In 1990, a second try at annexation provided an opportunity for a Brunswick beach town.
According to a story in the Oct. 13, 1990, edition of the Wilmington Morning Star, a request was made for the second time in as many years to Sunset Beach to annex a shopping center anchored by Food Lion.
Turned down in 1989, the ask was made again after two members of town council who then opposed it were replaced. They voted against it amid concerns it would turn Sunset Beach from a residential beach to a commercial area.
At first, developers said it wouldn’t build a Food Lion unless it was in the town since it permitted beer and wine sales, and Brunswick County didn’t. But it did so anyway, and countywide alcohol sales were later approved.
Another request to expand the town included taking in most of Sea Trail Resort, which would bring in $51,000 a year in revenue.
“That ought to be the business district of Sunset Beach,” then-mayor Mason Barber Jr. said.
Today, the Food Lion is part of Sunset Beach as well as the majority of Sea Trail Resort. By the end of the 1990s, the town had expanded in space and population, going from less than 500 to nearly 2,000 people.