A game-changer in NC seafood is ready to unveil its giant new fish market in Raleigh
A giant seafood market will open in Raleigh this month, making the coast seem closer than ever.
Locals Seafood is set to debut its 10,000-square-food seafood market and processing facility, hosting a grand opening event Saturday, May 18.
The emergence of Locals Seafood 14 years ago helped make North Carolina’s coastal bounty more accessible to Triangle diners, both in restaurants and at home. Owners Lin Peterson and Ryan Speckman started the company by driving to the coast twice a week and selling seasonal seafood out of the back of a pickup truck.
Now Locals unveils one of the state’s largest inland seafood markets, in a new building at 1408 Corporation Pkwy in East Raleigh. For now the market is only open two days a week, Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A half-ton of seafood a week
“Our new facility in East Raleigh is a game changer,” Speckman said in a press release. “The secret to our success has been our hyper-focus on the supply chain. We are obsessed with ensuring the highest quality care as soon as our cherished resource comes out of the water. We are now able to process more seafood as close as possible to the consumer to ensure peak freshness and quality.”
With the new capacity, Locals expects to process an extra half-ton of seafood each week at the new facility, focusing on whole fish butchery. In all, Locals butchers and processes about 10,000 pounds of fish weekly.
“Having a seafood processing facility further inland in the Triangle is actually a huge benefit to the consumer,” Peterson said in a release. “We are excited to open our doors to the public. We feel that this facility can serve as a flagship for the North Carolina seafood industry.”
When Peterson and Speckman announced the new market in 2022, it also meant closing Locals Oyster Bar in Raleigh, one of the cornerstone pieces of the Transfer Co. Food Hall.
Locals Oyster Bar lives on, though, in the Durham Food Hall as a restaurant and seafood market.
Initially Locals planned to have a restaurant component as part of the new market, but those plans appear to be on ice.
Locals will have a hand in a new Raleigh restaurant, Mala Pata, a collaboration with burrito artisans Ex-Voto, slated to open in Gateway Plaza.
Grand opening details
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday May 18
Customers who spend $100 will get a free Locals t-shirt.
The opening event will include chef demonstrations on shucking an oyster, filleting a fish, cleaning a softshell crab and deveining a shrimp.
