RIDGEWAY, S.C. — More fresh food options are planned for rural Kershaw County, but not everyone is happy with the proposal.
Kershaw County Council is expected to vote Tuesday night on a project that would bring the first Dollar General Market to Ridgeway.
“I'd like to see it come,” said Ridgeway resident Carl Branham, who lives down the street from the proposed Dollar General Market.
“We need it, too, cause for the people that are on a fixed income, it helps us a good little bit," Branham said. "My closest place is Food Lion in Lugoff, and it takes me probably 15 minutes to get there. It’s about a 30-minute round trip.”
Other residents like Shannon Mines do not want the store.
“I don’t like it at all," Mines said. "Many of us bought up some large lots down the street from it and built some really nice homes, so we have a lot invested in our property value, and we feel like having a Dollar General come in will decrease the value. But one of the main reasons I moved out there is to get away from stuff like that. The quietness and all of that will change.”
Kershaw County Council Member Jimmy Jones says Planning and Zoning voted against it, but County Council is now on its third and final reading for the project.
Jones says he plans to vote for it because he says many people in the area have told him there is a need.
“I’ve been getting 3-1 information from the folks up there that they’d like to see the Dollar General come there ... This one will have a produce area, a meat market ... it's going to be nice," Jones said. "There is nothing up there for them. There is about a 20-mile round trip for them up there. I think it will be a good thing, and I haven't seen or read anything showing a Dollar General has hurt someone's property value.”
There is no official date for when the Dollar General Market would open if it is approved.