MOUNT PLEASANT — An Alabama-based breakfast restaurant with a location in downtown Charleston has added a second outpost east of the Cooper River.

Big Bad Breakfast is now open at 2664 U.S. Highway 17, taking over the spot vacated by Cabana Burgers & Shakes. The new eatery, which joins the East Side location on the peninsula, is led by operating partner Wayne Baumgardner, a Mooresville, N.C., native.

The brand is owned by John Currence, a New Orleans native who opened the first Big Bad Breakfast in his adopted hometown of Oxford, Miss., in 2008. Five years later, he partnered with Nick Pihakis of Pihakis Restaurant Group (best known locally for Rodney Scott’s BBQ) to replicate the restaurant across the South. There are now Big Bad Breakfast locations in Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Since opening, the Mount Pleasant outpost has received a warm reception from the community, Baumgardner said. The restaurant serves biscuits, grit bowls, omelets, coffee drinks and brunch cocktails during its daily operating hours, 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

For more information, visit bigbadbreakfast.com.

Charleston Wine + Food is bringing back beloved Italian restaurant Trattoria Lucca for one night during its annual five-day festival, taking place March 6-10, 2024.

Former FIG chef Jason Stanhope will host a signature dinner at his new restaurant, Lowland, and Ma’am Saab will transport diners to Pakistan with a meal inspired by Pakistani weddings and celebrations. For those interested in getting their hands dirty, Chubby Fish chef James London will teach a cooking class, helping attendees learn how to break down whole fish.

Signature events such as these will likely sell out fast when festival tickets go live at 11 a.m. Oct. 19.

The full 2024 Charleston Wine + Food Festival schedule will be released on Oct. 16 — that means you will have a few days to look through the 100-plus events that will take place at locations across the Lowcountry next spring.

The schedule is broken up into categories, including dinners, brunches, lunches, beverage workshops, classes, bar takeovers and excursions.

Excursions take participants out in the fields or on the water before concluding with a collaborative meal. One, called “Rooted: Indigenous Foodways,” will be led by Indigenous foods instructor and chef Dave Smoke McCluskey. Another will take place on Johns Island at Joseph Fields Farm.

Several popular signature events will return in 2024, including Shucked, Street Eats and Opening Night at College of Charleston’s Cistern Yard, historically the largest representation of local Charleston-area chefs. The festival’s finale will be held at Brittlebank Park on March 10.

Bar takeovers, new to the 2022 festival, will return for a second year. At $75, these events — which pair an out-of-town bartender or drinks expert with someone local — are one of the cheapest tickets on the schedule. Each bar takeover ticket comes with three drinks and light bites.

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A new entertainment site and sports bar opens next week in Mount Pleasant.

Mix at 730 Coleman Blvd., which originally was set to open earlier in the summer but encountered material and staffing delays, will open Oct. 16, according to owner David Breen.

The opening comes after the recent launch of another indoor sports entertainment site in the town’s northern sector.

Crush Yard opened in late September at 3365 S. Morgans Point Road in the former Palmetto State Armory location. It offers pickleball and a restaurant.

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Also, new townhomes starting at $2 million are coming to the Lowcountry.

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8,000: Number of permitted houses coming to large development on the edge of Charleston where a new supermarket is in the works.

11: Number of new upscale townhomes coming to a mixed-use development in the Lowcountry.

5.44: Millions of dollars paid for a multifamily community in North Charleston that sold for $3.5 million 18 months ago.

Real Estate

+ Slower sales: Charleston-area home sales slipped again in September for the 25th consecutive month.

+ Food line: A new supermarket with international flare joins the lineup of several grocery chains serving the Charleston area.

+ New lease: Another new restaurant recently signed on to join several others coming to an expanding shopping center in the Charleston region.

Longtime Charleston inn tied to Netflex series to be rebranded after $5M purchase, upgrade

Jack Davis, a principal owner of the rebranded Charleston Creekside Inn in West Ashley, talks about the changes made to the lodging over the past year, including a new cabana and floating dock as well as new furnishings, paint and other alterations to the 31-year-old motel previously known as Creekside Lands Inn.

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MOUNT PLEASANT — A North Carolina-based supermarket chain plans to enter the Charleston market, stepping in after another grocery store’s plans fell through.

The Fresh Market has taken over the lease from discount grocer Lidl for a space in Bowman Place Shopping Center, according to a document filed Sept. 27 in the Charleston County land records office.

A spokeswoman for the Greensboro-based specialty grocer said the company “did not have anything to share at this time” on its open schedule.

Peter Stone of Mount Pleasant’s planning department said Fresh Market has not presented construction plans to the town, which usually considers building and facade alterations as well as signage through the Commercial Design Review Board.

German company Lidl, with its U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Va., had planned to move into a 26,000-square-foot space in the Dick’s Sporting Goods-anchored retail center near Bowman Road and Johnnie Dodds Boulevard.

Work came to a halt more than a year ago.

A Lidl representative did not respond for comment.

The Fresh Market now has the remainder of the 15-year tenant agreement Lidl signed three years ago next month. The lease also included an option for 15 more years.

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The site originally held a 20,000-square-foot kitchen store, but it closed in early 2020. Lidl wanted a larger space, so it added 6,000 square feet and a loading dock in the rear of the building.

The Fresh Market has nine stores in South Carolina. Its closest location to Charleston is about 70 miles up the coast at Pawleys Island.

The chain offers an upscale assortment of fresh produce, meat and seafood along with a deli, bakery, prepared foods and fresh-cut flowers. The store also has beer, wine, coffee and bulk nuts along with various other items.

In 2017, Fresh Market first eyed the state’s fourth-largest municipality and its 95,000 residents who have a median household income of more than $106,000, according to U.S. Census figures.

Publix eventually brought one of its small-format specialty grocery stores called GreenWise Market to the 21,535-square-foot space in Indigo Square Shopping Center off U.S. Highway 17, where Fresh Market was looking.

GreenWise Market, near Mount Pleasant Towne Centre, closed in 2020 about 16 months after it opened. It’s now the site of outdoor gear retailer REI Co-op.

Another specialty grocer also made a run in Mount Pleasant. North Carolina-based Southern Season shuttered its store off Coleman Boulevard in 2016, less than three years after it opened. It’s now the home of Gold’s Gym.

Last year, South American retailer Cencosud acquired a 67 percent stake in The Fresh Market. Existing grocery store shareholders retained a minority equity interest in the company.

The Fresh Market, with 159 stores in 22 states, was founded in 1982. The size of its stores average about 21,000 square feet.

The Bowman Place location is near a 4-mile stretch of Johnnie Dodds Boulevard between the Ravenel Bridge and Interstate 526 that’s teeming with supermarkets. They include Harris Teeter, Whole Foods, Publix, Traders Joe’s, Aldi and Walmart.

Lidl has a dozen stores in South Carolina, with two in the Charleston area in Goose Creek and North Charleston.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - A historic Mount Pleasant park was possibly going to be a dog park before nearby community members banded together against the development.

Now, the development has been put on hold and nearby residents are celebrating the victory.

At Edwards Park in historic Mount Pleasant, the park has been here since 1837, that’s why the proposed development brought together the community to maintain its historical significance.

“I heard about the dog park that the town was proposing an idea to divide and fence half of the park, and the community spoke out and said we don’t want this, and the town council responded,” Sarah Mitchell who lives near Edwards Park says. “And as I know, it is off the table for now. So, which is wonderful, but in the future, we’d like to do a historical designation of the park.”

Turning Edwards Park into a dog park was an idea shared with the community a few weeks ago, but the town decided to stop pursuing the project after over 700 Mount Pleasant residents signed a petition against it.

Eric LaFontanie with Mount Pleasant said after hearing feedback and considerations from the community, the town will not be pursuing this Edwards Park concept at the moment.

The park currently sits in the middle of a neighborhood with homes surrounding it on all sides with homeowners concerned about the potential impact on traffic and noise it would have on residents.

“It’s important just for traffic, noise, and other reasons, that we don’t ever make it an official dog park. Like I said, folks can use it now as it is: you could still come with your dog, but we also want it open for everyone,” Mitchell says.

Edwards Park is used by many members of the public to picnic, host group gatherings, go for walks, and more, which is why the community wanted it to be open to all.

“When you turn something into a dog park, it really limits it to just one use,” Park Preservation Advocate Daniel Brownstein says. “I mean, nobody’s going to go have a picnic at a dog park, so it just made sense, I think, to keep the status quo and make sure that it’s open to people and dogs and not exclusive to one or the other.”

Turing Edwards Park into a dog park was part of Mount Pleasant’s plan to improve Alhambra Hall, grounds and playground, the other improvements are all still set to begin next summer.

“I think if anything, the park could use a little TLC with its landscaping,” Brownstein adds. “It would also be an ideal spot to build a gazebo, and to really just sort of enhance it into the community gathering spot that it could be.”

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. —

A popular restaurant in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, has announced its closing.

The Mustard Seed has been in business for more than 28 years.

(Video above: Morning headlines from WYFF News 4)

The owner, Sal Parco, posted Sunday on Facebook that he will retire and the restaurant will close and be taken over by a new group.

Read his full message below:

"It’s with a heavy heart and mixed emotions, I am writing to formally announce my retirement and the closing of the Mustard Seed. Please visit me as this will be my final week and it is my hope to see as many of you as possible. I opened the original Mustard Seed over 28 yrs ago, and it’s been quite a journey. Along the way I’ve had the privilege to serve the greater Mt Pleasant community, even opening up additional restaurant concepts that were frequented by my cherished customers. It has been my great honor to be a part of the restaurant community and I’ll never be able to express my appreciation toward the many customers that I now consider to be my family. I am forever grateful to have been welcomed in with such open arms and my gratitude toward you is immense. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed coming to work everyday, meeting, greeting and serving the most wonderful group of loyal customers. You have been my family for almost 30 years and I will miss each and every one of you. But it is time to pass on the baton…

"To my Mustard Seed team, thank you for your commitment and your loyalty. You have made this feel more like a passion project as opposed to work. A special thanks to my dedicated leaders that always stepped up even through the many challenges we’ve faced throughout the years. I never questioned your integrity as you added to the successes we achieved. But after much thought and careful consideration, I realize that it’s time to slow down as I’m not a youngster anymore and all good things must come to an end. I want to thank everyone for the experiences and opportunities I have been able to enjoy. The fond memories of our times together will follow me into my retirement and any future endeavors.

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"Until then, I am fully committed to assisting in the transition of the new group taking over… I know this wonderful community will embrace them just as you did me 28+ years ago. You allowed me to live out my dreams and achieve opportunities that I couldn’t even imagine were possible. I love each and everyone of you! All the best,Sal Parco"