Shep Rose Is "Excited" for His Palace Hotel to Open Its Doors Again

Get ready, world: Shep Rose is expanding his empire. The Southern Charm bachelor is slowly going from bar owner to full-on mogul now that he's launched his successful line of Palace Hotel hats. The limited edition is so hot it's currently sold out — and Shep wasn't fully prepared for the onslaught of interest they would garner following their launch.

"Oh my god! You have no idea! I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I have tape up to my chin, I'm taping and stuffing boxes [to ship out]," he told The Daily Dish. "I was hoping it would be this successful. It's been great. It's so cool. The last thing I want to do is to monetize fans, that's just not cool, but the hats are really cool. I love the hats. If I didn't own it, I would buy it. But I'm a hat junkie anyway. People seem to love them and I'm happy to send them a little piece of memorabilia. It's great."

And the hats are already bringing him together with some old pals, including former flame MJ, who he courted back in Season 1 of Southern Charm. The twosome ran into each other while he was running errands around Charleston and she agreed to help him with his endeavor. "She's gonna write the labels while I pack the boxes and we're gonna just kind hang out all afternoon, which is really cool cause I haven't see her in a while," Shep said.

Speaking of the Palace Hotel, Shep confirmed that the bar will reopen in August following the fire that broke out within the building it is located back in January. "We've been working diligently. The kitchen is ready to go. There's a lot of little hoops to jump back through, as far as inspections and things of that nature, permits, and we're moving right along and it's great," he said. "When something like this happens, you're like, 'Will it ever come back?' But the local response has just been overwhelmingly, 'You guys have got to bring that bar back.' And everyone really loves it and I do, too."

And just because he and his team at the bar had the chance to make changes doesn't mean that much has been altered inside the space. "I mean not much. We had the opportunity to redo the floors and the kitchen, some just little things here and there, but it was good the way it was," he said. "And so I'm just excited to get it back. Now I've got two bars within two blocks of me on either side and, I mean, I might not ever leave the neighborhood."

Speaking of his other bar, the Commodore, it's quickly becoming a celeb hotspot. In addition Padma Lakshmi stopping by last month, Darius Rucker (you know, of Hootie and the Blowfish fame) has also grabbed drinks there. "The Commodore's been crazy. People are talking about it and going there. I get texts all the time [that] I can't wait to see the new place. Apparently Darius Rucker he was in there [last week], so it's very exciting," he said. "I'm stoked about it. It is a music venue. I don't know what we're going to do as far as someone of his stature is concerned [to book at the venue], it would probably be like a very quiet private gig. But, of course, that's way down the road. But we would love to have some people like that come in."

And it sounds like the perfect spot to catch some live music. "It's very intimate. It's got a little stage and it's just a really cool vibe in there," he said. It's like a retro jazz bar and everyone seems to love it. I went there last night and took pictures with probably like 14 people who were in there from out of town. They heard about it, so it's obviously very cool that people respond in that way. And it kind of ties back to the hats, people, I guess, just really love the show. It's flattering and it's lovely. I'm happy to take a moment and say hello and take a picture and then hit the dance floor and cut a rug."

Below, the Southern Charm crew recalls some of their wildest moments.

The Charmers Reveal Their Favorite Drunk Memories