South Carolina has lost another longtime neighborhood grocery store, following a separate Piggly Wiggly closing announcement in Myrtle Beach in October. The Piggly Wiggly at 1160 South Main Street in Greenwood closed October 9, taking away the only full grocery store that many people in the surrounding census tract could reach on foot.
The shutdown ended more than five decades of grocery retail at Greenwood’s Abney Plaza. The location first opened as a Piggly Wiggly on December 4, 1973, operated as Price Wise beginning in the mid-2000s and returned to the Piggly Wiggly name in 2018.
Food access changed immediately
Andrea White, executive director of the Food Bank of the Lakelands, told the Index-Journal that the store was the only grocery in Census Tract 9705 that nearby residents could walk to. After it closed, she estimated that the nearest large grocery store required a 20- to 30-minute walk in each direction.
That distance is especially important for shoppers without reliable transportation. In a follow-up report later in October, White said the food bank had already seen more traffic from people asking for food as well as paper and hygiene products. The organization said its inventory remained stable and it was continuing to purchase produce locally, while Food Lion stores were also donating produce.
Some employees found new jobs
The number of people employed at the Piggly Wiggly was not disclosed. Food Lion representatives met with the store’s staff before the shutdown and offered them jobs, and some former employees accepted positions with the competing grocer. The job offers provided a landing spot for at least some of the staff, though the number who transferred and the number who did not has not been released.
One of the Greenwood store’s owners, Brittany Boatwright, declined to tell the local newspaper why the business closed. The business did not give a detailed public explanation for the decision.
Other stores remain, but the neighborhood gap is real
Piggly Wiggly has not left Greenwood County entirely. The chain’s official South Carolina directory lists stores in Ninety Six and Ware Shoals. Greenwood also has Food Lion, Publix, Walmart and other grocery options, but those businesses do not restore the short, walkable trip the South Main Street location provided.
White said local leaders hoped to discuss attracting another grocery store to Greenwood. As of early November, no replacement had been announced for the Abney Plaza space, leaving nearby residents to rely on longer trips, family or friends, delivery, or community food assistance.
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