For weeks, the whispers bounced up and down Center Street.
A beloved Folly Beach bar hits the market, and suddenly everyone’s an urban planner — imagining bulldozers, condos, and the end of a half-century hangout. But according to the people closest to the deal, the future of the Sand Dollar Social Club looks far more comforting than catastrophic.
The mossy-green building at 7 Center Street — a longtime anchor of Folly Beach nightlife — is officially under contract. And while details remain limited, the message from the listing agent is clear: the Sand Dollar’s soul isn’t going anywhere.
“The people who love Sand Dollar will love this new owner,” listing agent Keith McCann told Post & Courier.
That reassurance matters on Folly, where the Sand Dollar is more than a bar. It’s a rite of passage. A meeting place. A living scrapbook of late nights, loud laughter, and salt-air stories.
The property went on the market in mid-October and is pending sale as of Jan. 14, listed at $3 million. The buyer is a local man — his name not yet public — but McCann says the intent is straightforward: keep it a bar, keep the tradition alive.
Plans, he said, are to continue operating the building as it’s always been, carrying on what’s been built into its walls over decades. That includes maintaining a positive relationship with current part-owner Skipper Weatherford.
Weatherford’s connection to the Sand Dollar runs deep. His father, Richard E. Weatherford, purchased the then-newly built property in 1981. After Richard Weatherford’s death in 2023, his children took over stewardship of the space.
“Skipper has been there for 38 years,” McCann said, adding that selling the property was something Weatherford’s father had wanted after his death, according to Post & Courier. In McCann’s words, Weatherford is now simply honoring that wish.
Still, when word spread that the Sand Dollar was up for sale, the reaction was swift — and emotional.
McCann said both he and Weatherford received significant pushback after news of the listing surfaced. Much of the concern centered on fears the site would be torn down, redeveloped, or transformed into condominiums — a familiar anxiety in a beach town shaped by growth pressures.
Those fears, McCann insists, are unfounded.
The buyer, he said, is someone “who respects the 50 years (Sand Dollar) has been open,” a sentiment he shared with Post & Courier. And while formal plans won’t be announced until the 30-day contract period ends, the intention to preserve the bar’s identity appears to be nonnegotiable.
For Folly Beach regulars, that’s the headline that matters most.
The Sand Dollar isn’t just surviving a sale. It’s poised to keep doing what it’s always done — welcoming locals, hosting memories, and pouring another round under the same familiar roof.
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