Coligny Plaza, Hilton Head Island, SC

• Address: 1 N Forest Beach Dr, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
• Shops and restaurants: More than 60
• Store hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. April to October, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. November to March
• Parking: Free lots around the plaza

Coligny Plaza is the shopping and dining center at the south end of Hilton Head Island, a few minutes’ walk from Coligny Beach Park. Its full name is Coligny Plaza Shopping Center, most people on the island just say Coligny, and with more than 60 shops, restaurants, ice cream counters and bars around one walkable set of buildings it is the closest thing Hilton Head has to a downtown. It is where a beach day usually ends: a walk up from the sand, an ice cream, a look around the shops and dinner.

Norris and Lois Richardson opened the plaza in 1956 with the Forest Beach Market, the island’s first grocery store, back when building materials came over by barge because there was no bridge. The family still runs it, and a lot of the island’s firsts started here, from the first bakery to the first post office.

What Is at Coligny Plaza

About a third of the tenants serve food or drink: seafood and live music on the lagoon at FISH, daiquiris at the Frosty Frog, a New York Italian dining room, breakfast at Skillets and Sweet Al’s, barbecue, sub shops and a run of ice cream, candy and fudge counters. The full list, with phone numbers and which ones take reservations, is on our Coligny Plaza restaurants page.

The rest are mostly independent shops: swimwear and surf gear, resort clothes, T-shirt and souvenir stores such as Camp Hilton Head, gifts, toys, candles and spices. They are listed by type on the shops at Coligny Plaza page. The plaza also has a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, a wine and spirits shop, a Circle K, two barbershops, the Coligny Theatre, where the Sea Glass Stage Company performs, and SoundWaves, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra’s small concert space.

Coligny Plaza Map, Parking and Getting There

The address is 1 N Forest Beach Drive, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928, at Coligny Circle, the roundabout where Pope Avenue meets the beach. The plaza is a set of low buildings around open walkways, with a lagoon at the back where FISH, the barbecue place and the Rita’s kiosk sit, and a second floor where Big Bamboo is. The beach access is on the other side of the circle.

Parking in the plaza’s surface lots is free, but the lots fill up on summer afternoons and evenings, so come early or walk or bike in on the island’s path network. If you are going to the beach as well, the Coligny Beach parking guide covers the lots across the road.

Hours and Events

The plaza’s store hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from April to October and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from November to March, though each shop sets its own, and the restaurants and bars stay open well after the shops close. In season there are free children’s shows on some evenings and live music at several of the restaurants most nights.