Florence County, South Carolina, supermarkets and grocery stores

[carolinachaos]

According to an article in the Triad Business Journal, Lowes Foods are looking to potentially move into the Florence Market. It appears Florence is increasingly on the radar for these regional and national retailers.

[Carolina Knight]

Lowe's Foods has a presence in Georgetown, Greenville, Horry, and Lexington counties. It also failed in York County and in Buncombe, Cleveland, Gaston, and Mecklenburg counties of North Carolina. It will be interesting to see if Lowe's Foods expands into Florence County.

[Carolina Knight]

It has been awhile since I updated the list of grocery stores, their store count, and where they are in Florence County. Limited assortment/discount grocer Lidl has arrived. Supermarket BI-LO has departed.

Supermarket

• Food Lion (5 stores): Florence
• Harris Teeter (1 store): Florence
• IGA (8 stores): Florence (2 stores), Johnsonville, Lake City, Olanta, Pamplico, Quinby, Timmonsville
• Walmart Neighborhood Market (1 store): Florence

Hypermarket

• Walmart Supercenter (3 stores): Florence (2 stores), Lake City

Limited Assortment/Discount

• Aldi (2 stores): Florence
• Lidl (1 store): Florence

Wholesale Club

• Sam's Club (1 store): Florence

[SubwayRider]

Retail, esp supermarket rumors are legend in Florence. I remember the "Florence is getting a Publix" speculation in the late 90's, and several times since. Maybe this time it will happen.

Now let me add to the rumor mill. These are things I've heard from, supposedly, somebody who knows something (of course):

-Harris Teeter is looking at moving into the vacant K-Mart building. That store is huge...and dates to 1969. It would likely be subdivided, and renovations would be costly. The massive parking lot hasn't been repaved in decades..if ever. Just paving that would be almost $1 million.

-Wegmans has bought property in Florence Something I've heard but don't believe. Wegmans is primarily an upscale market very popular in the northeast. They've expanded into Virginia, and plan 4 stores the NC triangle area. If they were to expand into SC, Florence is an unlikely market to do it in. Charleston or Greenville demographics are much more desirable for a Wegmans type store. Also, there is no mention of any future SC sites on their future store locations page.


This is not a rumor...the low end discount market Sav-A-Lot is going up on the empty lot on the NE corner of Lucas St/52 & Dargan St. It will primarily serve the the "food desert" area of north Florence near Oakland Ave. The city has been trying for years to find a market to open up in this area with no success. How bad do they want it? The city is footing $800K of the bill to build it.

[Carolina Knight]

I think Publix missed an opportunity to enter Florence via the acquisition of BI-LO #5550, Independence Center, 500 Pamplico Highway, Florence, South Carolina 29505-6012. (BI-LO #5550 is becoming a Food Lion.) I have heard Publix is active seeking other locations for a new store.

The former Kmart #4317, 2011 Hoffmeyer Road, Florence, South Carolina 29501-4013, would be better off being torn down for new construction. Any building built in 1969 without major improvements would require extensive and expensive work.

Harris Teeter #124, Cashua Place, 1930 West Palmetto Street Florence, South Carolina 29501-4051, could use major improvements or a replacement store. I do not know what Harris Teeter intends to do with Harris Teeter #124.

Wegman's will come to South Carolina if it intends to open stores in the state and open a distribution center somewhere.