The Market Report

Harris Teeter Opened: 2013 Previous Tenants:  Piggly Wiggly Location:  515 Freshfields Dr, Johns Island/Kiawah Island, SC Photographed:  January 2022 Now are we on Johns Island, Kiawah Island, or Seabrook Island? Well, Google Maps says Freshfields Village, the upscale plaza where this grocery store is (it's set up more like a recreation of a downtown than a standard strip mall), is on Johns Island (it's not). Freshfields Village itself says it's on Kiawah Island (it's not). Geographically, it's actually on Seabrook Island, which is to the west of Kiawah and to the south of Johns, but nobody identifies this part of the island as Seabrook. Anyhow, we are here to tour the Village Market by Harris Teeter at Freshfields Village! This is the only full supermarket in the southern Johns/Kiawah/Seabrook Island area, and once again we see that the store is scaled back for the off-season since this area is tourist-heavy. Also as we tour the store, keep in mind that I visited...

The Market at Storey Farms Owner: Jeremy Storey Opened:  2014 Cooperative:  none Location:  3388 Trumpet Rd, Johns Island, SC Photographed:  January 2022 Okay, I admit: this is not exactly a grocery store. So if you're not interested, feel free to skip today's post and head over to The Market Report for a boring ol' supermarket tour tomorrow. But I had a good time here, and I thought I should share that. The Market at Storey Farms, pictured above, is a farmstand and small food stand at Storey Farms, which is a functional farm (that you can read all about here ). They produce eggs, chicken, and pork, and also sell other local products and prepared foods. The Market is under a large tent, meaning it's all outdoors -- something we of course could not have up in the northeast for climate reasons. But we also got to say hello to some of the animals who live here... ...including a few baby goats, who were having a grand old time in their enclosure out by the road, Betsy ...

Blackbird Market Owner:  Billy & Delana Hayes Opened:  ca. 2013 Cooperative:  none Location:  1808 Bohicket Rd, Johns Island, SC Photographed:  January 2022 Just across the street from yesterday's KJ's Market , we find ourselves in the tiny Blackbird Market. This high-end, farmstand-like market has a little bit of a lot of things: produce, meat, seafood, baked goods, and prepared foods. I must say that the bakery items I sampled were quite delicious. The store opened around 2013 in what used to be a tire shop. And if you're interested in the farmstand/local gourmet items type of store, we have another one tomorrow to check out about eight miles south on Johns Island. Come back tomorrow to check that one out!

KJ's Market Owner: Alex Lee Inc. Opened:  2020 Previous Tenants:  Piggly Wiggly > Bi-Lo Location:  3575 Maybank Hwy, Johns Island, SC Photographed:  January 2022 We are here to tour our second full supermarket on Johns Island! The first was the Food Lion, which we took a quick look at yesterday . At about 27,000 square feet, it's around 10,000 square feet smaller than the Food Lion. This store has a very interesting history -- it was apparently built as a Piggly Wiggly, which sold to Bi-Lo in 2013. Bi-Lo then sold the store to Alex Lee Inc., which I discussed briefly on a Lowes Foods post , in 2020. This store inside is extremely similar to the Skylark Piggly Wiggly , which is a fun Piggly Wiggly > Bi-Lo > Piggly Wiggly progression. Above is looking to the left from the entrance/exit foyer area. Deli and bakery line the front part of the grand aisle, with produce and liquor to the back. Beer and meat line the back wall, with frozen at the far left side and...