Gourmet Grocer Southern Season on Track for Summer Opening

The high-end food and cooking retailer planning a location on Coleman Blvd. is on track for a mid-to-late August 2013 grand opening, and it has hired a manager to run the store, according to a news release.

Southern Season, which will sell cooking supplies and speciality foods, wines and beer, plans to located in the former Food Lion space on Coleman Bvld. The North Carolina-based retailer announced its Mount Pleasant manager recently.

Britt Johnson, a Mount Pleasant resident, will start work at the local store on April 1. She will begin hiring for key positions then. Check out the current openings.

Johnson has more than 19 years of retail management experience. For the past 12 years, Johnson served as a district manager for Williams-Sonoma.

“We are very excited to bring Britt on board as the general manager of our new store," said Larry Shaw, president and CEO of Southern Season "In addition to her extensive background in the retail industry, Britt’s high energy and passion for food and entertaining make her the perfect fit for the role."

The retailer has operated one store in the Chapel Hill, N.C., for more than 30 years. It announced recently that it will expand to Mount Pleasant and to Richmond, Va.

"Southern Season is a company that embraces the local community by supporting local artisans and promoting an entrepreneurial spirit," Johnson said. "I am so proud to be leading the new team here in Charleston and introducing Southern Season to my local community."

Vendors interested in having their products on Southern Season’s shelves can submit a request form on the store's website.

The store will include one of the worlds largest gourmet food markets specializing in more than 80,000 local and international products, an award-winning full-service restaurant, extensive wine cellar, bakery and cooking school.

The project is being heralded as a key part of Mount Pleasant's Coleman Blvd. revitalization project. The town has embarked on a streetscape project in the vicinity of the store that's meant to compliment Southern Season and The Boulevard apartments, which are being constructed across from the planned store.