The Fresh Market made its greater Charleston, S.C.-area debut on May 3, with the grand opening of a new store, in Mount Pleasant, S.C. This brings the total number of stores for the specialty grocer to 172.

The Mount Pleasant location is The Fresh Market’s latest in a trio of recent new openings. Two locations in Wethersfield, Conn., and Jensen Beach, Fla., both debuted exactly one week earlier. The three stores cap a period of growth for the company, which has opened 11 grocery retail locations and the new Spirits & Wine concept in the past six months.

The new 25,000-square-foot Mount Pleasant store is stocked with a carefully curated selection of high-quality meats and seafood, along with fresh produce, local finds and a unique collection of international products. The Fresh Market also boasts a broad selection of restaurant-quality prepared meals and sides, and ready-to-cook, ready-to-heat options.

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“We are extremely pleased with the response to our new store,” said The Fresh Market CEO Brian Johnson. “We have a great team that is excited to bring our brand of impeccable hospitality to the town of Mount Pleasant.”

On opening day, customers took part a myriad of The Fresh Market opening traditions, including a bread-breaking ceremony and the cracking of an 80-pound wheel of parmesan cheese. Additionally, the first 120 customers received a free 4-inch potted orchid, and the first 500 guests were given a The Fresh Market Mount Pleasant reusable grocery bag.

The Fresh Market also continued its commitment to supporting a local food bank with every new store launch. The team kicked off a partnership with the Lowcountry Food Bank and presented a $2,000 donation to the organization.

Greensboro, N.C.-based The Fresh Market currently operates more than 170 grocery stores in 22 states and one Spirits & Wine store. The grocer is No. 71 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. The Fresh Market was also one of the recipients of PG’s inaugural Innovation Awards in the Mid-Tier (50-299 stores) category. The award was presented at the publication’s 2024 GroceryTech event in Dallas.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Now through the end of this weekend, Charleston-area readers will have the opportunity to find their next new novel while supporting a good cause.

Charleston FRIENDS of the Library, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the Charleston County Public Library system, is once again hosting “That BIG Book Sale.”

Over 250 volunteers will join together to sell 50,000 books, spanning across 40 different genres, to fund programs at the Charleston County Public Library system’s 18 branches and support literacy in the Lowcountry.

Bookworms on a budget can also rejoice, as paperback prices start at $1 and hardcover prices start at $4.

The nonprofit says it will have an “extensive” section of children’s books and an adult book selection that has everything from mysteries, science fiction and fantasy to history, culture and classics.

Additionally, several local authors will be in attendance, giving the Lowcountry’s literary enthusiasts the chance to meet homegrown talents.

Saturday and Sunday will also have raffles for teachers, with five $30 prizes Saturday and five $20 prizes Sunday. Those drawings will be at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Member’s Night is up first Thursday and will kick off the sale from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m.

The remaining dates, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., respectively.

Each day of this event will be held in the Omar Shrine Auditorium at 176 Patriots Point Road in Mount Pleasant.

For more information on which authors will be present each day and to discover what else the event has to offer, click here.

MOUNT PLEASANT — A fast-casual Greek dining concept is returning to the Charleston region.

Taziki’s Mediterranean Café, a Birmingham, Ala.-based franchise serving made-to-order dishes, is set to open in early summer at in the REI-anchored Indigo Square shopping center in Mount Pleasant along Highway 17.

The 1,688-square-foot café will feature a large community table, outdoor patio seating and pickup shelves for to-go orders. Around two dozen employees will be hired for the new location. Stephen Sommers is the operating partner.

The restaurant will be the third time that Taziki’s has a Charleston presence.

The chain's first location in South Carolina at 306 King St. operated for eight years from 2011 to 2019, closing after its building was among several properties sold as part of a $24.5 million real estate deal.

Franchisees then opened a second Taziki’s in Mount Pleasant at 320 W. Coleman Blvd. in 2014, taking over the space that housed longtime restaurant Locklear's, which moved out of the location because of rising rent costs. Taziki’s had an eight-year run before closing for good in November 2022.

Nationwide, the chain has grown to more than 100 restaurants in 18 states over the past 27 years.

The new East Cooper location will be the company’s fourth in South Carolina. The other restaurants are in Greenville, Columbia and Simpsonville.

MOUNT PLEASANT – A splash pad, exercise equipment and elements that nod to long-gone landmarks are features of the expanded Memorial Waterfront Park under the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

Motorists can catch a glimpse of the park's basketball and pickleball courts when coming off the bridge into Mount Pleasant. For roughly two years, crews with Hill Construction worked to turn the swath of dirt and grass beneath the bridge into an extension of the "crown jewel of Mount Pleasant."

The area beneath the Ravenel Bridge on Harry Hallman Jr. Boulevard remained an undeveloped grass lot for years, primarily used for overflow parking during events like the Sweetgrass Basket Festival or the Blessing of the Fleet.

But on June 2, the park was almost finished as Special Projects Manager Steve Gergick walked through, chatting with construction crew members who fiddled with equipment and sealed light fixtures.

Save for a small field in the center blocked off with orange fencing to protect the sprouting new grass and four basketball backboards with no nets, the latest iteration of Memorial Waterfront Park appeared ready to welcome visitors.

After a series of permitting and construction delays, the $6.75 million expansion officially opened on June 4. Originally scheduled to open in 2024, the park expansion across from the pier and the Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Pavilion, will open the same day.

"We've been trying to cross that finish line for a long time," said Gergick. "We didn't want to open it up before it's in good condition for the public."

A piece of the Grace Memorial Bridge is on display at the front of the park, accompanied by a historical marker, a remnant of the Ravenel Bridge's predecessor that connected Mount Pleasant to Charleston. The Grace Memorial Bridge, along with the Pearman Bridge, were demolished in 2005.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) - Mount Pleasant town leaders will consider a change to an ordinance that would allow owners of a former restaurant to build a hotel in its place, a move the town’s mayor is against.

The town’s planning commission has recommended amending the Seaside Farms Planned Development District Ordinance to allow for a small boutique-style hotel to be built. That hotel, which would be limited to no more than 25 rooms, would be built at the site of the former Yamato Steakhouse on Riviera Drive.

The owners of the former restaurant hope to build the new hotel within the Neighborhood Retail and Office Tracts on a 2.4-acre parcel of land near the Isle of Palms Connector.

But Mayor Will Haynie says he does not believe many of the town council members are on board with the change based on conversations he has had with them. He says the neighborhood was initially designed to have grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, and retail all in one place to reduce driving traffic.

Adding a hotel there, he believes, would add to beach traffic.

“I just don’t see how putting something that is just for transient use is within the keeping of what the neighbors want and by far from what I’ve heard of seaside neighbors is they don’t want another hotel in there, not every single one, but by far the majority of them feel that way,” Haynie says.

One business owner who declined to speak on camera said with the Harris Teeter next to the potential development site going out of business, having a hotel may help bring in business from visitors.

Haynie said he would like to see that space turned into something people who live in that neighborhood can use.

“As Mount Pleasant has grown, one reason this was put up there was to be a place where when you get home, if you have to commute, maybe you can work from home, that you don’t have to leave and contribute to the traffic on all the major arteries,” he says. “And so I look at something like this through that intent and that was the original intent of that whole neighborhood, and I’d like to see it stay that way.”

Haynie said if the proposal gets voted down, the property owners must wait a year before they can reapply or that can be waived if they come back with a different plan.

If someone buys the property and uses the zoning as is, town council does not have to vote on everything that goes on there.

This proposal is unrelated to the Harris Teeter property. There are no plans to convert that space into housing or a hotel, and it currently has two strong leasing prospects, town leaders say.