Hilton Head Beach Chair & Umbrella Rentals

Renting a beach chair and umbrella on Hilton Head splits into two different services, and knowing which one you actually want saves a wasted call. One company can meet you on the sand and set everything up before you get there. Every other company rents the same kind of gear, but delivers it to where you’re staying or hands it off for you to carry down yourself — neither is better, they just answer different questions about your trip.

On-beach setup

Shore Beach Service — the Town’s exclusive concessionaire

Typical price

~$32/day for an umbrella + 2 chairs, set up for you

Other option

Delivery-to-your-rental or self-pickup, from several other companies

Why Hilton Head Only Has One On-Beach Rental Company

The Town of Hilton Head Island has awarded a single company, Shore Beach Service, the exclusive right to rent and set up beach chairs and umbrellas directly on the public beach since 1974, under a formal contract dating to 1992. The Town renewed that contract again in 2026, running through December 2029 — the arrangement ties equipment rental to lifeguard staffing at the town’s beach parks, which has kept other rental-only businesses from qualifying for the bid. That’s a real, town-level exclusivity, not a marketing claim: it’s the reason every other rental company on the island works a different way, delivering to you or handing gear off for pickup instead of meeting you at the water. It doesn’t affect your own gear — bringing and setting up your own chairs and umbrella on any public beach is always fine.

Shore Beach Service: Rent-and-Set-Up on the Beach

Shore Beach Service sets up your umbrella and chairs on the sand before you arrive, with your name clipped to the back so you know which ones are yours. It’s the only way to rent gear that’s already waiting for you at a town beach park, rather than something you carry down yourself.

Delivery and Self-Pickup Rental Companies

A handful of other companies rent the same beach chairs, umbrellas, and gear island-wide — they just don’t set up on the public sand, since that part of the market belongs to Shore Beach Service alone. Instead, they deliver to your rental home, condo, or hotel, or have you pick up and carry gear down to the beach yourself (for a beach wheelchair, see beach wheelchair rentals):

• Hilton Head Outfitters

  Self-pickup

  80 Queens Folly Road

  Rents chairs and umbrellas by the day, two days, or week, picked up and returned at their shop rather than delivered.

• Little Tiki Hut

  Delivery for a fee

  Roughly $23–$42/day

  An island rental company for over 40 years. Chairs come standard, reclining, padded, or backpack style, with delivery available for an added fee — price depends on the chair.

• Island Life

  Free delivery & pickup

  Lightweight, backpack-style chairs plus umbrellas, wagons, and baby gear, delivered to where you’re staying.

• Lowsea

  Free delivery & pickup

  Lightweight, backpack-style chairs plus umbrellas, wagons, and baby gear, delivered to where you’re staying.

  See Lowsea

• Breeze Bikes

  Free delivery

  Beach chairs, umbrellas, coolers and beach kits, alone or with a bike order, delivered to your rental.

  See Breeze Bikes

• Forest Beach Surf & Cycle

  Self-pickup

  136 Beach City Road

  Beach gear plus surfboard and paddleboard rentals from a shop near Coligny Beach.

  See Forest Beach Surf & Cycle

• Hilton Head Cabana & Beach Services

  Weekly rentals

  Chairs and umbrellas by the week, either as self-setup gear you carry down yourself or with a daily setup-and-breakdown add-on at your own condo, villa, or resort — not the public beach.

Buying Beach Gear at Coligny Plaza

Renting isn’t the only option — if you’d rather own your gear for the week, Coligny Plaza’s beach shops and stores sit right across the street from Coligny Beach Park, the island’s busiest public beach. Billy’s Beach Club/Bikes & Things, in the plaza’s south section, sells chairs, boogie and skim boards, and the oversized inflatable floats that don’t fit in a suitcase, alongside its bike rentals. Quiet Storm Surf Shop covers surf-specific gear in the same plaza. Between the two, it’s a real one-stop stop for beach supplies before you walk across to the sand — and Coligny Beach Park itself is one of the spots Shore Beach Service sets up daily rentals, if you’d rather not carry anything at all.

Which One Should You Book?

If you’re headed to a town beach park for the day and want a chair and umbrella waiting when you get there, Shore Beach Service is the only company that can do that. If you’re staying a full week and want gear at your rental house, condo, or resort for the whole stay — especially somewhere inside a gated community like Sea Pines — a delivery company usually works out cheaper per day and saves you carrying anything down to the sand. Either way, check current rates before you book: prices for beach chair rentals in Hilton Head Island, SC shift by season, and none of these are HHI.com’s own listings.