Rock Hill’s newest grocery store has updates like a hot bar but some familiar faces
Rock Hill’s newest grocery store includes updates like a hot bar but with familiar faces.
KJ’s Market opened earlier this month in the former Bi-Lo site on East Main Street in The Belleview Square Shopping Center in Rock Hill.
Many of the former Bi-Lo staff now work for KJ’s Market, said Mike Clawson, president of KJ’s Market parent company W. Lee Flowers. That includes manager Shannone Kerber.
Rock Hill and Lancaster Bi-Lo stores were sold with other stores in the company outside the tri-county area in early September to Alex Lee Inc.
KJ’s offers everything shoppers found at Bi-Lo plus more gluten-free and organic products, Clawson said, and no loyalty cards are needed.
The store has a full-service hot bar and other cooked meals. The store also has local-grown produce.
W. Lee Flowers & Co. founded in 1922 in South Carolina and is one of the largest grocery distributors in the region, according to the company. W. Lee Flowers operates 50 locations under IGA and KJ’s Market brands in the Carolinas and Georgia. Hickory, North Carolina-based Alex Lee Inc. is the parent company of W. Lee Flowers.
More grocery stores
Other grocers also are claiming a stake in the local competitive market.
Specialty grocer Earth Fare reopened in August on on Cherry Road in Rock Hill.
Hulsing Enterprises bought the Asheville-based company brand after Earth Fare filed for bankruptcy in February. Another store Earth Fare store opened in SouthPark in Charlotte, with four more stores in the works including one in Fort Mill, The Observer reported. It is expected to open by the end of the year.
Discount German grocer Aldi also is expanding with a store set to open in December on Charlotte Highway in Indian Land and another store is under construction in Rock Hill’s Newport area on Old York Road.
In Fort Mill, Harris Teeter is planning to build a 64,000-square-foot store on Fort Mill Parkway, The Herald previously reported.
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 11:12 AM.
