Starbucks eyes Lady’s Island site that would bring second coffee chain to parkway
A Starbucks has been proposed just off of Sea Island Parkway on Lady’s Island, a Beaufort County planning official says.
It’s the second national coffee chain that’s shown interest in the island, which currently has no drive-through coffee shops. A Dunkin’ Donuts also is in the works.
“What we’re seeing is the market is big enough out there that it’s beginning to support these franchises like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts,” said Robert Merchant, director of Beaufort County’s Planning and Zoning Department.
A Starbucks spokesperson would not confirm whether the company is looking at opening a coffee shop on Lady’s Island. “At this time, we remain focused on serving communities in the nearby area and have no store-opening plans to announce,” the spokesperson said.
The Lady’s Island Starbucks proposal has gone through a pre-application process with county planning staff, Merchant said, but isn’t very far along in the process. Starbucks is looking at a site on the south side of Sea Island Parkway, between Gay and Ferry drives, Merchant said. That’s just east of the Sea Island Parkway/Sams Point Road-Lady’s Island Drive intersection. The Dunkin’ Donuts is proposed north of the Parkway, and west of that intersection.
In Beaufort County, there are 12 Starbucks south of the Broad River. If the Lady’s Island store is built, it would be the second in northern Beaufort County, along with a store on Boundary Street in Beaufort.
Starbucks still is refining the Lady’s Island site plan, Merchant said. The next step would be submitting a conceptual plan. To proceed, the project would need approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals because a drive-through coffee shop is a special-use requiring a permit.
The proposed Dunkin’ Donuts has prompted concerns about its impact on traffic because its entrances and the exits are both located on Sea Island Parkway, a major thoroughfare. The Starbuck site, Merchant said, is located between two side streets off of Sea Island Parkway. “It’s a different situation as far as site circulation,” he said.
Seattle-based Starbucks, which began in 1971, has more than 30,000 retail stores in 83 markets globally, including more than 15,000 in the United States.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
