A decade in, the little gold shop on Sullivan’s Island is getting bigger.
Goldbug — the coastal boutique known for handmade jewelry, beachy clothing and the occasional only-here find — just opened a second location at 1419 Ben Sawyer Blvd. in Mount Pleasant. It’s the first expansion for a brand that’s been a Sullivan’s fixture since 2016.
The backstory has a nice loop to it. Founder Ashley Reid Martin started Goldbug on the first floor of the Sullivan’s Island shopping center that now also houses Mex 1 Cantina and Shades of Charleston. She makes all the jewelry herself — 14-carat gold, 14-carat gold fill and sterling silver.
Here’s the twist. The new Mount Pleasant space isn’t new to Martin at all. It previously housed Ship of Fools, her own sister store, which she opened in May 2024. She’d spent a while deciding whether to stretch the space into a second Goldbug or try a different concept entirely — and the original brand won out.
The Ben Sawyer shop keeps maker’s hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday — a straight shot off the connector for anyone heading to or from the island.
It’s a small story, but it’s the kind we like tracking, because it’s how Charleston’s best local brands actually grow. Not a splashy out-of-town launch — a maker who built something real on one side of a bridge, learned her customer cold, and finally planted a flag on the other side. Low drama, high staying power.
Goldbug isn’t the only shop expanding in the area, either. The same week’s retail roundup had Nashville fragrance brand Ranger Station opening on King Street, a Latin American restaurant called Sabores taking over a former North Charleston nightclub, and a reality-TV-adjacent medspa adding a Summerville location. The Lowcountry retail map keeps redrawing itself.
But Goldbug’s the one worth circling. Handmade, owner-run, ten years deep, and now reaching the mainland on its own terms. That’s not a chain expanding — that’s a neighbor leveling up.
This is a summary of an article published in the Post and Courier. Click here if you’d like to read that article.
