The Piggly Wiggly on Cherokee Road, once the smaller sibling of the now-closed Florence Mall location, ceremonially reopened on Wednesday after extensive renovations.
The grocery store now has expanded meat, produce and frozen food selections, a bakery, sushi stand, floral department and deli that has the “best fried chicken in the world,” according to store operator Marty Massey.
“We have widened our selection of merchandise tenfold,” Massey said. “This store was neglected for a long time, so we put our resources in the store, and it’s been overwhelmingly successful.”
The store stayed open during renovation, and even without everything ready, the store doubled sales year over year, he said. Renovations began in June after the Florence Mall location’s landlord did not renew the lease, forcing the store to close and employees to move to the Cherokee Road location.
To celebrate the remodeling, the store held a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, April 5th that was attended by many in the community.
Holding the scissors for the ribbon cutting are Lynn Willard, owner of Lowcountry Grocers, left, and Marty Massey, store operator, right. Teresa Myers Ervin, mayor of Florence, is on the far left, and Mike Miller, Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce president, stands behind her. Attending but not pictured was Florence Police Chief Allen Heidler.
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