T. Ballard Lesemann is enjoying a staycation this week in Mt. P. He still found time to send us this dispatch about a new market he discovered:
Motorists rolling up and down Coleman Boulevard may have noticed the new hand-painted signs and van-side billboards on the north end of Shem Creek announcing the “grand opening” of the new Raul’s Seafood Market. On Thursday (Dec. 5), I pulled into the entrance at 11 Church St. (just off of Mill Street), drove past the two old seafood trucks, and found co-owners Bobby Carroll and Kimberly Morales and sales manger Duane Mecca hard at work in the cozy, newly refurbished store at the foot of the Shem Creek bridge. Just a short stroll from the Red’s Ice House docks, the little wooden building previously housed the office for the Aggressor Sportsfishing company (which is still in operation, but more low-key these days). Both Morales and Carroll handle the company’s boat, loading their daily catches directly from onto the dock by the shop’s entrance.
“This new place will give us more visibility and a more convenient spot for customers,” says Morales. She worked for years with her late husband Raul Morales at the business’ previous location farther down the creek at 248 Magwood Lane, near what old-school locals know was the Geechee Dock. “We specialize in live blue crabs and freshly-caught shrimp — head-on and tails,” she told me as she pointed to a huge cooler full of large white shrimp who had been swimming in the harbor just that morning.
The shop features a variety of fresh-caught fish, snow crab legs, scallops, tuna steaks, and lump crab meats, and Bulls Bay clams from the Livingston company in McClellanville. Currently, blue crabs are priced at $8 dozen and $45 bushel. The head-on shrimp are priced at $4.75 a pound.
There’s still friendly competition across the creek, too. Mt. Pleasant Seafood (at 1 Seafood Drive, off of Coleman Blvd.) has been selling similar fare for seven days a week at their building by the bridge since 1945. Super-fresh, seasonal, convenient local seafood for good prices … it’s a great alternative to the imported frozen stuff at the local supermarkets.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.