Bartons, Silver Puffin Leave King Street

King Street has long been the beating heart of Charleston's downtown shopping district, so Megan Beidl and Erastus Corning weren't exactly thrilled to have to find new homes for The Silver Puffin and Bartons.

The couple opened the Puffin on King Street in 1996 near the corner of Wentworth and King. After nine years at that location they bought out Bartons in 2005 and moved into it's spot at the corner of George and King to run the combined store.

In March they had to find new homes for both stores as the College of Charleston decided to move forward with plans to renovate the Sottile Theatre to install a college gift shop and restore theater access through the King Street entrance, which the stores were then sharing.

"It seemed it was an awkward combination to begin with," Beidl said of the combined stores. "Bartons was always toys and candy and clothes, and then when Sarah Anne's closed we took on some of her lines too, but it was an awkward mix with Penzo and our glassware."

Beidl and Corning decided to separate the stores again.

"We decided the artistic stuff needed to be in an artistic space, and the toys needed to be in a kid-friendly space," she said.

The Silver Puffin has found a new home at 43 Broad Street. Right in the middle of Gallery Row, Beidl said the location is a great fit for the Puffin which carries many hand-crafted home goods as well as designer jewelry.

The new space is smaller than either of the Puffin's previous locations though, so Beidl and Corning are trimming the inventory somewhat and trying to figure out what will do best in the new spot. The store is and has been the exclusive dealer of Penzo pottery, a line of dishes and serving pieces fired and hand painted by Zimbabwean artists, since opening in the mid 1990s, and the line retains prominent display space in the new store. Beidl said it also sells well through the Puffin's website.

It also carries various lines of glassware, some hand-painted, some with sculpted metal bases in the shapes of animals likely to pop up on an African safari, as well as some local food items like the always popular benne wafers and other South Carolina produced foods like plantation rice, local tea and taffy.

The Puffin also has a reputation for carrying unique items and continues that tradition with lamps crafted from broken musical instruments by Seth Carson.

Beidl and Corning opened the doors at the Puffin's new location on March 14.

Meanwhile Bartons moved all the way to Shelmore Village in Mount Pleasant, at least for the time being. Beidl said ultimately they want to have a store on King Street if they can find an affordable spot for it.

"Barton's had been on King Street for 48 years," she said. "I'm still looking for a spot on King for Bartons, it's just a challenge to find affordable space."

The store has been expanding the lines of construction toys it carries, adding to the various lines of educational and science themed toys on the shelves. Bartons also carries plush toys, puppets, books, candy, puzzles and games.

Beidl is a big fan of Lego, and is excited to begin carrying Nanoblocks as well. Bartons also has kits for building model trebuchets and catapults, Thinking Putty that comes in glow-in-the-dark, clear, Hypercolor and magnetic varieties, and Cubebots - posable wooden robot puzzle toys that fold into a cube.

The new Bartons location at 728 South Shelmore Suite 102, is holding it's grand opening today from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Every Child that comes by will get a free toy during the celebration, Beidl said.