By Paula Pyzik Scott

On Friday, October 17, DeMarco Wealth Management Group, 109 N. Main St., celebrated a new location, renovated office space and growing team under a new name. Edward Jones Financial Advisor Ryan DeMarco, ABFP, CRPC, first established an office at 111 N. Main in late 2019-early 2020. He has expanded the business in the historic Greding Hardware store location following extensive renovations.

The event included a Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony and an open house with refreshments.

In addition to DeMarco, the team includes Joel Griffiths, Financial Advisor; Lauren E. Beasley, Associate Financial Advisor; Sara M. Music, Sr. Branch Office Administrator; Vanessa L. Greer, Branch Office Administrator; and Lauren R. Diehl, Branch Office Administrator.

DeMarco Wealth Management Group is open from 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., Monday-Friday.

The building at 109 N. Main St. was the address for the oldest continuously-operating business in Bluffton, the hardware store that opened in 1912 as Greding Hardware. DeMarco has installed an “L T Greding” stained glass window above the front door that echoes the tiled floor entrance to the hardware store.

In 2023, Bluffton’s Do It Best-Family Hardware owned by Jim Basinger, renovated and moved to the retail building at 111 Cherry St., to grow that business (see photos of the Main St. hardware store HERE). https://www.blufftonicon.com/photo/2023/09/07/family-hardware-moves-over... In turn, DeMarco was able to make an even shorter move–from 111 N. Main to 109 N. Main–and expanded as well.

Next door at 111 N. Main, DeMarco had extensively renovated space that was The Scoreboard spiritwear store. But many know it as the location of Bluffton’s famed Gillett’s bakery (a.k.a. Gillett’s Danish Pastry Shop), which closed in 1988. Fortman Insurance has moved into that office space. This domino effect is known in some circles as “The Bluffton Shuffle.”

The second floor at 111 N. Main has been remodeled as a two-bedroom short-term rental with a kitchen and laundry. 

Stay tuned for more “Bluffton Shuffle” installments in the Icon’s Business section.