For years the running joke about Myrtle Beach was that a week-long stay ran out of new dinner options by Wednesday. The summer 2026 openings suggest that line no longer holds, and the reason is worth paying attention to if you live here. The new places are not all chasing tourists. Some of the biggest ones are, sure. But tucked between the 40,000 and 50,000 square foot entertainment complexes are neighborhood coffee shops, a kosher counter on Kings Highway, and a family brewery in Carolina Forest that only makes sense if the person walking in already lives ten minutes away.
That is the shift. Myrtle Beach is finally being built out for the people who stay after Labor Day.
Broadway At The Beach Got A Distillery
The most talked-about opening of the spring landed on Celebrity Circle. Ole Smoky Distillery and Yee-Haw Brewing Co. opened at Broadway at the Beach in May 2026 at 1214 Celebrity Circle, a 40,000-square-foot space that functions simultaneously as a working distillery, a craft brewery, a full-service restaurant, a live music venue, and a gathering place built around one of the largest screens in the Myrtle Beach area.
Both brands come from Tennessee. Ole Smoky was founded in Gatlinburg in 2010 as the first federally licensed distillery in East Tennessee and is recognized as the leading producer of premium moonshine in the United States and the most visited distillery in the world. Yee-Haw Brewing Co. is based out of a historic railroad depot in Johnson City and has locations in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Nashville, Knoxville, and Greenville, SC.
If you have lived here a while, the useful comparison is what it replaced in the Broadway mix. This is not a themed bar with a small kitchen bolted on. It is a beer garden with live music and enough square footage that showing up on a Friday without a plan works.
The Old JCPenney Is Now A Restaurant
A few miles up Kings Highway, the mall project everyone was skeptical about actually opened. Guy Fieri's Downtown Flavortown opened June 10, 2026 inside Myrtle Beach Mall at 10177 N. Kings Highway. Developed in partnership with FACE Amusement Group, the same company behind the flagship Downtown Flavortown in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the Myrtle Beach location takes what was a former anchor retail space and converts it into a 50,000-square-foot dining and entertainment operation unlike anything currently on the Grand Strand.
The scale is the point. Seating for 400 in the restaurant, over 100 arcade games, duckpin bowling, a Freaky Tiki bar, private party rooms, and more than 60 televisions spread across the space. Duckpin is the detail worth flagging. It is smaller pins, a palm-sized ball, no shoe rental drama, and it plays well with kids who cannot handle a ten-pound ball.
For residents, the read on Myrtle Beach Mall changes with this. A property that had been drifting toward retail vacancy is now a rainy-Saturday destination.
Carolina Forest Finally Got Its Brewery
The opening most likely to change a local routine is the smallest headline. South Coast Beer Project opened June 1 at 5020 Carolina Forest Blvd., bringing a new brewery, restaurant, and gathering space to Carolina Forest with house-brewed beer, food, outdoor seating, and a laid-back neighborhood feel.
The design cues tell you who it is for. South Coast Beer Project is going big at 10,000 square feet of brewery with full-service dining, 400-plus seats, an outdoor lawn for live music, and a playground for kids. A playground inside a brewery footprint is not a decision made for weekend visitors. It is a decision made for the parents who live off Carolina Forest Boulevard and want somewhere close enough to walk out of if the six-year-old melts down.
Downtown's Quieter Reinvention
Broadway and the mall grabbed the headlines. The more interesting story is happening on 9th Avenue North. A wave of new eateries has opened throughout the downtown district, especially along historic 9th Avenue North, where local entrepreneurs are reshaping the heart of Myrtle Beach with community-focused hospitality and inventive dining concepts.
Two names to keep on your list:
- Winna's Kitchen on 9th Avenue North. A welcoming neighborhood feel paired with thoughtfully prepared dishes that make guests feel like regulars from the first visit.
- Boteco VIP, also downtown. A Brazilian restaurant in downtown Myrtle Beach that shares the flavors and joy of Brazil through its dishes and lively atmosphere.
Further up Kings Highway, a gap in the local dining scene finally got filled. Pita Bar Kosher is now open at the corner of 31st Avenue and Kings Highway, a notable addition for visitors observing kosher dietary practices, a food category the Strand has historically underserved.
And out at the Grande Dunes end of things, the waterway finally has a real dining anchor. Perched along the Intracoastal Waterway near the Grande Dunes Marina, 357 Raw Coastal Bar comes from the team behind Crave Italian Oven & Bar and Sol y Luna Latin Cantina, with a menu of raw seafood, oysters, ceviche, tuna poke, gourmet burgers, and small plates in an open-air setting built for sunset.
One New Thing At Family Kingdom
If you have kids or grandkids who have been asking, this is the summer to go back. Family Kingdom Amusement Park is bringing its biggest addition to the park since the iconic Swamp Fox coaster opened in 1966, an RMC Raptor model coaster set to open for the 2026 season, standing 100 feet tall, 28 feet taller than the Swamp Fox, and reaching speeds of up to 50 mph.
The Swamp Fox has been the answer to "what's the big coaster" for six decades. This is the first time in a very long time that answer has changed.
The Summer Calendar Worth Blocking
The events side of the summer is dense enough that a few are worth putting on the fridge now:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| June 27 | Youth Baseball Nationals begin | Grand Park at The Market Common |
| June 28 | Caribbean Festival / Summer Jerk Fest | Chapin Park |
| Aug 1–2 | Craftsmen's Summer Classic | Myrtle Beach Convention Center |
| Aug 29–Sept 4 | Myrtle Beach World Amateur | Grand Strand courses |
A few notes on why these matter more than the tourist-facing calendars suggest.
The Youth Baseball Nationals bring some of the nation's top travel baseball teams to Myrtle Beach for a full week of competitive play, featuring 9U through 15U teams from across the country with pool play, elimination rounds, all-star games, and championship matchups at the fields at Grand Park. If you live near The Market Common, expect the traffic pattern that comes with a week of out-of-town families rotating through the fields.
The Myrtle Beach Caribbean Festival, also known as Summer Jerk Fest, takes over Chapin Park on June 28 with island cuisine including Jamaican jerk chicken and oxtail, live reggae music, arts and crafts vendors, family-friendly activities, and a car and bike show. A single-day festival with real food is a good excuse to skip cooking that Sunday.
The Play Golf Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship, running August 29 through September 4, brings thousands of golfers from around the world to the Grand Strand for one of the largest amateur golf tournaments on the planet. If you live near a course in the rotation, plan tee times early and grocery trips even earlier.
Pelicans games are worth a mention on their own. A $20 million renovation is underway at Pelicans Ballpark, bringing enhanced seating, upgraded suites, field improvements, and expanded meeting spaces, scheduled for completion in spring 2026. Same team, better seats, same twelve-dollar parking situation.
What This Adds Up To
Read the openings together and a pattern shows up. The tourist-facing places are getting bigger. Downtown Flavortown at 50,000 square feet. Ole Smoky at 40,000. That is what a destination market looks like when the operators believe the visitor base can support it.
The local-facing places are getting more specific. A brewery in Carolina Forest built around a playground. A kosher counter on Kings Highway. A Brazilian spot on 9th Avenue North. Those are not tourist plays. Those are bets that there are enough year-round residents in a specific neighborhood to keep a single concept full on a Tuesday night.
Both stories are running at the same time, and that is the part of Myrtle Beach worth knowing right now. The city is being built out at two scales at once, and if you already live here, the smaller scale is the one that will change your week.
If you have friends or family thinking about a move down and asking what daily life actually looks like now, we would love to help them see the version of Myrtle Beach that does not show up in a vacation guide. Let's connect at Robin Shomaker and we will walk you through the neighborhoods, the new spots, and the quieter corners that make this a good place to stay.
