Southern Season Plans Store in South Carolina

Southern Season announced plans to open a store in Charleston, S.C., in early summer 2013. The 44,000-square-foot store will be located in Mt. Pleasant at the Brookgreen Town Center, which is owned by the Beach Company. 

Clay Hamner, chairman of Southern Season and CEO of Southern Season Acquisition Corp., owners of Southern Season, said, “We are excited to bring the Southern Season experience to Charleston. We plan to carry on the tradition of offering the full- service experience our customers have grown to love. The new store will include one of the world’s largest gourmet food markets with a vast selection of local and international products, a full-service restaurant, an extensive wine selection, a cooking school, and an expanded bakery. 

“This is first of many new stores for Southern Season, including plans to open stores in Richmond, Va., Charlotte, N.C., Birmingham, Ala., Atlanta, Nashville, Northern Virginia, Palm Beach, Fla., and Naples, Fla.” 

The Charleston/Mt. Pleasant store will be Southern Season’s second store and will replicate the flagship store in Chapel Hill, N.C. Larry Shaw, president and CEO of Southern Season said, “Charleston is the ideal market for our customers. We have a strong belief and heritage in gourmet food, food education and hospitality and a passion for the art of entertaining. We pride ourselves in offering friendly service with great tastings and distinct products, from locally sourced to hard-to-find international items.” 

Charleston is recognized as one of the most livable and progressive cities in the United States and was recently named the “Top Destination in the World” by Conde Nast Traveler 2012. 

“This is one of the many reasons Southern Season selected the greater Charleston area for its second store,” said Billy Swails, mayor of Mt. Pleasant. He stated, “The Charleston area will love Southern Season and Southern Season will love Charleston. Not only will Southern Season meet the needs of our culinary mecca and foodie community with award-winning gourmet food and cooking supplies, it will also bring additional jobs to the area, from store and restaurant employees to architecture and building firms.” 

Southern Season has called Chapel Hill home since it was founded in 1975. The flagship 60,000-square-foot gourmet food emporium has won more than 60 local, regional and national awards. The renowned cooking school has played host to numerous celebrity chefs and Weathervane Restaurant’s executive chef was recently voted best chef in North Caroline in the “Got to be NC” Competition Dining Series.