Divine South Market brings sweet nostalgia, and a whole lot of butter, to Clements Ferry

Walk into Divine South Market on any given day, and the first thing that hits you is the scent.  

Warm cinnamon. Melting chocolate. Banana bread that seems to call your name before you’ve even made it to the counter. 

It’s the kind of aroma that doesn’t just make you hungry; it makes you feel something. And for owner Kristi Henderson, that feeling is exactly the point. 

Henderson opened the dessert shop on Clements Ferry only a few months ago, but her family’s baking business, the Chocolate Heaven Company, has been in the Lowcountry for nearly a decade. “Our first customer was Boone Hall Plantation in 2016,” she said. 

Her first visit to Charleston in 2015 sealed the deal. 

“I fell in love with it immediately, as it reminded me of Fort Myers, Florida, where I had lived as a child. The salt, the sand, the palm trees, the marshes.” And when post-COVID-19 staffing challenges hit their Highlands, North Carolina, operations, the move became inevitable. “Charleston was the only place that checked all the boxes.” 

Choosing Clements Ferry was easy, Henderson said. “Mount Pleasant has become so much busier, and Clements Ferry had more of the small-town feel that we were used to in the Highlands.” Being near the water helped too. “There are a few things better than sitting on the dock watching the tide go out after a long day.” 

Divine South Market itself was born years earlier as a kind of happy accident. “It’s hard to resist the smell of fresh banana bread, chocolate heaven, or coffee cake coming out into the parking lot and not wanting to take some home,” Henderson said. 

That irresistible aroma inspired them to open a small market next door to their Highlands kitchen, one that quickly became a destination. Now those same signature desserts are the heartbeat of Divine South’s Clements Ferry storefront. Chocolate Heaven, their first creation, remains the star. 

“If fudge and brownies had a baby, that would be it,” Henderson said. Four varieties of banana bread, a cream-cheese-laden coffee cake, lemon and butter pound cakes, and party muffins round out the lineup. 

“What makes our product stand out is that everything we make is done like Grandma did,” she said. “We use only real butter, unbleached flour, real eggs, real sugar, molasses, and no artificial flavors or corn syrup.” 

Shelves are also stocked with what Henderson calls “local and regional crafted food and gifty things,” including Charleston Candles, Oliver Pluff teas, Roots and Leaves wellness products, cheese straws, jams, wafers, and more. 

The shop also offers appetizers, soups, hot dips, croissants, pastries, and breads - and possibly quiches in the future. 

As Henderson put it, their mission is “to bring back the taste of a simpler time.” 

Divine South Market is located at 1941 Clements Ferry Road, Suite E.