Commercial Locksmith in Myrtle Beach, SC

Three big commercial addresses

Broadway at the Beach covers 350 acres along the US 17 Bypass and is the largest festival entertainment complex in South Carolina. Coastal Grand Mall opened in 2004 and is the state's second-largest indoor mall. The oceanfront Boardwalk opened in 2010. In properties this large, entries and service corridors may belong to the landlord, so a tenant may control only its own storefront door. Ask which doors the landlord controls before assuming they are yours to rekey.

Check the lease before changing a cylinder

Before anyone rekeys or replaces a storefront cylinder, read the lease. It says whether the landlord must approve the change and whether the landlord keeps a key. When one tenant leaves and another moves in, agree in writing which doors get rekeyed and who holds each key.

Turnover and keys

Every departing manager, opener, closer or cleaner may still hold a key. A commercial locksmith can rekey the front and back doors so those keys stop working, and can set up a master-key plan in which a manager's key opens more than a staff key does. Keep a record of which key goes to whom, and update it at each change of staff.

What to include in a request

• The business name, the center or street, the suite number and which door: storefront, service or rear
• The lock type: keyed, keypad, panic bar or glass storefront door, and whether it opens onto a shared corridor or a mall entry
• Your role, tenant, owner or property manager, and whether the landlord has agreed in writing
• How many keys are out and who holds them
• If a door was forced, that you called the police first and have a report number

Related: lock rekeying, and the Myrtle Beach page for the wider picture.