Here’s a fun answer next time Jennifer Garner, actress and spokesperson for Capital One, asks, “What’s in your wallet?” Lowcountry Local First, a nonprofit that promotes locally owned businesses, has launched an exclusive card specifically to support year-round spending at Charleston businesses.
The Localist Card program offers access to dozens of exclusive perks at shops, restaurants and service providers around the city.
Physical and digital cards for 2026 can be pre-purchased now for $25 and will be honored at participating businesses from Nov. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2026.
More than 35 local businesses have already signed up to participate in the program, including Holy City Brewing, Monster Music & Movies, Blue Bicycle Books, Odd Duck Market, Orange Spot Coffee, Cane Pazzo and Ted’s Butcherblock, among others.
And Lowcountry Local First is continually adding more businesses, with the goal of 50-plus signed up before the end of the year.
“The Localist Card is designed to promote year-round local spending, drive consistent support to small businesses, and strengthen the relationships that make the Lowcountry so special,” said Jacquie Berger, executive director of Lowcountry Local First. “Every time you use your card, you’re putting your dollars where your heart is — supporting local businesses, preserving the character of our region, and building a more resilient local economy.”
Cruising on by
The last cruise ship based in the Holy City is in search of another home port.
The nearly 30-year-old Carnival Sunshine is being replaced by the newer Carnival Freedom in Norfolk, Va.
The vessel switch is scheduled to take place in May 2027, according to an announcement last week. Both ships can accommodate about 3,000 passengers.
The Freedom, which made its debut in 2006, currently sails from Port Canaveral in Florida. Once it repositions up the coast to Virginia, it will offer six- to eight-day cruises to the Bahamas, Bermuda, the eastern Caribbean and Canada.
The Sunshine is in its first year of service from downtown Norfolk’s Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center.
The ship left its home of about five years at Charleston’s Union Pier for the last time in January after Carnival’s contract with the S.C. State Ports Authority wasn’t renewed under a plan to sell the downtown marine terminal to a private developer.
The subsequent $250 million deal with hospitality industry investor Ben Navarro includes the passenger building.
Carnival stationed its first year-round pleasure ship at Union Pier in 2010 with the Fantasy, which was replaced in 2016 by the Ecstasy. Both have since been scrapped.
The Sunshine, which underwent a $155 million overhaul about 12 years ago, arrived in 2019. Carnival had no details last week about the ship’s future. A spokesperson said several ships in the cruise line’s fleet “are on the move as part of our new plans for 2027/28” and that the company will have “more updates soon” as it firms up the schedule.
Charlotte sibling
Charleston-based TMGOC Ventures opened another Moxy hotel, but this one isn’t in downtown Charleston — it’s in Uptown Charlotte. In a post on LinkedIn, Charleston hospitality developer Sunju Patel called the hotel “a space as bold and vibrant as Charlotte itself.”
The 208-room hotel opened this month, with a rooftop bar, event space and Starbucks, just like its sister Moxy hotel at 547 Meeting St. in Charleston.
When the Moxy in Charleston opened in 2023, it became the northernmost hotel on the peninsula. It was the first of four lodgings that Montford and Opterra Capital, doing business as TMGOC Ventures, had envisioned along that stretch of the city.
Patel’s TMGOC Ventures has plans for other hotels in Charleston and across the Southeast. One of those Holy City projects in the queue, at 510 Meeting Street, has been on the market since last fall.
Plane talk
An oil-rich Mideast kingdom that has accounted for dozens of 787 deals dispatched a trade delegation to Boeing South Carolina last week to check out firsthand where the widebodies are built.
The group representing Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation swung by the Dreamliner plant in North Charleston on the second day of an official two-day industry visit to the United States, according to a written statement.
The delegation also met with a deputy director at the Federal Aviation Administration and visited Boeing Co.’s headquarters in Arlington, Va. The trip was not announced in advance.
“By engaging with global aviation regulators and manufacturers, GACA is supporting … objectives to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s role as a hub connecting three continents, delivering greater connectivity and travel experiences for the kingdom’s passengers,” according to the statement.
The delegates also discussed collaboration opportunities in civil aviation, aircraft manufacturing and maintenance services, sustainability and advanced technologies initiatives.
About two years ago, Boeing announced it had landed orders for at least 78 and up to 121 jets to be built at its local 787 factory from startup Riyadh Air and from Saudia Airlines, respectively, both owned by the nation’s sovereign wealth fund. Earlier this year, the newer of the carriers announced it would delay its launch from early to mid-2025 to later in the year because of delays for its first 787-9 aircraft.
“I am confident, given the latest forecast, that we’ll get deliveries this year,” Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas told Bloomberg.
Saudia Air announced its first Dreamliner purchase in 2008 for six of the largest “Dash 10” models. The order was filled in 2023.
Wine bar buzz
A Charleston wine bar has landed as one of the top wine bars in the country determined by editors of the wine industry bible Wine Spectator magazine.
Graft Wine Shop at 700 King St., Suite B, Charleston, was chosen due to its unique and thoughtful “deep cuts” of wine selections by the bottle that tell a story.
The feature includes a photo of the co-owners at their Upper King Street shop, with Miles White pouring Femi Oyediran a glass while perched on his shoulders, a nod to the two’s enduring friendship that began while both bussing tables at Charleston Grill.