Shop Talk: Buying into Grand Strand retail

Georgetown home furnishings store expands

Augustus & Carolina home furnishings retailer is adding new shops to its roster on Front Street in Georgetown.

It opened an antiques store and an interior design studio and expanded its Augustus & Carolina Outdoor Living showroom from 2,500 square feet to 8,000 square feet in its new spot at 822 Front Street.

Owner Kathryn Kossove said she and her husband David are adding new stores because they recently got the opportunity to purchase and expand into more buildings on Front Street and they couldn’t pass it up.

"People are still building houses, and maybe it’s not at the rate that it was, but there still is a fair amount of new construction and people moving and redecorating," Kathryn Kossove said.

May opening for Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery in The Market Common will open for business before the end of this month and will hold grand opening events on May 31, according to Paul Trindel, an area developer for Cold Stone.

It could have a soft opening open a few days before May 31, Trindel said. Many businesses hold what they call soft openings to work out any potential kinks.

The ice cream shop serves ice cream, smoothies, cakes and shakes that are prepared using a frozen granite stone. The company already has three locations on the Grand Strand: in Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet.

It's the latest addition to the shopping and housing hub, which opened in April on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base.

The Pig readies for 6:30 a.m. debut

Piggly Wiggly employees were stocking, pricing and prepping food today to get ready for its 6:30 a.m. opening Thursday.

Rita Postell, spokeswoman for Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company Inc., said she expects members of the roughly 150 to 160-person staff to be there until midnight or 1 a.m. putting final touches on the store.

“We just do what it takes,” she said.

The store uses a new design that Piggly Wiggly is piloting, where foods are grouped based on what they are rather than how they’re prepared. That means canned vegetables are next to fresh produce and frozen vegetables, and cereal is next to milk.

The store also has four meal stations set up throughout the store that display a recipe and all the ingredients to make it; café seating; a Starbucks; about 1,500 to
1,600 types of wine; and a sushi chef, salad bar and hot meal station.

Through the weekend, the store will give out free food to the first 250 customers. Thursday, they’ll get 12 ounces of a specialty bacon. Friday fresh strawberries will be up for grabs. Saturday they'll get two liters of Coke or Diet Coke and Sunday, a loaf of Sarah Lee bread. 

Piggly Wiggly CEO David Schools will be at the store Thursday along with Julie Dugas with the store’s designer Marco Retail Group.

The store will operate Thursday during its normal business hours,  6:30 a.m. until midnight.