GREENVILLE, S.C. — Super G Mart, a North Carolina-based international grocery chain, is preparing to open its first South Carolina store in a former department store space on Greenville’s Haywood Road, bringing a new specialty retailer and dozens of jobs to one of the Upstate’s busiest shopping corridors.
The store will occupy 555 Haywood Road in The Gallery shopping center, taking over space formerly leased by Gabe’s, the Upstate Business Journal reported Oct. 22. The grocer’s website lists the Greenville address as “coming soon” alongside its three existing stores in Greensboro, Charlotte and Pineville, N.C., making the Haywood Road location its first outside North Carolina.
Super G Mart is hiring 65 to 75 employees ahead of the opening, according to FOX Carolina, which reported in late September that company officials hoped to wrap up construction by the end of October and open around the end of November or early December. The Upstate Business Journal listed the opening as fall 2026. The company is taking applications through its website. Neither outlet reported the store’s square footage or the size of the company’s investment in the space.
The chain sells international groceries, fresh produce, seafood, spices and household goods, with products drawn from Asian, Latin American, Indian, European and Jamaican cuisines, according to the Upstate Business Journal. That multicultural format sets it apart from the conventional supermarkets that dominate the Greenville market and gives the region a new option for shoppers seeking hard-to-find ingredients.
The announcement lands during an active stretch for grocery and food retail in Greenville. Food Lion held a grand opening this week for its renovated store on North Pleasantburg Drive, its fourth location inside the city, and Georgetown-founded Kudzu Bakery and Market said it plans to open its fifth store at 1536 Laurens Road in summer 2027, the Upstate Business Journal reported.
For commercial real estate professionals, the deal is another example of an out-of-market grocer using a vacated big-box space to enter the Upstate rather than building new. Second-generation department store boxes can be difficult to re-lease because of their size and layout, and a grocery user that draws frequent, repeat trips can lift foot traffic for neighboring tenants in a center. Super G Mart’s choice of Greenville for its first expansion beyond North Carolina also signals that regional retailers see the Upstate’s growing and increasingly diverse population as a market worth pursuing, a trend landlords and brokers along Haywood Road and other established retail corridors will be watching as more vacant anchor spaces come back online.
Sources: Upstate Business Journal, FOX Carolina, Super G Mart, Upstate Business Journal, Upstate Business Journal
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