TOUR: Piggly Wiggly - Quadrangle, Charleston, SC

Piggly Wiggly
Owner: David Smith

Opened: 2018

Previous Tenants: Piggly Wiggly > Bi-Lo

Location: 630 Skylark Dr, West Ashley, Charleston, SC

Photographed: January 2022

It's only our second store tour of the Charleston area, and we're already on another Piggly Wiggly! I have a lot more interest in stopping in to see the Piggly Wigglys (Pigglys Wiggly?) than the Food Lions and Harris Teeters, though we will see some of those chain stores as we progress through the area.

This 28,000 square foot store is the only Piggly Wiggly within Charleston city limits, a city that's dominated by Publix, Harris Teeter, and Food Lion along with a few others. We're about five miles due west of downtown here on US-17, or Savannah Highway. We enter on the right side of the storefront for a layout very similar to our last Piggly...

Bakery and deli take up the front right corner, with produce on the right side wall. What used to be a liquor department in the back right corner was at the time of my visit under construction for a pharmacy, with meat on the back wall. Dairy and frozen are in the last aisle and continue into an alcove in the front left corner. 

Piggly Wiggly actually built this store a while ago, and then Bi-Lo Foods occupied the space from 2013 to 2018, and Piggly Wiggly opened back up in April of that year. Not sure how long actually there was between the closure and the opening. And as far as I can tell, most or all of the decor inside is left over from Bi-Lo except perhaps the aisle markers and a few signs here and there. As we see, the decor is more deluxe than Summerville's. But wait... unless this decor is from the first iteration of Piggly Wiggly...? This confuses me greatly.

Deli, bakery, and hot food (all closed for the night) also seem to be much larger here than Summerville, although I think Summerville's bakery was larger and this store does not have sushi. This store, if I remember correctly, also does not have service seafood. Note that David Smith owns this store and Summerville.

And although we can tell, like Summerville, that the store is on the older side, it's still quite attractive. Maintenance has been fantastic here. Look at that floor!

We once again see a strong showing on local produce and local products throughout the store. At the back of the deli/produce aisle is the space that used to be liquor and is soon to be pharmacy. It's a rather strange place for a pharmacy, but I suppose you put it where you have the space.

Food Lion half a mile away doesn't have a pharmacy, so they might be hoping to get an edge over them.

Looking across the back wall at the meat department. Looks like the lighting was updated more recently than the decor, possibly when Piggly Wiggly came in.

Heading into the grocery aisles, we see what may be updated aisle markers from when Piggly Wiggly moved in. The shelving is definitely older, but in good shape.

Here's cold cuts and the rest of the meat department on the back wall. The yellow wall we see in the distance is the relocated beer and wine department...

And in the front of this corner is an alcove with frozen and dairy.

These cases all look pretty up-to-date, so they were likely installed shortly before Bi-Lo closed or upon Piggly Wiggly's opening. Or were they installed by Bi-Lo when they took over in 2013?

The only clear sign of the decor's age we get is the faded pictures, such as this one above Frozen Foods.

Here's a look at the dairy department in the front of the alcove. And Piggly Wiggly has something Bi-Lo definitely didn't...

...a merchandise shelf for all your Piggly Wiggly-branded needs! While I didn't buy anything here, I did purchase a Piggly Wiggly t-shirt in Summerville. And now on to the front-end.

If you look carefully, you can see the labelscar of what I assume to be the Bi-Lo logo under the current Piggly Wiggly lettering.

And here's another shot of the entrance/exit foyer. Quite the store, and I'm glad I got to see it (plus, document what I believe to be full Bi-Lo decor...or else just older Piggly Wiggly decor!) We are headed into downtown as we move about two miles east along 17 for tomorrow's stores, and they're something quite unusual -- two supermarkets in the same strip mall, although not for long. Check out one here and one on The Independent Edition tomorrow!