The Market
Owner: Kiawah Island
Kiawah Island is an upscale, private resort island and the main attraction is a large golf resort. The only grocery store of any kind within the gates of the island is The Market at Town Center, which is an interesting combination of convenience store and cafeteria. It seems to work quite well for what vacationers and residents are looking for. Plus, for large orders, I'm sure many stop at the Village Market by Harris Teeter just outside Kiawah Island.
This store appears to be owned by the resort, as are all the restaurants (and all the businesses...?) on Kiawah Island. It's also considered to be the most, um, affordable dining option on the island. Other options include The Ocean Room, where a 12oz New York Strip steak will cost you $75.
In the front of the store is some Kiawah Island merchandise, with a few tables of grocery items ranging from nonfood items (like HABA or paper goods) to simple groceries.
This section feels much like a high-end convenience store. I'm fairly certain I saw a Food Club branded product or two, which means they're likely supplied by Alex Lee. Or somebody goes up the street to KJ's and buys what they need...
So funny story about that. I know someone whose grandfather used to own a very small, old fashioned, service grocery store in I think Colorado. The town they were in was small, but also had an A&P. When someone would ask him if he had a product he knew he didn't have, he would say, wait a minute, let me look in the back. He'd go in the back, give his grandson some money and tell him to run out the back door to the A&P and buy the item, then mark it up a few cents and sell it to the customer.
In the back of the building, we have a very nice cafeteria-type food service operation, with pizza, sandwiches, soup, salads, and hot entrees. The food from what I sampled was quite good, and the dining room was surprisingly peaceful (likely due to the fact that, again, I was here off-season)...
Owner: Kiawah Island
Opened: unknown
Cooperative: none
Location: 5480 Sea Forest Dr, Kiawah Island, SC
Location: 5480 Sea Forest Dr, Kiawah Island, SC
Photographed: January 2022
And there's also outdoor seating around the building. A very nice little place on a pleasant island! Speaking of that, that describes the next place we're headed, although it's drastically different from this one. Come back tomorrow as we head over to Wadmalaw Island!
If I remember correctly from the book about the Ketners (various family had stores but eventually the last one opened started what is today Food Lion), they did the same thing in the early days going out to get items from another store (A&P may have been one that they went to, given how widespread they once were) if they didn't have what someone wanted.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure a lot of grocers did that. What's that book called? I haven't heard of it but, naturally, am interested.
Deletehttps://www.amazon.com/Lions-Share-Fastest-Growing-Supermarket-Millionaires/dp/1878086073
DeleteLooks like there are several available - I linked it since just searching there seem to be other books with the title Lion's Share as well (and apparently it was re-published recently, but that version shown at B&N is $120, so getting a used one for $5 or a bit more is probably a much better deal ;).
Not sure on this particular one, but we had for a number of years one Waldenbooks location in an otherwise quiet mall that used to sell off books that were not selling elsewhere. They'd put a price on it (less than the original) and then each month it would drop (from the price marked to 50% off to 75% off to 90% off). So, stopping by once a month and looking basically at the ones with the 90% off color one could get a bagful for just a few $, and many of them turned out to be things like this about various companies that provide quite a bit of useful information (and even if you got something that turned out to be of no interest, it wasn't such an issue when it only cost $1 or less).