Marshwalk's restaurants are running $9 cocktail specials as part of the annual "75 Days of Summer" push. The eight are:
The list shows which restaurants are included in this year's promotion. Alongside newer openings, it provides a snapshot of the Marshwalk's current restaurant lineup.
You've got a little over two weeks left to take advantage before the promotion wraps for the year.
Southern Hops Brewing Company offers a weekly schedule of events.
Mondays bring jukebox bingo starting at 6 p.m., free to play with gift card prizes. Tuesdays are trivia, also starting at 6. Throughout the week, the Inlet Sessions concert series brings in local and regional acts, the kind of bands that don't need a marquee name to fill the beer garden. Southern Hops offers a smaller, quieter setting for recurring events alongside Murrells Inlet's restaurant options.
If you've been meaning to get out to Brookgreen Gardens' Summer Light installation, the clock is running. The event, which runs Wednesdays and Saturdays through August 22, threads light installations through the sculpture garden along with a pop-up gallery and live music. It's the kind of thing that's easy to keep putting off because it feels like it'll always be there. This year it won't be, not until next summer.
The redevelopment of the former Inlet Square Mall is another significant change in Murrells Inlet.
For years, the old Inlet Square Mall sat mostly vacant after anchors like Kmart, JCPenney, Stein Mart and Books-A-Million closed over the years. Floor & Decor broke that stretch with its grand opening in September 2025, the first new tenant to move in once Paramount Development Corporation took over the site. Becca Dunn, general manager of CHD Interiors, which has operated across from the mall for more than 40 years, welcomed the news after watching the property deteriorate for years.
The retail buildout is no longer a future promise. Hobby Lobby opened on April 17, 2026, a 53,000-square-foot store at 231 Mall Drive that became the chain's 27th location in South Carolina. By February, Paramount's real estate manager, Neal Bowers, was describing a Chipotle planned for one of the outparcel lots near the Bypass, along with an as-yet-unnamed coffee shop next door, and said he expected a lot of the buildout to be finished by summer. Construction continues on a new Home2 Suites by Hilton, a 134-room hotel planned near the site's long-standing Belk store.
The South Strand draws shoppers from Pawleys Island, Georgetown, and Myrtle Beach, a regional draw that supports redevelopment of the former mall. The South Carolina Department of Transportation has its own piece of this too, with plans for realigned intersections, added turn lanes, and new traffic signals around the site, work that was slated to start in the fall of 2025.
The mall redevelopment represents a longer-term change alongside the restaurant changes on the Marshwalk. Floor & Decor and Hobby Lobby are open, a Chipotle is planned, and a hotel is under construction, adding a mix of retail, dining, and lodging near the site.
None of these things happened because of each other. A restaurant closing on the Marshwalk has nothing to do with a road realignment near the old mall. But taken together, they describe a neighborhood that's doing two different things at once: welcoming changes to its waterfront restaurant lineup while redeveloping the former mall.
If you've lived here long enough to remember when the mall sat empty, or long enough to have eaten at whatever restaurant occupied 4139 U.S. 17 Business two names ago, you already had a sense of this. The pattern just hadn't been laid out side by side before.
Whether you're headed out for $9 cocktails before the summer promotion ends, catching one of the last Summer Light nights at Brookgreen, or noticing the new signage going up across from CHD Interiors, these are a few of the changes worth paying attention to in Murrells Inlet right now.
If you're weighing a future move to Murrells Inlet or just curious what a home here is worth given how much the South Strand is filling back in, Coastal Beach Homes knows this stretch of the Grand Strand block by block. Start Your Coastal Home Search whenever you're ready, and we'll walk you through what these changes actually mean for property here.
When you hire Jan and Dan, you get a team of professional real estate agent diligently working together on your behalf. They are knowledgeable and experienced professionals you can trust to best represent your interests in our unique market.
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