Market Common businesses prepare for grand opening

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This week, the Market Common will open its doors for the first time.

But there are still a lot of details to be taken care of before the grand opening.

The new shopping and residential district is located on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, just off Farrow Parkway between Highway 17 Business and Bypass.

In a few days, the walkways and streets around Market Common are expected to be crowded with the general public. But on the last weekend before the grand opening, final details were being taken care of to get ready for the crowds.

One restaurant in the district was open for business Saturday to do run-throughs with actual customers.

Market Common might not officially be open yet, but restaurants like Gordon Biersch are buzzing with customers during soft opens. Other businesses in Market Common are working on trying to put some of those final touches on their businesses.

Michael Schuster is the general manager at Gordon Biersch.

"What we're doing here today is a big practice session,” Schuster said. “It's sort of our way of introducing the brand of Gordon Biersch here to South Carolina. We've been running various training exercises, classes during the day and then real mock services."

Just across the street from the restaurant, the Tommy Bahama and Ann Taylor stores employees’ are hanging and folding clothes.

Samantha Dozier is the general manager at the new Ann Taylor location.

"We're very busy,” Dozier said. “We got a whole team coming from across our entire district to help out with the opening. Lots of the girls that will be working here.”

She said she expects her store is in a prime location for booming business.

"I think it's beautiful. I'm originally from the Charlotte area and I think it's better than anything we even have in Charlotte,” Dozier said.

“It's absolutely amazing,” Schuster said. “I think the mixed use development they have here at the Market Common is going to be amazingly successful."