NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – A North Myrtle Beach store owner is overjoyed after receiving an anonymous gift. The package was sent by someone who walks by her store daily but has never been in. Now she is paying it forward.
“Most people walk in the store and go ‘wow you got a lot of stuff in here it’s very colorful,’” Bobbi Jones, owner of buyCURIOUSly in North Myrtle Beach said.
After a slow business day, she received an anonymous package in the mail thinking it was a mistake.
The package was addressed to the store, stamped, and labeled with no return address. Inside was a wad of money and note signed “guy in the neighborhood.”
“I didn’t know how to react it was like a plethora of feelings like everything in the world,” Jones said.
Jones was a travel nurse before she opened the small business one year ago. From a paid position to following her dream to open a store, she said it’s been nothing short of a challenge brought on by the pandemic.
Thousands of items are for sale. While there’s something in store for everyone, there is one thing most items have in common, the artists and creators are all local. The anonymous sender mentions he was also a small business owner who understands what she’s going through.
“Here in the store I try to inspire other people to follow their dreams and to produce their art of whatever they make and he actually inspired me,” Jones said.
The stranger said after a couple of Google reviews and store colors beaming happiness as he often walks by, the decision was easy to share his stimulus check with her.
“He said ‘the crazy colors and designs have decorated the store always caught my eye,’” Jones said.
The pandemic has brought times of uncertainty, and anonymity for Jones. She says the monetary value doesn’t compare to the way the deed made her feel.
“Who he is is one of the kindest people in the community and somebody who clearly has a heart of gold,” Jones said.
The gesture now inspiring her to pay it forward.
“I am going to do something for somebody and it’s going to trickle down and have an effect that is probably something he never imagined would happen,” Jones said.
Jones doesn’t know who sent the package but left a thank you sign to “the guy in the neighborhood” in the front window. Jones says the money won’t stay in the store and plans to put in back to the North Myrtle Beach community in some way.