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Far, far below all the tiers listed. I thought Omaha OKC Tulsa BR were going to be the highest tier you included. And Myrtle Beach isn't even remotely close to those even.
FYI, the poll specifies "Myrtle beach ranking on leisure offerings."
I was just there two weeks ago, and it felt like a small town to me... A small town that happens to have a beach.
That said, I went to Murrell's Inlet and was pleasantly surprised... Amazing local restaurants with fresh-caught seafood. Felt like a true, small coastal town without the tourist junk.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutiny77
FYI, the poll specifies "Myrtle beach ranking on leisure offerings."
Actually, the title of the thread is "How to rank Myrtle Beach? Does it function like a small, middle or large city?"
In which case, I would say Myrtle Beach functions as none of these. It is a large beach town.
Then under Poll Options it says "Myrtle beach ranking on leisure offerings"
Then the body of the OP only talks about Charleston, SC:
Quote:
Originally Posted by meep
Even though, Charleston is a metro of maybe barely 500k… but due to the nature of its tourism it may hit way higher on the scale. How would you tier it? I mean this in the realm of offerings like restaraunts, nightlife, entertainment
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
(See Poll)
So, truth be told, I do not understand what is being asked in this thread. If the OP meant Charleston SC, then that is a totally different story. I would say Charleston is definitely Tier 1 with OKC, Omaha, Tulsa, Baton Rouge.
When I consider major attractions, I think the following:
Museums (art, natural history, etc.) - It doesn't seem to attract that kind of person. Zoos - Nothing notable, though there is a small aquarium in the area. I'm sure there are "menagerie" type places. Major-league sports - Nope. Has a minor-league baseball team. Used to have an MLS team, but lost it in 2018. The big draw seems to be...golf?!? Amusement Parks - Okay, plenty of these Concert Venues - Good if you like country music, bad if you like anything else.
Overall the region specializes in hokey "family-friendly" tourist traps. Things like the Hollywood Wax Museum, Medieval Times, Children's Pirate Adventure, etc. It seems like not a good area to go if you're single/childless or looking for something remotely "cultured." I mean, I have two kids, and I wouldn't vacation there - my 12 year old daughter just wants to go to big cities with art museums.
I think living there and visiting there would provide two different experiences in terms of city tier. It is in Tier 3 in terms of living there because outside of tourist focused businesses it is pretty limited. It is a Tier 1 city in terms of leisure activities for a tourist. There are countless restaurants and entertainment options in Myrtle Beach that compare to larger cities like Atlanta and Miami.
I think living there and visiting there would provide two different experiences in terms of city tier. It is in Tier 3 in terms of living there because outside of tourist focused businesses it is pretty limited. It is a Tier 1 city in terms of leisure activities for a tourist. There are countless restaurants and entertainment options in Myrtle Beach that compare to larger cities like Atlanta and Miami.
My experience is Myrtle Beach is basically somewhere that lower-middle/working class white people think is a "nice" area to have an annual vacation, own a timeshare, or maybe retire. It's certainly not an upscale area though - you want to look at some of the Charleston suburbs or Hilton Head for that.
It's basically the southern version of the Jersey Shore, but with less money. Or somewhere like Fort Meyers in Florida.
Edit: The booming area of SC right now is up in the mountains - particularly around Greenville.
This is pretty spot-on.
The area has done a great job in creating itself as a golfing destination as well though. Catering to more high end travellers.
But this is on point. I grew up visiting Myrtle Beach once a year, travelling from East Tennessee. Folks in East Tennessee would travel to 3 "vacation" locations: Myrtle Beach, SC, Daytona Beach, FL and Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN.
Myrtle Beach has grown super fast in the past decade or two, and is changing quickly. But it still is a very focused vacation spot for the lower to middle class folks.
Yeah, I when I first visited Myrtle Beach in 2002, I was expecting a nicer version of Ocean City that was nearly as nice as Miami. Boy, I was disappointed; just more of the same with even worse food (though I did "discover" cheese fries after enjoying some as part of a promotion for a Minor League Baseball game), and although Broadway at the Beach was nice and one of the first lifestyle centers I've visited, it was no better than a typical lifestyle center. "Culture" means Ripley's Believe It Or Not or honky tonk-style music. My favorite restaurant on my visit was Fuddruckers. And even a theme park that was still open back then that I visited has long since closed. Considering that Charleston isn't too far away, you'd think they'd have a miniature version of it downtown with walkable shops, fine art galleries (not the "junk art" you see), but instead, we have a supersized South of the Border by the Beach. If you really want the beach experience, a quieter resort like Surfside Beach is better.
When I consider major attractions, I think the following:
Museums (art, natural history, etc.) - It doesn't seem to attract that kind of person. Zoos - Nothing notable, though there is a small aquarium in the area. I'm sure there are "menagerie" type places. Major-league sports - Nope. Has a minor-league baseball team. Used to have an MLS team, but lost it in 2018. The big draw seems to be...golf?!? Amusement Parks - Okay, plenty of these Concert Venues - Good if you like country music, bad if you like anything else.
Overall the region specializes in hokey "family-friendly" tourist traps. Things like the Hollywood Wax Museum, Medieval Times, Children's Pirate Adventure, etc. It seems like not a good area to go if you're single/childless or looking for something remotely "cultured." I mean, I have two kids, and I wouldn't vacation there - my 12 year old daughter just wants to go to big cities with art museums.
Wow, Myrtle Beach did briefly have an MLS team?!? I thought this small city would have nothing more than minor league baseball at most, but what do I know?
Myrtle always struck me as being a tourist beach town, a la Ocean City(MD), Destin(FL), Gulf Shores(AL), Virginia Beach(VA), etc. Maybe not quite as redneck-y like as say Daytona Beach(FL) or Panama City(the latter I once heard a relative of mine nickname that place 'redneck riviera'), though. I'm not sure if the Myrtle Beach-Conway area has constructed any venues/stadiums, that would sometimes attract big name music acts. I just worry you'd have to travel to Charleston or Charlotte, to see big name music acts.
I now think I want to look up museums, near Myrtle myself. Of course I'm NOT talking about tourist crap things like wax museums, but real museums like a small art museum, science museum, etc. I do wonder if Coastal Carolina University in Conway, has some sort of small art museum on it's campus at least?
Actually, the title of the thread is "How to rank Myrtle Beach? Does it function like a small, middle or large city?"
In which case, I would say Myrtle Beach functions as none of these. It is a large beach town.
Then under Poll Options it says "Myrtle beach ranking on leisure offerings"
Then the body of the OP only talks about Charleston, SC:
So, truth be told, I do not understand what is being asked in this thread. If the OP meant Charleston SC, then that is a totally different story. I would say Charleston is definitely Tier 1 with OKC, Omaha, Tulsa, Baton Rouge.
The OP meant Myrtle Beach instead of Charleston (which he later clarified) and the poll heading and the content of the original post make it pretty clear that he was speaking of Myrtle Beach within the context of leisure offerings and not as an overall city. Maybe I'm just willing to give the OP more credit than others in believing he's well aware of the obvious differences between Myrtle Beach and "traditional" cities, especially those anchoring regions at least twice as large.
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