The Story of Southern Season

A Southern Season's original 800 sq. ft. store opened in 1975 as a tiny coffee roastery and had one employee, owner Michael Cooper Barefoot. Driven by an intense love of food and a deep respect for quality, along with a healthy measure of down-home horse sense, Michael set his vision on introducing specialty foods to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina.

Initially operating on something less than a shoestring budget, projections required average daily receipts of $312 to keep the doors open. Posted hours during the first year were 9am-9pm, but the shop never closed until sales had reached $312, sometimes past midnight.

Customer enthusiasm and demand for a more extensive selection of gourmet specialty food items prompted a move to its larger Eastgate Shopping Center location in 1978. Numerous expansions have occurred since, including a major 1992 renovation which expanded the Eastgate store to 28,000 sq. ft.

A Southern Season has been dedicated to excellence - the finest products and service, and a public image of elegance and taste. Named one of America's most outstanding retailers by the National Association of the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) at the International Fancy Food Show in 2004, A Southern Season was included in Retail Superstars: Inside The 25 Best Independent Stores in America 2009 by George Whalin and has been featured in The New York Times, Travel & Leisure, Southern Living, Gourmet Retailer as well as profiled on FoodTV Network, The Golf Channel, and Turner South. The landmark gourmet marketplace was declared "wall to wall and floor to ceiling ... a visual and gustatory delight!" after a visit by Craig Claiborne (1921-2000) of The New York Times.

In September 2003, A Southern Season opened a new flagship gourmet emporium at University Mall, just down the road. At 59,000 sq. ft., the landmark market nearly doubled in size, becoming one of the largest specialty-only gourmet markets in the US.

In its current location, A Southern Season features CLASS, Culinary Lessons at A Southern Season, a state-of-the-art cooking school with plans to offer at least 250 class/demonstrations featuring approximately 50 visiting culinary experts and 25-30 celebrity chefs each year.

Today A Southern Season employs more than 250 people and enjoys sales approaching $25 million. Its popular Weathervane restaurant showcases an ever-changing menu of creative seasonal fare using many of the store's specialty products.

From a separate 92,000 sq. ft. facility in Hillsborough, NC, A Southern Season operates a mail order and e-commerce business, along with Carolina Cupboard, a wholesale distributorship. Annual mail-order catalogs remain the single largest marketing tool, reaching over a million customers across the country

Online since 1997, the company web site (www.southernseason.com) features current catalog selections as well as store specials, Weathervane menus, a monthly newsletter, a calendar of in-store events, CLASS offerings and employment opportunities.

A Southern Season is proud that our family of customers extends so far and wide.

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