QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
In Greenville, South Carolina, they ask where you go to church. In Columbia, South Carolina, they ask who you work for. In Charleston, they ask you what you want to drink.”
Claire Gibbons’ sage, if not sober, observation of her hometown rings particularly true as I wander along King Street on a Saturday night and watch the cool youth of this historic city bouncing from nouvelle Southern cuisine restaurant to media-trending bar to hip club. I suppose it’s like all the other US cities on a Saturday night, only this is with a distinctly Southern accent, y’all.
Charleston is very much contemporary South – young, vibrant, tech-savvy and optimistic about the future. They have a lot to be positive about. According to Yelp, the Charleston area is the fastest-growing region for small businesses in the US; it is fourth on business site Magnifymoney’s “America’s biggest boomtowns” list; and, according to Chief Executive magazine, is the third best place in the US to do business. Added to which, it is regularly voted the country’s favourite tourist city by glossy US travel magazines.
’Boeing opened its factory ten years ago and is the largest private employer in the region’
Gibbons is director of global marketing and communications for the Charleston Regional Development Alliance (CRDA), an economic development organisation whose main focus is managing
