A familiar face and a new store have moved into the West Street shop vacated three months ago when the Historic Beaufort Foundation moved into renovated offices on Scott Street.

"Just tell them Kitty's back," Terra Cotta owner Kitty Ellis said.

Terra Cotta has everything that Ellis, a landscape designer, deems essential. That includes pots, seeds, hangers for plants, UV-blocking parasols, books, lotions, food, knick-knacks and even piggy banks.

"The local people need some cool things, and they need products like those over there," Ellis said, gesturing to shelves of gourmet sauces, olives, seasonings and other food items.

In 1996, Ellis offered similar merchandise when she opened A Tisket, A Tasket in the basement of the Verdier House on Bay Street. The store later relocated to West Street.

About 10 years ago, she and her husband moved to Pensacola, Fla., and then to Cleveland, S.C. They recently returned, and Ellis had been selling items out of a space in Fordham Market.

"There is nothing really like Beaufort," Ellis said. "My soul is here. I cannot not be in Beaufort."

Terra Cotta will be open from 10 a.m. to about 4 or 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Ellis also will open the shop on some Sundays; she will close from about 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on some weekdays.

Information: 843-525-0183

In other business changes about town:

Starting about the middle of this month, keep an eye out for trucks trimmed in brightly colored balloons parading back and forth on Ribaut Road in Port Royal. Frugal Frannie's consignment and resale shop is moving from 1420-D Ribaut Road to 1351 Ribaut Road, owner "Frannie" Jeanne Dunn said.

The new location is the former home of Cowboys and Indians bar, which will give Dunn a slightly larger retail space and more parking, she said. The phone number will remain 843-525-6371, and hours will stay 10 a.m. "ish" to 6 p.m. "ish," she said.

The official opening of the new space will be March 1.

Panini's Cafe on Bay Street in downtown Beaufort is getting a new name to go with its new look, as renovations are wrapping up and a grand reopening is set for 5 p.m. Wednesday. Now named Panini's on the Waterfront, the restaurant's interior was closed during remodeling throughout January.

Follow reporter Erin Moody at twitter.com/EyeonBeaufort.

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