Granny’s Goodies Downtown
301 King St. 577-6200
It all started in 1986 with a $300/month space on Wappoo Road. Today, Granny’s Goodies is host to a steady stream of college kids looking for sexy nurse outfits or Nag Champa, but few are familiar with the history of the store as a cornerstone of Charleston’s culture. Granny’s thrived at its premiere location for about a year before moving to 263 King St., where owner Lynne Crooks (pictured at left) remembers watching Jump, Little Children play in the street long before the area had a J Crew or Pottery Barn. Since then, she has witnessed a lot of change on King Street as locally owned businesses play musical chairs while national chains move in. She mentions Ken Newman, owner of the former Horse and Cart and current Upper Deck Tavern, Dixie Dunbar of Dixie Dunbar Studio, and Mariana Ramsay Hay, owner of Croghan’s Jewel Box, as other small-business mainstays and her comrades in the ever-changing King Street commercial scene. They, along with Crooks and her husband Steve, continue to adapt their respective businesses as King Street changes, keeping a bit of local flavor among the increasingly gentrified shopping destination. Granny’s has been in its current location at 301 King St. for 11 years and in 2004, they formed an alliance with Cumberland’s Bar and Grill to share the space — and the ever-increasing property taxes. Crooks sees the Granny’s/Cumberland’s partnership as a great celebration of diversity on King Street. “We need a few Mohawk haircuts around here,” Crooks declares.
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