Southern Season sold for $3.5 million in bankruptcy auction

After declaring bankruptcy, Southern Season and its new owner, Calvert Retail, are looking to move forward.

Southern Season, a specialty culinary store founded in Chapel Hill in 1975, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 24. The company listed $18.3 million in liabilities and $9.8 million in assets.

Calvert Retail, a Delaware-based company, purchased Southern Season for $3.5 million in an auction Aug. 19. A federal judge approved the bid, and Calvert Retail added Southern Season to Kitchen & Company and Reading China & Glass, the other stores the company owns.

“As a company, we have always admired Southern Season as a leading brand,” Eric Brinsfield, owner of Calvert Retail, said in a press release. “We were monitoring the situation closely and hoping to get involved with such a great legacy.”

“A large percentage of what Southern Season sells is directly in line with what our stores sell so the synergy is really going to be incredible,” he said in the release. “I’m honored to be associated with an institution that I have admired from a business aspect for many, many years. We are excited about having a presence in Chapel Hill.”

Calvert Retail acquired the Southern Season flagship store, along with its intellectual property, trade names and website. The smaller Taste of Southern Season stores in Raleigh, Asheville and Charleston, S.C. were closed.

There are no plans for change in the Chapel Hill location.

“We hope to preserve the Southern Season name as its own brand under Calvert Retail,” said Stephanie Graves, marketing manager for Calvert Retail. “The Chapel Hill community has loyally supported this institution for many years and we hope to continue that tradition.”

Executives at Southern Season are focused on tying up loose ends and serving their customers.

“Southern Season will continue to provide the outstanding products and customer service that our guests have come to expect,” said Jill Lucas, communications manager for Southern Season.

Vendors who sell their products at the store are looking forward to establishing a strong partnership with the new owners.

“Southern Season holds a special place in our hearts as they are the ones who helped us launch our family business and have remained one of our largest accounts since that very first day,” Christy Graves, vice president of Chapel Hill Toffee, said in an email. “We’re hoping that the new owners can keep the Chapel Hill store thriving and possibly grow in the future, but do it the right way.”

Graves said her company already has a relationship with Calvert Retail, which sells toffee at the Kitchen & Company stores.

“(The purchase) comes as a relief,” she said. “It has been clear to us for a long time that, under the leadership of the former CEO, Southern Season was moving in the wrong direction.”

“While we hate to hear that the new owners will be closing the smaller format stores in North Carolina and South Carolina that seemed to be successful, we hope that Southern Season can get back into the good graces of their vendors and the community.”

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