After our first visit to the Holiday Market at Common Market on this trip, and being incredible impressed with a bakery vendor's Bavarian cream paczkis, Lee Ann and I decided we needed to make a short pilgrimage to Surfside Beach to check out the home store of Benjamin's Bakery and Cafe, if nothing else, get more paczkis.
Little did I know that in the next couple days before heading south to Surfside Beach, Lee Ann was hunting around to see what other kinds of shops that community might have that she could shop to fill out her Christmas list.
Three days later, on Dec. 14, we found Benjamin's Bakery, where we bought some more paczkis (including a couple with a raspberry jelly filling) and Lee Ann sampled its coffee. As we left, she informed me we were going to check out a novelty consignment and gift shop, Design on a Dime, that she'd read about in her online research. It had almost all homemade crafts, and one of the people on Lee Ann's list said she wanted only something was homemade. The store was just off U.S. 17, the thoroughfare we took to reach the bakery, and fortunately for us, it was north of the bakery, so it was on the way back to our resort.
As we neared Design on a Dime, it was impossible to notice a neighboring shop, Grete's Candy House, whose exterior was decked out as a fantasyland candy shop, replete with candy-cane framed doors (see photo leading off the post).
Since we passed the candy store first, we decided to check it out first. And it's at Gretel's that I'll start this post about the trifecta shops. To view the full collection of images from these shops, follow the link to the Surfside Beach folder at my site at SmugMug.com in this sentence.
GRETEL'S CANDY HOUSE
The candy store certainly was all about candy -- along most of a long wall to the left as you walked in, there were familiar candy and candy bar brands you've all heard off. But most of the remaining space were populated by small kiosks with novelty candy or self-serve batch candies.
On one kiosk, I found a KitKat display featuring a flavor I'd never seen before -- Key Lime Pie (see photo at right). On another, I found the two "pickle" flavor options shown below -- a pickle gummy and pickle-flavored cotton candy. (Can these really qualify as candies? I'll never know!)
Above and below: Displays of the batch-purchase candies.
Above and next two below: Gretel's also sold slothing and other "fun" related merchandise, with a heavy emphasis on tie-dye paraphernalia.
DESIGN ON A DIME
Design on a Dime consignment and craft gift shop was literally a short two doors down from Gretel's, so we were in the store in no time after leaving Gretel's.
The attendant there assured us that almost everything in the store was handmade and pointed to the area where the exceptions were displayed. I don't think captions are necessary for the photos in this section; just peruse as if you were in the shop ... and enjoy.
BENJAMIN'S BAKERY AND CAFE
We approached the bakery from the backside, we learned after parking in a nearby lot adjoining a non-bakery building adorned with an artist's mural. We soon saw that the bakery building was across a small nearby alley. We saw a Benjamin's delivery truck there, and then deduced that what we were looking at was the bakery's backside (see first photo below).
So we walked around to the opposite side, where we saw the entrance door and, attached to a window, a menu for customers to peruse if they so desired before entering. I think we did give that menu a quick look/see before entering.
It was a bit confusing to ascertain which side of the bakery was the "front" when we arrived. Above is what we first saw when we arrived, and we initially thought it was the front. But it turned out to be the rear. Below is a copy of the bakery and care's menu attached to a window near the access door in the front.
If you don't see the menu on the outside window before entering, not to worry. The bakery and cafe's vast menu is on display on a grander scale inside (above). Nearby is a refrigerator containing some baked goods (below).
The bakery and cafe interior includes a station (above) to select fresh bean coffee to purchase, a seating area to enjoy coffee and baked goods on the spot (below) and a rack holding fresh-baked goods (second below).
Above: You can find this mural outside and around the corner from the bakery.
Next: Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach
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