Southern Season to Open 2nd Location

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Gourmet food retailer Southern Season here has announced plans for a multicity expansion beginning next summer with its second store in Mount Pleasant, S.C., near Charleston.

Founded in 1975, Southern Season operates a single 60,000-square-foot store in Chapel Hill featuring specialty groceries, food related gifts, a culinary school and restaurant. The company was acquired from its founders last year by local private equity firms Carrboro Capital and Tryon Capital Ventures. That group appointed former Nordstom and Vermont Country Store executive Larry Shaw as president and chief executive officer.

The 44,000-square-foot Mount Pleasant store will be located in the Brookgreen Town Center, and is expected to open in early summer, officials said.

The company said it plans to build additional stores in Richmond, Va.; Charlotte, N.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; Atlanta; Nashville, Tenn.; Northern Virginia; Naples, Fla.; and Palm Beach, Fla.