Grocery chain (no, not Trader Joe’s) may move into old Sam’s location on Hilton Head

Lowes Foods, which bills itself as a “Swiss Army Knife Grocery Store,” has it sights set on the old Sam’s Club building on Hilton Head, according to documents filed with the town.

The more than 70,000-square-foot building in Port Royal Plaza has been vacant since Jan. 17, 2017, two days before the Bluffton Sam’s Club opened.

Lowes Foods is a North Carolina-based grocery chain in the Carolinas and Virginia, according to its website. The closest store to Beaufort County is in the Charleston area. It has no connection to Lowe’s home improvement stores.

Two of the Charleston-area Lowes Foods stores were remodeled last year and feature what the company calls “Lowes Foods Originals,” special concept areas within the larger store. Those include the Beer Den, offering local craft and draft beer; Pick and Prep, where chefs will cut up fruits and vegetables for shoppers; The Cakery; Smokehouse; and Chicken Kitchen; among others.

Plans submitted to the Town of Hilton Head show Lowes Foods using the entire footprint of the vacant building at 95 Mathews Drive.

The Design Review Board first discussed the store’s plans at its June 28 meeting and offered feedback about proposed landscaping, lighting, parking and facade changes. Lowes Foods representatives withdrew the application before the Design Review Board voted and are on the agenda to bring revised plans to the board at its July 26 meeting.

Hilton Head Councilman Alex Brown, whose ward includes Port Royal Plaza, said a grocery store like Lowes would be a blessing to residents who have been in a food desert since Bi-Lo closed in 2019. He said the idea pairs well with the town’s Mid-island Initiative redevelopment and revitalization plans.

“I have not seen a confirmation that Lowes is absolute. I can only speak conceptually,” he said, “but I’m overly excited about Lowes coming into that space.”

Port Royal Plaza

In December 2019, representatives from Burke’s Outlet appeared before the Town of Hilton Head’s Design Review Board with their plans to give the vacant Sam’s Club space a facelift and share it with its companion Home Centric furniture and home decor store and two other tenants. Those plans never made it past paper and into reality.

David Bloom, who originally developed the Port Royal shopping center with business partner Jim Bradshaw and others more than three decades ago, was behind the 2019 redevelopment that saw Planet Fitness move into a section of the shopping center.

Bloom told a reporter at the time that changes in the business climate because of the coronavirus caused the plans with Burke’s Outlet to fall through.

In July 2020, that portion of Port Royal Plaza was sold to new owners. Madison Capital Group, based in Charlotte, specializes in converting empty big box stores to other projects. In February 2021, the town’s planning commission approved a zoning change that would make it possible to open a self-storage facility there.

After public outcry and criticism from town officials the plans for the storage facility were withdrawn.

Several well-established restaurants call Port Royal Plaza home, including Plantation Cafe, OKKO, Street Meet, North End Pour House, Bella Italia and Fiesta Fresh. Public Kitchen and Wine Bar opened last year.

Across the parking lot from the vacant Sam’s Club, Paris Baguette bakery opened last week. Both Hook and Reel seafood and Kung Fu Tea are under construction.