06/27/2026
This year, 2026, is Bill’s Seafood of Sunset Beach’s 45th anniversary! To commemorate, I created a new “throwback” t-shirt, with the original Bill’s Seafood Market on the back. My wife, Kori, who handles our social media now (and does an EXTRAORDINARY job!!) instantly shared her disdain. “Is that Bill’s? No one’s going to know that’s Bill’s. Where’d you get that picture?” And funny enough, just Saturday a customer came in shopping, saw that t-shirt, took it to the counter to check out, and then she said (within earshot of my wife no less), “I like this shirt, but it’s not Bill’s.”
Let me assure you, ladies, gentlemen, and friends of Bill’s, especially those who’ve been coming here - not just to Bill’s but to Sunset Beach - for years (and by “years” I mean generations, like 40 years or more), this IS Bill’s Seafood Market of Sunset Beach. We painted the building white a couple years ago (a very difficult decision by the way), but prior to that it was brown, and originally the rustic, deep brown wood seen in the image on this T.
Originally the Market had front parking, before the swing bridge to the island was replaced by the new bridge that you cross now when going to the beach itself. The state took our front parking, along with the sign seen in the image on this T, to create a new and wider road heading down to the boat launch beside Dave’s here on the mainland side.
The eave and the front facade that you see in this image are the exact same eave and front facade that are the road facing facade of Bill’s today. Joe Peed, founder of Bill’s Seafood back in January 1981, eventually built a kitchen onto the southeast end of the building overlooking Mary’s Creek, followed by the initial bar and dining room above it and then a subsequent expansion along the Creek overlooking the Sunset Beach Town Park (which did not exist at the time), rendering the building as it is currently.
So yes, friends, this actually IS Bill’s Seafood Market of Sunset Beach, one of the earliest iterations, circa the early to mid 1980’s (prior to the restaurant expansion). It is the same location and building, from a different time. It is indeed a throwback, a 45th anniversary image from our glorious past.
It is Bill’s Seafood. The original … the one … the only!
