GARDEN CITY, S.C. (WBTW) — Sam’s Corner has been a staple in Garden City for nearly five decades, weathering many storms through the years.

So it’s no surprise that only six months after Hurricane Ian blasted the Grand Strand, filling the restaurant on Atlantic Avenue with more than three feet of water, that the doors are once again open for customers.

The restaurant will celebrate with a grand reopening on Saturday.

“It means a lot more than just we’re open for business,” co-owner Emily Baker said. “It means that now all the families that have been coming here for years, generations of families, they can now bring their children and grandchildren in here to experience the same thing they got to experience as children.” 

Baker began running the restaurant when her father, Sam Baker, died 10 years ago. He opened the restaurant in 1976.

“We just wanted to carry on how it is and the legacy it has,” she said. 

After Ian, Emily Baker said the restaurant was destroyed.

“We ended up getting about 3, 3.5 feet of water inside,” she said. “[It was a] total loss, except for the walls. We had to replace everything.” 

But now, the restaurant is open again, and it’s not unusual to see kids in their bathing suits come in off the beach to get drinks and a hot dog.

“We got the world-famous hot dogs, voted best on the beach last year,” manager Casey Jones said. “One of the best in South Carolina last year.”