Popular local pizza chain opening new location in downtown Rock Hill
Empire Pizza will be opening a new location in Rock Hill.
The restaurant will be located in downtown’s University Center development complex, across the street from the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center and the Lowenstein Building. It should open before the end of the year.
Empire Pizza CEO and owner Constantine “Kosta” Doulaveris said the space will be the smallest Empire Pizza location and will be called “Little Empire Pizza.” He expects there to be 75-85 seats in the dining area and plans to build a patio that can seat another 20-30 patrons.
The pizza menu will be scaled down, but the restaurant will be suited for quick turnarounds on orders. There will also be a handful of new items that aren’t available at the original location on Riverchase Boulevard.
The new location will also feature a full-service bar with about 12-15 seats.
Doulaveris said he’d been looking at the area for around five years and started negotiating the lease about a year and a half ago.
“We see a lot of potential out there, just being in the downtown Rock Hill demographic,” Doulaveris said. “Also the potential in the business that the Sports and Event Center brings that area. It’s kind of an insulated location for us. Usually, we liked being by big shopping areas like a Wal-Mart or a Harris Teeter or being on a road with high traffic counts. But we think there’s a lot of potential, and we’re looking forward to getting open.”
This will be the local chain’s third restaurant in Rock Hill, joining the original pizzeria and one in Newport. It joins other area Empire Pizza locations in Fort Mill, Mint Hill and Charlotte, but Doulaveris doesn’t believe that the new location will do more harm than good.
“We think it’s far enough outside those locations we won’t cannibalize ourselves,” Doulaveris said. “We think we have such a good following and had our business footprint in Rock Hill for 15 years now, so we think it’s just going to be an added value for our customer base that’s a bit outside the four- to five-mile range (of the other two locations.) And since downtown Rock Hill has grown so much over the past five years, we’re really excited about being there.”
Empire Pizza
Address: 343 Technology Center Way, Rock Hill SC, 29730
Cuisine: Italian, American, pizza, wings, burgers
Instagram: @empirepizzagram