Lowes Foods, a supermarket chain based in Winston-Salem, N.C. (not to be confused with the home improvement store chain Lowe’s, with which it is not associated) came to the CSRA this past summer and may be spreading further south from its home state.
Despite its name appearing on a survey plat at a square, 20-acre parcel where William Few Parkway meets Columbia Road, next to Patriots Park, there are currently no plans yet to bring the store to Columbia County, or even on this side of the river in the CSRA, says Lowes Foods PR Director Kelly Davis.
“It’s not unusual, when a developer is pitching a site… a lot of times they will put a grocer that they’re thinking about approaching, or maybe even have talked to on the plans,” said Davis. “That was the case with this as well. We’re always looking for opportunities, but we don’t have anything else signed, or anything definitive in that area at all.”
Lowes Foods Aiken is the chief tenant in a shopping plaza constructed at the intersection of Whiskey and Powderhouse roads. The roughly 50,000-square foot store opened in July, boasts locally farmed produce (or “Palmetto Produce,” as signage will inform upon visitation), a deli, coffee shop and smokehouse.
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“Our store really is an experience,” Davis said, stressing, as an example, the store’s kid-friendly offerings: such as the “Cakery,” where children can see the “cake wizard;” or the sausage works, where they can help “Sausage Professor” prepare any of its 60 kinds of sausage available. “For adults, you can come in, get a glass of wine and sip while you shop… At our pick and prep area if you are doing a recipe and you only need half an onion, we’ll chop up half an onion for you.”
Lowes Food has more than 80 grocery store locations, most of them concentrated in North Carolina. Its closest stores to the Augusta area are two in Lexington, S.C. (including on on Augusta Highway). Last year the grocery chain announced plans to expand, opening more stories in the Carolinas, including Aiken, and closing some other locations in North Carolina and Virginia. Its first Georgia supermarket, Lowes Food of the Foothills, opened in September in Marble Hill.
Lowes Food Aiken is at 2940 Whiskey Road.
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
