Family Photographer in Ladson, SC

The sites of three shuttered restaurants in Charleston could soon be serving diners again.

In West Ashley, a Japanese restaurant that serves sushi, steak and seafood plans to open in a former Chinese diner while two Mexican-themed offerings are in the works for different sites on the peninsula.

Konnichiwa is upfitting a space at 975 Savannah Highway in the Harris Teeter-anchored St. Andrews Center. The site previously was A1 China Super Buffet, which closed in June 2021.

The name Konnichiwa stems from the traditional Japanese greeting from midday to onset of evening, or a standard way to say “hello.”

The restaurant originated in its Charlotte location and has five more sites throughout South Carolina, including Greenville, Florence and Lexington. Two are in Spartanburg County in Moore and Boiling Springs.

Business partner Eka Lesmana said the West Ashley restaurant is aiming for a late October opening.

In downtown Charleston, Azul Meeting St. LLC recently applied for an alcohol license at 385 Meeting St. next to Charleston School of Law. The company is registered to Armando Navarro, who owns Azul Mexicano Restaurante near Park Circle in North Charleston. He could not be reached for comment on the proposed restaurant.

The site is the former location of Sol Southwest Kitchen & Tequila Bar. An opening time frame has not been announced.

And in downtown Charleston, a new Mexican-themed restaurant and tequila bar is in the works.

The Matador, with nine restaurants in the Seattle area as well as Idaho and Oregon, plans to open in the former Sticky Fingers site at 235 Meeting St., according to plans presented to the city of Charleston.

Plans show the front entry door shifted to the left, with a window replacing the existing entry to match current elements. Interior renovations are planned on the first two floors of the three-story building.

The restaurant chain, with its bull-horned logo, offers an array of Mexican dishes such as tacos, enchiladas and burritos and specializes in tequila with more than 150 offerings, all from Mexico. It also offers hand-crafted cocktails and a full menu of other items.

A restaurant representative did not immediately respond for comment on a projected opening timeframe.

Sticky Fingers closed the Meeting Street site in September 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It had operated downtown for more than two decades. Before that, the space at the southwest corner of Hasell Street housed Marianne, a popular French bistro that closed in 1995.

Lidl update

Work resumed over the past month or so on the inside of the new discount grocery store Lidl coming to North Charleston after interior upfitting had stopped earlier this summer.

The German-based grocer that runs its U.S. headquarters from Arlington, Va., recently posted a “Now Hiring” sign in front of the shop on an outparcel of the Ross Dress for Less-anchored Cedar Grove Shopping Center on Dorchester Road.

The company also recently applied for its state license to sell alcohol at the future store.

Lidl spokeswoman Chandler Spivey said the new North Charleston store is expected to open in the fall while the company hopes to have a better sense of timing at a later date for the store proposed for Bowman Place Shopping Center in Mount Pleasant.

Seeking variance

A new dining venue is in the works for downtown Charleston. Applicant Michael Hebb is requesting a special exception from the city to allow a restaurant at 30 Pinckney St. with 198 square feet of inside patron space without providing two required off-street parking spaces. The Board of Zoning Appeals will consider the request Sept. 6.

On the go

Food Lion supermarket has added five stores in South Carolina to its growing list of locations that offer its “To Go” order online and pickup grocery service.

New locations include stores at Richland Avenue West in Aiken, S.C. Highway 81 North in Anderson, U.S. Highway 321 in Gaston, U.S. Highway 701 North in Loris and Jefferson Davis Highway in Warrenville. The grocer also offers the service at 55 other locations across the Palmetto State.

In the Charleston area, the service is offered at five of Food Lion’s 19 supermarkets. They include locations at Ashley Crossing in West Ashley, College Park Road in Ladson, Maybank Highway on Johns Island, North Street in Summerville and St. James Avenue in Goose Creek.

The service is free on the first pickup and delivery for an order of $35 or more. A pickup fee of $1.99 is charged on subsequent purchases over $35 and $3.99 for orders under $35.

A delivery fee of $3.99 is charged on orders over $35 and higher for orders less than that but at least $10. A delivery service fee of 5 percent of the order also is assessed, and it could be higher during peak times.

Changing hours

Ruke’s roadside fruit and vegetable stand in Mount Pleasant will change its days of operation after Labor Day.

The produce vendor at 378 Mathis Ferry Road will be open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday from Sept. 8 until Dec. 31.

The roadside stand near Holy Trinity AME Church was previously open the same hours Monday through Saturday during the summer season.

Now open

Beach Cowboy Fitness is now open at 1200 Queensborough Blvd. in the Publix-anchored Queensborough Shopping Center in Mount Pleasant.

It offers home-school physical education classes and inclusive and adaptive fitness programs for special needs students.

It’s open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and 9-11 a.m. Saturday as well as other times by appointment.

It’s the end of an era for roller skaters. Music in Motion Family Fun Center roller rink in Summerville shut its doors for good Sunday night. A rink employee confirmed Monday that the skating facility has permanently closed.

Last Thursday, at the rink’s final adult night, skaters zipped along, displaying skills that spanned from spinning and dancing on wheels backwards to apprehensive first-timers feeling it out. A disco ball spun along with the tunes that weren’t necessarily child-appropriate.

As word spread the rink would close permanently, skaters unabashedly filmed one another to document their joy and camaraderie as they zoomed around in circles grooving to the beat.

The closing of Music in Motion is a major cultural loss for the area, many say, especially since the only other rinks in the area, Hot Wheels Skate Center and Stardust Skate Center, closed in 2014.

Summerville native Demont Teneil said he has skated at Music in Motion for 14 years. For him, roller skating is therapy to help navigate career and relationships changes.

“I needed something that no one could take from me — and it was skating,” Teneil said. “It’s been my outlet. I just kept going and just kept trying new tricks and it rolled me out of depression.”

Teneil said he heard from his fellow skaters that Music in Motion, which opened in 2001, would not be a roller rink much longer.

“I’m sad that it’s been sold but it will definitely still always be a part of me, because I’ve learned so many of my tricks at the skating rink,” Teneil said. He plans to start traveling to Savannah, Ga., and Columbia to rink skate, and will hit the outdoor skate areas, such The Bridge Spot off of Poinsett Street in downtown Charleston.

The dynamic of teaching and learning is a big part of the roller skating experience at Music in Motion, others said.

“Everybody’s really nice and supportive,” said Nick Velez, who’s been skating regularly at Music in Motion since February. He has roller skated for about 16 years and used to be an instructor in Southern California before he moved to Goose Creek.

“Everybody’s really cool and down to help out,” he said. “If you’re struggling, don’t fear. They’ll help you up. If you have any questions, if you want to learn something, they’re more than happy to show you how to do it. If you’re trying to pop off and be yourself, they’re all about it.”

Shmeika Hall from Goose Creek said she worked at Music in Motion for almost a year before she left her position as a rink floor guard last June.

“Working here was important to me because I was able to teach people how to skate,” she said. “I was able to interact and make skating friends. When I first started skating here, maybe five years ago, it was a very small crowd of adults, but over time it has grown. [The rink] was like a safe place for adults to come and have fun, and I don’t know how we’re going to do that now.”

A few months ago, Auburn Fiore, who lives in Knightsville, visited Music in Motion for the first time in 10 years. As a child, she said she visited frequently.

“When I came here for adult skate night, I realized how joyous and amazing the community is here,” Fiore said. “While we’re here, we’re all one big community that loves to come together, dance and have a great time. I’m definitely scared of losing a place for us all to gather and bond over roller skating.”

Roller skating is just as much about congregating as a group as it is the privilege to have a space to skate, she said. Outdoor roller skating isn’t an ideal option for beginner skaters, she added, because of uneven concrete, blistering heat and rules that prohibit skating at sports courts around the area.

“It’s definitely devastating,” Fiore said. “Now all the people that have bonded over this super-interesting talent and hobby, there’s nowhere for us to congregate.”

While the future of roller skating in the area is unclear, one option exists for women skaters: Lowcountry Highrollers Derby, a local women’s roller derby team. It’s offering a meet-and-greet Thursday.

Highrollers president Traci Doutaz of Ladson remembers going to Music in Motion often between 2015 and 2017 after Hot Wheels Skate Center closed.

“For beginners, it’s super important to have a roller rink to learn not only because the floor is amazing, but [it] also has skates to borrow,” she said. “Roller skating is not the easiest hobby to just pick up and not having a local roller rink and its community just takes that option away for a lot of people.”

Doutaz joined Highrollers in 2010, and she said it was popular up until about 2015 when the group lost its bouting venue at The Citadel. Then Covid-19 hit and roller skating blew up, Doutaz said, so there was renewed interest in Highrollers. After more than a year of searching, North Charleston Coliseum offered the group a space to practice and hold bouts currently. The closest roller derby club for men is in Columbia, she said.

Doutaz has been roller skating for almost 30 years. She worked her first job as a carhop on skates at a Sonic in Kentucky.

“Emotionally it’s my escape,” she said. “It’s how I deal with things. It’s my happy place. I’m more comfortable with wheels on my feet than anything else.”

The Highrollers group offers a haven for women skaters who need to be shown the ropes.

“We will teach you everything: how to skate and how to fall,” Doutaz said. “You can show up even if you have never put skates on before.”

Lowcountry Highrollers Derby is hosting a meet-and-greet 6-9 p.m. Aug. 25 at Rusty Bull in North Charleston.

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Ryan Brantley is the epitome of a hard worker. He spends five days a week as an X-ray and lithotripsy technologist for urologists who work out of a local surgery center, Roper St. Francis Hospital and East Cooper Medical Center.

He then heads home to work on not one but three side hustles.

The 43-year-old single father started his first side hustle in 2013, conducting cardio classes at Bold Fitness and Pivotal Fitness in Summerville, where he lives, as an offshoot of his participation in group exercise classes.

In 2017, he started his second side job, running an aerial photography business, High Points Aerial Solutions.

Then, in 2020, he established High Points Kayaking as COVID-19 ramped up and people began looking for more outdoor activities.

“I do these side hustles to help pay the bills and build the businesses,” Brantley said. “I work about two hours a day on all three side hustles combined as well as put in 40 hours as an X-ray technologist.”

Brantley adds about $1,175 a month to his budget, slightly less than the $1,492 average extra monthly income generated by men working side jobs, according to a recent study by Bankrate, a New York-based financial services company.

He is among the 31 percent of adults in 2022 with an extra dose of entrepreneurial spirit, creating small companies or working side jobs.

Juggling jobs, expenses

Surprisingly, the number is fewer than in 2018 and 2019, when 37 percent and 38 percent of adults did side hustles, respectively. Bankrate attributed the recent downtrend in part to surging energy costs.

Ride-sharing and food delivery services, for instance, are being slammed by high gasoline prices, said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst for Bankrate.

“I have to wonder if this is part of the decline in side hustles. It may just not be worth it with the national average for gas around $5 a gallon,” he said earlier this month.

Another possible reason for the dip is the strong job market. South Carolina’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined to 3.2 percent in June from May’s estimate of 3.3 percent, according to a report released July 22 by the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.

“Right now, we are looking at one of the lowest unemployment rates in half a century, and I think that is another possible explanation as to why fewer people may be taking side gigs, because their primary job may be more secure and more lucrative than at other times,” Rossman said.

“With the possible recession on the horizon, though, and really only one way for the job market to go from here, which is down, we have to wonder if side hustles may rebound in popularity in the months and years to come,” he added.

However it plays out, the number of side hustlers is well above the 2017 level, when only 19 percent of U.S. workers juggled multiple jobs.

And more today are using the extra money to pay for essentials, not discretionary spending.

Bankrate’s recent survey of 1,000 respondents found that 41 percent of U.S. adults with a side job this year need the income to pay for everyday living expenses, 10 percent more than in 2019.

Two years ago, 24 percent put money earned from side work towards savings, and 36 percent used the money on luxuries, such as travel and entertainment. The latest study found just 17 percent are socking the extra income away, while 26 percent are spending it on discretionary items.

“Those who are doing side hustles are more than likely to be doing this for necessary reasons,” Rossman said. “Many people who are side hustling are using this just to get by.”

Again, Rossman pointed to inflation, which has surged. Rising gas, food and rent prices catapulted U.S. inflation to a new four-decade peak in June. Consumer prices soared 9.1 percent compared with a year earlier, the government said.

That was the most significant 12-month increase since 1981 and up from an 8.6 percent jump in May. On a monthly basis, prices rose 1.3 percent from May to June, another substantial increase after prices had jumped 1 percent from April to May.

Rossman said about 37 percent of side hustlers are spending more time on their side gigs, mainly because of the rising cost of living.

Peter Ludovicy, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker who moved from Connecticut to Ladson, is one of the 21 percent of baby boomers earning an average of $500 a month on a side job and among the 40 percent who need the money for living expenses.

The 66-year-old said he quickly grew bored of retirement and began mowing lawns to earn extra pocket money. Then, with costs rising, he took a job with a rental car agency at Charleston International Airport for discretionary purchases.

“I took the job to keep me busy, and we kept the money separate from what we used to pay the bills,” Ludovicy said. “Now, with prices for everything going up, the money I earn from my side hustles actually goes to pay bills.”

Doing the hustle

A side hustle is different from a part-time job in that the worker calls the shots to determine how much to work and earn.

“I actually think that the more lucrative side hustle is something you can do from home, if possible, whether that is something over the internet or some sort of home-based craft business,” Rossman of Bankrate said.

Morgan High is an artist. The 23-year-old recently graduated from cosmetology school and is waiting to take her state board exams and get a full-time job.

To get by, she sells her paintings for $50 to $500 depending on the size and intricacy of the work, on websites like Facebook and Instagram and does commission work to make extra money to pay expenses such as car insurance and phone bills.

According to Bankrate, she joins 34 percent of Gen Z’ers, 18 to 25-year-olds, who earn an average of $200 a month from side hustles and the 32 percent who use the money to pay bills.

While Gen Zers work hard, according to survey responses, young millennials aged 26 to 33 are the busiest when it comes to side hustles. The survey showed that 43 percent have a side job, the highest percentage of all age groups. The median income is $400 per month.

Megan Llewellyn, a 30-year-old 2021 College of Charleston graduate, is part of the group with entrepreneurial spirit and a need for extra income to get by.

Llewellyn is working an internship for a modest salary at a public relations firms and waiting for a full-time position at a higher pay rate to open up.

The money she clears at her part-time day job is barely enough to pay her phone bill and put gas in her car. She is turning to side hustling to supplement her income. She has waited tables, worked as a barista, and is currently looking at online tutoring.

“I like that because it is a 24-hour tutoring center. I can choose when I work depending on my availability and how much money I need to make,” Llewellyn said.

LADSON, S.C. (WCIV) — Officials with Trident Medical Center are officially breaking ground on a new, standalone behavioral hospital!

It will be the first the first freestanding behavioral hospital to open in the Lowcountry in over 30 years.

The nearly 58,790-square-foot facility in Ladson will include a single-story hospital and interior courtyard with space for recreation and therapy. The facility will have “state of the art” inpatient and outpatient services for Lowcountry residents.

The main difference this building will provide in comparison to general hospital care is more of a focus and extended resources for geriatric and adolescent care. The behavioral hospital will continue adult care as well.

The medical director for behavioral health at Trident, Jeffrey Culver, says he starts every day in the emergency room.

Currently, there are only 250 beds for mental health patients in the Lowcountry, and without a dedicated space for them — in most cases — a lot of them must go to the emergency room.

But with the construction of this new facility, Culver hopes it will help provide a safe space for real change and will get more people the help they need.

“I fully expect when this facility opens, that the dialogue both locally and nationally will continue to help chip away at that stigma. I think we're still a long way from where we need to be, where we can talk about mental health and mental illness the same way we talk about things like heart disease and cancer, but we're getting there. And I think being able to open up a brand-new facility and have people see that what we're doing is part of medicine,” Culver said.

ABC News 4's Sean Mahoney spoke with longtime mental health advocate Kelly Troyer, who works with the National Alliance of Mental Illness - Greater Charleston area.

She says the Lowcountry has come a long way in providing mental health services, but that there is still more work to be done and she hopes this will help kickstart that change.

Troyer also says the need for mental health services has drastically increased over the course of the pandemic.

The City of Charleston reported a 78.1 percent increase in the number of suicides from 2020 to 2021.

Troyer also has a personal connection to mental illness, as her son, Alex, was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age. She says finding resources in the Lowcountry was nearly impossible in the beginning, as she had to go out of state for care.

However, she says the construction of this new facility is a step in the right direction.

“As far as access to service, no, there's not enough in our state, especially in the rural areas. Then also, even here in the Lowcountry, we have great resources and we have people. But look at the Latino community and the African-American community, there's more [of a ] stigma around mental health conditions, so they don't reach out as much to the access that's here,” Troyer said. “So this groundbreaking of this hospital is very good news for us in our community. And we want to celebrate that.”

The hospital is expected to start out with 60 inpatient beds with the ability to expand and also will provide outpatient resources.

Construction started on the $30.4 million facility started in December, but officials with Trident waited until Thursday to hold the ceremony because of the weather.

Work is expected to wrap up in spring of 2023.

The groundbreaking ceremony and celebration is taking place at 11 a.m., at the construction site, which is about two miles from Trident Medical Center and right off highway 17 in Ladson, at 3445 Ingleside Boulevard.

LADSON, S.C. (WCBD)- Over 100 people are going through the process to become 911 telecommunicators in Charleston County after a month-long hiring event took place because of a staffing shortage.

“We’ve had a lot of questions from the 911 floor about how open interviews have been going so I’m excited to get these numbers to them as well. Hopefully we can keep all these people and have them be able to fill staff on the floor and help our community and staff as well,” said Kaitlin Jordan, the Public Education Specialist at the Charleston County Consolidated 911 Call Center.

The 47 vacancies in the center that have contributed to short staffing are still open because none of the new hires have completed training, but that will change in the next couple months.

One of the new hires is Jess Gongaware, who is new to Charleston.

“It’s more about the passion and the purpose for me working in support of our first responders on the road and being able to help serve and give back to our community,” said Gongaware.

Once applicants like Gongaware receive their offers they undergo training to learn about geography and CPR certification.

Despite new employees still being in the pipeline, Jordan is optimistic that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

“We definitely have enough people and enough applicants to fill those positions. We just have to get them into the training class,” said Jordan. “We’re moving through the application process way faster than we normally are which is great because we had groups of people coming in to do multiple things at once.”

Charleston County saw a total of 142 applications received last month which is over a 260% increase from last year. 105 of those applications are moving along.

A calling to help law enforcement, emergency medical works and firefighters is what compelled Gongaware to apply.

“Training can be a lot. It’s overwhelming at first. I’m not from here either so as far as geography goes it’s been a little bit tough. I’m excited to be here and happy to see where it goes from here,” said Gongaware.

Telecommunicator Qualifications and Job Details

No prior experience needed. High school diploma or equivalent required.

Training occurs within the department. The training program was recently re-accredited by Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. (APCO)

Open 8 hour shifts: 5:45am – 2:00pm, 1:45pm – 10:00pm and 9:45pm – 6:00am

Shifts for new employees are issued based on staffing needs.

Applications are still open and you can visit WorkFor911.com to apply.