Hobby Lobby opens in Mount Pleasant

Hobby Lobby’s new 55,000-square-foot store in Six Mile Marketplace in Mount Pleasant opened ahead of schedule Wednesday at 2165 Tea Planter Lane. It was set to open Friday.

The Oklahoma City, Okla.-based retail chain of arts and crafts stores will snip the ribbon on its first Charleston-area store at 9 a.m. Monday at Six Mile Road and U.S. Highway 17.

Play maker
Lots of new restaurants are planned for upper King Street, but not much retail has followed.

By Thanksgiving, a new upscale toy store will join the rush to the hottest newfound strip of real estate in downtown Charleston.

Blane and Nancy Sommer of Lake Keowee in the Upstate plan to open an as-yet unnamed toy shop at 525 King St. They are moving to Charleston in early October and will open the store by Nov. 19 in the 2,500-square-foot shop formerly occupied by Maine Cottage home furnishings, which went out of business in early 2011.

Blane Sommer’s brother, Brett, and his sister-in-law, Susan, run a similar toy shop in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, called Figpickels Toy Emporium, but the store on King will have a different name, Blane Sommer said.

In addition to high-end toys, the shop across from Morris Sokol Furniture will offer toy demonstrations, children’s books and a reading area. Sommer hopes to have the new name nailed down very soon.

Last shot
The last Charleston-area Ritz Camera closes Saturday at 620 Coleman Blvd. in Moultrie Plaza in Mount Pleasant. The entire company is going out of business after failing to find a buyer during its most recent bankruptcy filing.

The store still has hundreds of orders that were never picked up. They include prints, slides and cameras. If you have an item at the store, Saturday is your last chance to get it. Remaining merchandise will be shipped to the nearest store, which is in Columbia. No closing date has been set for that store.

Healthy start
Complete Nutrition opens today at 1748 Towne Centre Way, Suite 101, at Mount Pleasant Towne Centre.

The chain store offers weight-loss, sports-nutrition and general-health products as well as staff made up of certified personal trainers, nutritionists and others experienced in health and fitness. James Rodgers is the director of operations at the company’s new store, one of 160 nationwide. About 150 more are planned in the next three years.

Free tours
Museum Day is Saturday. Sponsored by Smithsonian Magazine, the event allows free admission to one person and a guest at certain venues across the country. In Charleston, Drayton Hall and the Powder Magazine are participating. Colleton Museum in Walterboro and Georgetown County Museum in Georgetown are also on the list. For a complete list across the state, go to www.smithsonian.com/ museumdaylive.

Pet project
Tidewater Veterinary is now open in the Shoppes at Seaside Farms in Mount Pleasant and will offer an open house from 1-4 p.m. Sunday at 1964 Riviera Drive, Suite G.

Veterinarian Dr. Cara Daniel offers preventative medicine as well as surgery, critical care and alternatives such a acupuncture and laser therapy. The open house will include hospital tours, teddy bear surgery (bring stuffed animals to mend), face-painting, goodies and more.

Do you know of a business that is opening, closing or expanding? Reach Warren L. Wise at 937-5524 or twitter.com/warrenlancewise.