Sunblocked: Can Shibumi Make Waves South of the (NC) Border?

In recent years, Shibumi co-founder Dane Barnes has managed to convince North Carolina beaches to lift rules to allow his inescapable shades on all the state’s shores. 

But across the state line, officials in Myrtle Beach haven’t budged–yet. Over the past few years, Barnes has made dozens of trips south to try and change their mind.

“We have spent thousands and thousands of hours walking the beaches, talking with families, listening to public officials, and speaking at meetings—only to face outdated rules that block a safer, easier shade,” Barnes said.

Horry County, which includes Myrtle Beach and other beach towns that encompass the Grand Strand, will soon vote on whether to allow a one-year trial period for wind-driven shade devices, like Shibumi or Solbello, a similar product affixed on a single pole. 

But if county leaders follow the lead of Myrtle Beach, Barnes’ invention will remain in the dark. “It’s frustrating to see restrictions on personal freedom to choose a better beach shade when the evidence from hundreds of other beach communities is crystal clear,” he said.

Myrtle’s Sunblock

Since Shibumis hit North Carolina beaches in 2016, the teal and royal blue shades have spread like bamboo, popping up in the sand across more than 800 beaches. 

Their concentration is strongest in North Carolina, crawling outwards from where the founders first introduced the shades in Emerald Isle. Just a few areas along the East Coast prohibit them: a cluster of beach towns in New Jersey; a small beach outside Tampa, Florida; and a long stretch of the Grand Strand in South Carolina. 

Like in the Grand Strand, the New Jersey rules are tent-oriented and predate the introduction of the Shibumi. The three N.J. beaches that block large shades were mostly concerned about them taking up too much of the shrinking shorelines. Florida’s Redington Beach passed its umbrella-only rule last year partly to appease oceanfront property owners annoyed with cluttered views. 

The coast has been cleared in North Carolina. In 2021, Brunswick County beach town Ocean Isle Beach passed a Shibumi-shaped carveout to allow for wind-driven shades but continues to ban tents and canopies. Mayor Debbie Smith said the only complaints she’s heard since allowing Shibumis are from property owners grumbling about views. 

“It’s just like anything else we do. Half the people love them, and half the people hate them,” she said. “If you’re looking from above, it is a blue beach.”

Smith said the town’s public safety services have had no issues since welcoming Shibumis. “When you’re on the beach, I just don’t visually see a lot of difference in the line of sight from the wind-driven shade than I do from umbrellas,” she said. 

Next door in Sunset Beach, town leaders voted last year to allow wind-driven shades along the entire beach strand, after previously restricting when and where they could be used. Police Chief Ken Klamar said his officers have had no issues with the shades. “We recommended to our town council that they let the Shibumis go anywhere,” he said. 

“We’re fans of them,” said Sunset Beach Fire Chief Richard Childres. “We think they’re much safer.” 

South of the Border

The tone from public officials is markedly different just several miles south.

Shibumi previously implored customers on its website to write to public officials in the area to urge them to reconsider their umbrella-only rules. After being inundated with messages asking them to allow the shades, North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach officials asked Shibumi to remove their emails, and the company obliged.

Prompted by customer demand, Myrtle Beach City Council considered but shot down a one-summer trial for the sun shades last November. (Both the city and North Myrtle Beach do currently allow Shibumis during the off-season.)

The proposal would have allowed wind-driven devices, but maintained the tent ban, and public safety officials were reluctant to sign off on a change that would make their enforcement job any more complicated. Myrtle Beach Fire Chief Tom Gwyer reported to the council his crews responded to 1,201 shading-device violations in the summer of 2023. “Our people are tied up,” Gwyer said.

The city’s Beach Advisory Committee chairman Steve Taylor explained that his committee had examined the issue no fewer than five times over the past four years and had given Shibumi and the Wrightsville Beach-based Solbello a fair shot.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Taylor told the council. “We have beat this one up and down.” 

Public safety officials in Horry County and its municipalities North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach, have repeatedly pointed to visibility concerns as a reason to uphold a ban. Taylor argued a beachgoer’s chances of being injured by an umbrella were far less than large shades obstructing views and impacting a first responder’s ability to see and access the shore in the event of a drowning. 

Shibumi co-founder Barnes says there’s no evidence his shades have ever interfered with public safety incidents. “No place besides Myrtle Beach has concerns about this,” Barnes said. 

In 2022, a 63-year-old Horry County woman died after being impaled by a flyaway umbrella. Nikki Fleming, spokesperson for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said it tracks incidents reported from umbrellas and canopies (though the agency didn’t elaborate on how it defines a canopy) and estimates there were 3,100 injuries between 2014 and 2023. 

Aside from the Myrtle Beach fatality–the most serious recent umbrella-related accident in the U.S.–two other incidents involved impaled legs, Fleming said.

Though Myrtle Beach shot down the proposed trial period, Horry County Council hasn’t yet ruled it out.

Horry County Police Lt. T.J. Mueller said he’s no fan of the amount of space Shibumis take up, but conceded at a public safety meeting in October that allowing them could save officers time. “It would be less confusion for the customer and it would be less enforcement for us,” he said.

At the same meeting, county attorney David Jordan referenced the potential for Shibumis and other shades to compete with one of its business partners, Lack’s Beach Services. Lack’s and another company, Beach Services Ltd., provide the county with free lifeguards in exchange for the right to rent beach equipment in designated areas. 

“This wouldn’t replace our beach services, this wouldn’t replace your Lack’s umbrella that’s put in professionally,” Jordan said.

Both Horry County and Myrtle Beach privatize their lifeguard services at no cost with beach service agreements with beach equipment rental companies. Last year, Myrtle Beach estimated the deals saved the city around $1.7 million. 

City spokesperson Meredith Denari said Myrtle Beach hasn’t heard concerns about its franchisees having a financial incentive to ensure the Shibumi ban remains in place. She said if the ban were lifted, the rental companies “could in theory also include wind-powered shading devices in their services as they do now with standard umbrellas.” 

Lack’s has lobbied against allowing a trial period for Shibumis. “Any change to this ordinance is a dangerous slippery slope,” Weslyn Lack Chickering, Lack’s general manager, told the city’s Beach Advisory Committee in an October meeting. Lack’s did not respond to a request for comment.

Myrtle Beach is not planning to revisit the proposed ordinance and North Myrtle Beach doesn’t intend to consider it.

Earlier this month, the Horry County Council advanced the potential trial period to a public hearing, according to a county spokesperson, and the council is expected to take a formal vote as soon as March 18. 

It’s unlikely to be smooth sailing. At a county administration committee meeting last month, Councilman Mark Causey said feedback from public safety officials made him critical of the idea. “I’m not really excited about it,” he said. Kevin Larke, the city’s beach patrol supervisor, called Shibumis obstructive and said he preferred the simplicity of the umbrella-only rule. “It makes it so much easier to enforce,” he said.

For Barnes, the vote feels like Shibumi’s last chance in the Grand Strand. “If they vote no, I’ll be honest, I’ve wondered if it’s time to give up,” he said. 

But customers in his corner keep him optimistic for eventual change. “It’s hard to keep pushing when it feels impossible, but I truly believe this change is inevitable,” he said. “We’re fighting not just for our business, but for the families who deserve a better, safer beach day. I can’t give up on that.”

Johanna F. Still is The Assembly’s Wilmington editor. She previously covered economic development for Greater Wilmington Business Journal and was the assistant editor at Port City Daily.