April 2018 #ThursdayTidbit: Sesqui Retail Space!
Sesquicentennial State Park has a growing retail outlet inside the main park office. Firewood 🔥 and bags of ice have been long time staples that have been popular with campers for years.
Sesqui now has all sorts of ball caps, games 🎲, stuffed animals 🐻, camping supplies 🏕️, and picnic supplies. If you bring your family out to the park for a picnic and forgot to bring paper plates 🍽️, the Park Store has you covered! If it is a bright sunny day 🌞 and you need some sunscreen before going out on the splash pad, the Park Store has some waiting for you on the counter.
There are over 20 different designs of t-shirts to choose from 👕👔👚!!!!!!!!!
Sesqui even carries some unique gifts that you may not see anywhere else in the area. Raccoon hide hats, plush Ranger dolls, edible salt & vinegar flavored crickets (YES, you eat them!)…you never know what you might find at the Park Store! Sesqui has some of the nicest stoneware coffee mugs ☕ around with the park logo crafted right into the side of the mug.
Sesqui’s ranger staff has a lot of fun finding unique items to offer visitors so they can take something home to remember their time at the park. Sesqui is one of the only places around Columbia, (and the only state park in the country) currently selling Lovepop Cards brand greeting cards. 💌 These are very intricate “pop up” style greeting cards that have been featured on Shark Tank and several other tv/media programs. The rangers also try to find local vendors whenever possible to help boost the local economy as well. Many of the t-shirts are printed in Columbia, SC, and several novelty gifts are crafted locally too.#ShopLocal
For South Carolina State Parks, retail sales can be fun but are taken very seriously. Retail revenue makes a big difference at our state parks. 🙌 All of the revenue 💵 made from retail sales goes directly into the parks operating budgets. But that is not the biggest reason Sesqui has retail, State Parks are in the experience & memory business!
Rangers want people to come out and play. We want them to remember all the fun they had here when they go home. Every hat, Christmas ornament 🎄, or sticker with that park logo is a window back in time. Times like when your child caught her first fish 🎣, when you kissed your first girlfriend behind Shelter 2 😘😘, or spent the best last days with a passed four-legged friend 🐕🐩🐶.
These memories are important. Seeing that Sesquicentennial State Park logo on a full, hot, coffee mug ☕, and remembering last weekends’ camping trip⛺ might be the only thing that can get you through a tough day at work. One memory of eating ice cream🍦by the lake while wearing a new ‘coon-skin cap’ might set the course of a child’s life into a future of serving people in parks....
The Park Store is open every day from 9am to 5pm. Please stop by and check it out. Take something home with you to help preserve your memories made at Sesquicentennial State Park. #FriendsOfSesqui
Photos shared with permission from SC State Parks.
