Inlet Square mall makes good on return policy

MURRELLS INLET -- The south end's new movie theater, bowling alley and game center are on track to debut in May at Inlet Square, and the mall's only food tenant is expected to open late this month as the once-struggling shopping center aims to re-energize.

Work on Frank Theatre and the adjacent Revolutions family entertainment center has started near Books-A-Million, where crews will build the 11-screen theater with stadium seating and a 23,593-square-foot bowling alley and game complex. The entertainment center, operated by Frank Theatres, will have 16 Brunswick lanes, arcade games and kids' rides.

The theater is a key component in the potential rebirth of the mall, which emerged from bankruptcy with new owners a year ago. They finished a renovation in the summer and are working to fill empty store spaces.

The mall's first food tenant in months, Chef Smitty's - which serves seafood, burgers and sandwiches and also operates at Coastal Grand Mall - is expected to bring life to the empty food court when it opens Chef Smitty's South in late December. Chef Smitty's Bistro, a sit-down restaurant with more upscale food and cocktails, will open at the mall in March.

"There's a lot of residents just waiting for this mall to happen," said Eric Smith, who owns Chef Smitty's with his son Gregg. "People have to go in there and get it started. So I figured I'd go in there and get it started."

Chef Smitty's South plans to open in the former Chick-fil-A space in the mall's empty food court, part of which has been consumed by the emerging entertainment complex.

Several seasonal and permanent stores have moved into the mall recently, including 20 Below clothing and accessories, Toy R Us Express, SoRea Designs jewelry, Ice Cream Truck and Myrtle Beach Golf Shop. Another store - Scrapbook Paper Garden, which has all things needed for scrapbooking - plans to open in January, mall General Manager Suzanne Oden said.

Some of the stores opened with a month-to-month lease, a way to let them try out the mall and sign on permanently if business meets expectations, Oden said.

"We are really making progress," she said.

Some shoppers and businesses said the theater and new food offerings should help jumpstart a revival for the mall - though it will have to work past the image it developed in the rough years.

"They've got a master challenge," said Sarah Beck of Surfside Beach, who was walking at the mall with her husband, Alan, last week. "We would be very happy to see the mall come to life again."

Myrtle Beach Golf Shop, which opened a 6,000-square-foot store across from Stein Mart on Thursday, wanted to "get in on the front end" of what store partner Chuck Hutchinson expects will be an increase in business once the theater opens.

The challenge will be persuading residents to give the mall another chance, he said. The mall went downhill after filing for bankruptcy, and the renovation stalled, leaving exposed ceilings, unfinished floors in spots and other signs of construction. Stores left and shoppers stopped coming to the handful of stores that remained.

The renovation, which added skylights, a new floor, outside signs and other features, was finished in August, and mall managers have since focused on filling the store spaces.

"You have to get past the reputation it had in the past," Hutchinson said.

The theater originally planned to open in early 2011, but that debut was pushed to May when Frank Theatres expanded the project by adding the bowling alley and game center, Oden said.

Mall officials say it will be worth the wait, adding an entertainment outlet not only for the mall but for the south end.

The closest theater for south end movie-goers is at The Market Common in Myrtle Beach.

"It is much needed," Oden said. "The south strand is in dire need."

Frank Theatres, which operates 27 theaters in the Carolinas and five other states, is in an expansion mode, with the Inlet Square theater, one of about nine new theaters in the works, according to the company's website. The chain is familiar with the area, with theaters in Conway and Shallotte, N.C.

Officials with the chain - which has headquarters in Jupiter, Fla., and Atlantic City, N.J. - could not be reached for comment.

The Inlet Square mall theater will have leather rocker seats and all-digital sound, with the entertainment complex boasting a Starlight Cafe serving beer and wine.

Store workers and the mall's manager say the theater is the key to luring more people - especially families - and getting the mall going again.

"Definitely it is going to kick start it," said Steven Schwartz, a worker in Books-A-Million.

Murrells Inlet resident Steve Welch, who was checking out the "Coming Soon" list of theater features posted on the temporary construction wall last week, is ready for the theater and the bowling alley.

Welch, like other mall walkers and shoppers, also wants food options added.

"I hope more businesses will come," he said.

Smith, aka Chef Smitty, anticipates the mall, which he says caters to locals, will be a major player again by summer or fall.

"Once this mall gets up, gets some national stores in there, this will be a nice, vibrant, community mall," he said. "Really, it's going to be a good place to be once it happens."

Residents such as the Becks of Surfside Beach are rooting for a mall where they shopped, walked and congregated regularly, then watched it spiral down. "We hope the mall makes it," Alan Beck said.

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Murrells Inlet shelter clinic cuts costs for vet care

MURRELLS INLET -- Following a trail of blue, orange and white balloons tied to trees on a dirt road in Murrells Inlet, dozens of people came to Coastal Animal Rescue on Thursday to celebrate the opening of its veterinary clinic.

They said the clinic, which opened Sept. 27, is something for both the community and the organization to celebrate.

"There were rumors in the spring about a clinic and then in September it opened," said volunteer Karen Nierengarten. "Today, there is just so much excitement."

The shelter at Coastal Animal Rescue in Murrells Inlet has about 450 cats in a no-cage 2,000 square-foot building awaiting adoption for a fee of $75. Funds from their new Coastal Animal Rescue Veterinary Clinic will help support the shelter. The clinic celebrated the opening of its new, affordable clinic in Murrells Inlet Thursday. They claim to be the only no-cage, no-kill, 100 % volunteer cat and dog sanctuary in South Carolina. Since its founding 5 years ago, say they have saved over 1,000 cats and 50 dogs. Photo by Steve Jessmore sjessmore@thesunnews.com

Nierengarten said the clinic came about because there was an "overwhelming need to make [veterinary care] affordable for people."

The organization's goals include finding homes for rescued cats and dogs, preventing pet overpopulation and educating people about responsible pet ownership.

The clinic offers low-cost animal care, with basic exams starting at $32 and neutering or spaying costing $115 at the most.

Nierengarten said the organization tries to teach people how to care for their animals, but "when you make it affordable, people are more likely to actually do it."

But the clinic doesn't just benefit the community.

It promotes Coastal Animal Rescue's mission, draws people to its off-the-beaten-track location and helps the rescue stay solvent.

Shelter director Sue Wurm said before the clinic opened, sick animals had to be taken to nearby veterinarians, and rarely at discounted prices.

"Now we just take it to Dr. Mok and it's done," she said. "It's wonderful."

Meisen Mok is the clinic veterinarian and the rescue's first paid employee. He moved from Loveland, Colo., to work at the clinic.

Mok walked around Thursday's lunchtime event with a name-tag that simply said "Doc," answering questions and talking to people about their pets.

He said he is glad to work where the focus is on animals rather than profits.

"Veterinaries can be very profit-based," he said, "but pet care is generally based on disposable income."

Mok said he has seen a general national trend of animal care costs increasing, and "there's just so much that people can afford."

And when people don't feel like they can afford a shot or a check-up for their pet "they're probably going to drop that level of care," especially in this economy, he said.

Mok was laid off from his previous job at a clinic in Colorado because of the recession.

But in the around six weeks the vet clinic has been open, he said, it has been "very, very busy."

Two other employees have been hired for the clinic since Mok arrived.

"It seems like it just sort of took off," he said.

That's good news for the organization, Nierengarten said.

Animal welfare programs for the Murrells Inlet organization are funded through private donations and, while Nierengarten said the public provides "great support," at fundraisers, "we never have enough money."

But now "any profit we make [at the clinic] after the salaries and benefits can go back to the care of the animals" in the rescue, she said.

Showing a profit would provide a much-needed cushion for the organization in case donations drop off.

Just this past week, another area animal shelter, the Grand Strand Humane Society in Myrtle Beach, had to implement an animal drop-off fee and ask the city for its quarterly funding check to keep the shelter going.

The new clinic is "win-win" Mok said.

"It gives the public another option and is great for the shelter," he said.

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Free of charge filed in Murrells Inlet fatal shooting

No charges will be filed against a 76 year old Murrells Inlet man who killed his son-in-law week last in a quiet golf community.

Police, said Monday that Sean Johnson, 48 years old, arrived at the House of his mother on Court Winged Foot Indigo Creek Golf Club community about 3 p.m. Thursday.

Johnson soon pulled a gun on 72-year-old mother and that the woman is fled to the bathroom, father-in-law of Johnson grabbed a gun to protect himself and his wife, Sergeant Robert Kegler Horry County Police said.

Johnson later weapons punched his father-in-law, who fatally wounded, said Kegler.

When officers arrived, the father-in-law was in the driveway and officers, said "" I got the faire.Il crazy ".".

Horry County records indicate the House, located approximately 75 metres from the 16th green of the golf course, are owned by Eric and Pat Trenck.

Kegler said investigators spoke with attorneys with the fifteenth judicial circuit and ruled the filming of a justifiable homicide.

Horry County Coroner Robert Edge said Monday that there is no sign of a "physical confrontation" on the body of the victim during an autopsy, last week.

Said edge Toxicology screen has been made, but the results should not for about six weeks.

After the shooting, officials confirmed the same man who held members of the Sheriff of Georgetown County at Bay for nine hours in August after that his girlfriend Johnson reported a handgun in him.

Girlfriend of Johnson and the Trencks refused to comment on Monday.

Police said that Thursday, Johnson struck at the door when he arrived at the House of his mother, but without being prompted.

He was "very agitated" to his mother, call 911 incident of domestic violence in August, according to a report of an incident.

Police threatened to kill his mother, his father-in-law and himself while in the House, said Johnson.

He started ransacking the House by launching documents and later sheared his glasses, break.

Mother Johnson locked herself in the bathroom and Johnson Hall started to knock on the door, according to the report.

The father-in-law grabbed a firearm in a table in the living room and then approached Johnson weapon behind his back.

He said police Johnson said "stay out of this or I will get you" everything by telling her mother "you ruined my life."

The father-in-law said agents that he fired his weapon to Johnson when Johnson was a weapon on him.

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Murrells Inlet shot man at home parent in the golf community

Horry County police investigate shooting Thursday found a man Murrells Inlet died in the House of his mother and his father-in-law Indigo Creek Golf Club community.

Horry County police was still fine incident Thursday, but he said that the shooting occurred around 3 p.m., generally calm community.

Horry County police sergeant Robert Kegler and others were onstage Thursday after a shooting in Indigo Murrells Inlet Creek.

Found dead was 48 years old Sean Johnson of Murrells Inlet, Horry County Coroner Robert Edge Jr. said.

Police said that he was shot in the upper part of his body, but would not say who said he trouver.Une autopsy should be done today, said the Edge.

Injuries that the victim was not auto-infligées .the Sergeant Robert Kegler of the County of Horry said police police department said police were looking not suspicious, but 10 p.m. Thursday, person did had been indicted in the shooting, according to Lt. Raul Denis.

Kegler told the police found a gun in the House, but he refused to say whether it is the weapon used in the shooting.

Police rushed to the community shortly after 3 p.m. and found Johnson in 1424 Winged Foot Cour.Comté of Horry records indicate home, located approximately 75 metres on the Indigo Creek Golf course-green, are owned by Eric and Pat Trenck.Un man who responded to a call to the House of Trenck late Thursday declined to comment, but do not self-identify itself.

Nearby Barbara Harrison stated that she lived next to Trencks who are retired, nearly 14 years.

She called the "most beautiful people".

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