CHARLESTON — For the first time in 10 years, Kristen Schwiers said her Charleston Candle Co. took a loss. Now she, like her business neighbors, point to two major downtown developments as the reason they’re flailing.
Schwiers’ small St. Philip Street shop is smack in the middle of The Peninsula of Charleston, a luxury seven-story senior-living complex with more than 140 condominiums. The project broke ground in 2025, with most likely another two to three years of construction.
The ongoing work has brought unintended consequences.
St. Philip Street — also home to Tiny Tassel, D’Allesandro’s Pizza, Island Provisions and other businesses — has been closed to traffic several times, most recently for a month to fix a sinkhole. Parking has been eliminated and sidewalks on both sides of Charleston Candle are closed off, hindering people from walking down the street.
The city this year has issued five $1,000 fines to the developers, following multiple warnings, Robbie Sommerville, section chief for the Public Works and Traffic and Transportation, told The Post and Courier.
But Schwiers and other business owners worry it isn’t enough. She said online sales are “saving” her store right now, but a majority of her transactions have always been from foot traffic.
“I’m not ignorant of the needs of construction, but obviously this has, I would say, essentially killed … people walking by our shop,” she said. “We literally sit there all day and watch them cross the street, walk across and keep going.”
The Peninsula, along with the neighboring Courier Square development, is expected to bring in booming business to downtown’s Cannonborough/Elliotborough neighborhood when completed around 2028, with hundreds of residential units, a possible hotel and more. But that might be too distant a deadline.
Construction is underway of the future Courier Square project on St. Philip Street, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Charleston.
“We may not be here in two years,” said Schwiers, who founded her company in 2016 and has been in this location since 2021. “People can’t come to our store, and we still have two years on our lease.”
