Gold Triangle Stores: A FDS Division in Florida of Hard-Lines (Updated February 16, 2018)

Most people know the story of how Federated Department Stores became Macy's recently after absorbing and eliminating all mid-market department names under their ownership. Today, their trade is mostly a nationally-marketed Macy's and their upscale brand Bloomingdale's. However, in the past Federated operated four seperate non-department store operations. Two of these were discount formats. One of these, of course, was Richway and the other was Cincinnati-based Gold Circle. The other two were more of an experimental store format that was helping Federated to test new store concepts.  These were Gold Key in California and the Gold Triangle chain in South Florida.  Gold Triangle was headquartered at 325 W 74th Place in Hialeah up until headquarters was moved to the new Hialeah store.

Image of interior service desk from The Miami News, May 20, 1970.

Seemingly, Gold Triangle would have just been the discount division of Burdine's or Jordan Marsh. However, this was not quite the case. It was a hard lines store best described as carrying "recreational, home and electronics" products [1].  It was geared as a leisure store, but it also carried hard lines, home products, garden products, patio furniture, appliances, and even an interior decorating section.  The store it seemed was aimed at appealing to a vacation-oriented market.  According to the Tampa Tribune, it was a "poor man's Abercrombie & Fitch" back in the days when Abercrombie & Fitch was a high-end sporting goods store instead of a teen clothing store.

The second and third images are from The Miami News of the grand opening from May 20, 1970.

The closest relative to it is the also defunct Lechmere stores, which were for a time operated by Montgomery Ward.  Gold Triangle got its start in 1968. Three stores opened in Fort Lauderdale, Dadeland and Skylake Mall in 1970.  Within a year, three more stores opened in Tampa and Orlando along with an additional South Florida store in Hialeah.  As a side note, it should be noted that Skyland Mall, built in 1969, was demolished in 2000.  At its peak, the chain grew to six stores with additional stores in Orlando, Tampa, and Hialeah added in the late 70's.  Though operated by Federated, the chain was Hialeah, FL-based.

In November 1981, it was announced that Gold Triangle would liquidate and close down the entire chain. Apparently the odd format proved ultimately to be unprofitable, but this did not mean that Gold Triangle was being sold off. Instead, Federated decided to bring its Atlanta-based Richway division to Florida. Opening in 1982, the new Richway stores were all in new locations meaning the former Gold Triangle locations either remained vacant or were sold off.  A distinct design element with Gold Triangle stores were a two-sided tent structure over the entrance designed to look like a pyramid from a distance.  It is not clear why Gold Triangle went under so quickly.  Perhaps they were not able to compete with Lechmere, the catalog stores, and the emerging electronics stores at the time.  Perhaps the store was an experiment that helped them to learn what they wanted.  They lasted a little more than a decade.  By closing them, they were able to raise the capital needed to bring Richway to Florida.

1981 YouTube video showing Black Friday shoppers at several South Florida stores, including the doomed Gold Triangle, which closed shortly after.  The store shown here is the Dadeland Mall location.

Here is the list of the former Gold Triangle locations.  Because of demolition and redevelopment of the sites of many of these buildings, it is impossible to pinpoint exactly where these Gold Triangle locations were:

• Kendall: 7420 SW 88th Streeet
• Across from Dadeland Mall
• Demolished for apartments
• Fort Lauderdale: NW Corner of U.S. 441 & W. Broward Blvd.
• Appears to have been just north of Westgate Shopping Center
• Skylake: Skylake Mall
• Mall has since been redeveloped
• Orlando: 718 Maguire Blvd (off of Colonial Drive)
• West of Orlando Fashion Square
• Replaced with a Target
• Appears to be using same building with extensive updates
• Tampa: 2525 Dale Mabry Highway
• Currently a Winn-Dixie at that address
• May have been the larger building closer to the corner with Columbus Drive
• Hialeah: 1800 W 46th Terrace
• Street name no longer exists, but is located near the junction of W 49th St & Palmetto Expressway
• Exact location unclear, but looks to be where Staples is currently

[1] Hughes, Le A.  "Gold Triangle stores to close after Christmas".  The Miami News.  17 November 1981.

Lizard's Thicket and More: Columbia's Local Restaurant Chains

One thing that makes Columbia truly special is that it has managed to maintain a certain sense of local culture that is rather unique across the sprawling sunbelt.  Despite its suburban surface, South Carolina's capitol city still maintains its own identity.  This is likely due to the fact that it has seen far slower growth and a less transient population than Greenville, Spartanburg, Myrtle Beach and Charleston.  Columbia, unlike Greenville and Charleston, sports very hot and humid summers and less access to scenic and recreational opportunities than its more heavily hyped neighbors.  While Mississippi comes readily to mind in that description, such is why places like Lizard's Thicket, Rush's and Maurice's BBQ are allowed to flourish.

Despite its mid-summer sauna reality, the fact is that Columbia is still the state's transportation hub.  This means that travelers en route to Myrtle Beach and Charleston from Greenville, Atlanta and Charlotte must pass through the city.  Indeed, many have and would be foolish to miss out on Columbia's best kept secret: Lizard's Thicket.  While the Geico Gecko comes to mind this day in age, I have known for all these years that Cracker Barrel tastes like cardboard in comparison to this place.  In fact, I was looking very forward to eating there again after a hiatus of about 15 years and was glad to see it was going very strong and the food was still delicious.

A cozy-looking Lizard's Thicket on St Andrews Road in Irmo.

Lizard's Thicket is true Southern cuisine with an enormous offering of vegetable dishes, meat dishes and the best sweet tea, all done traditional Southern style.  Columbia concurs, and locations are plentiful around the city, but they also stay just in the city choosing not to expand into a watered down corporate mess with the food declining similarly.  Nevertheless, finding this type of food in Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and other cities proves difficult, and tends to be far more expensive or far inferior.  Oddly, the chain itself has existed since 1977, itself joining the first surge of retail chains in Columbia while responding to the issue of fast food replacing the family meal.  Of course, Atlanta brought Columbia places like Moe's, but I think I'd rather have this any day than a Joey Bag of Donuts...sorry.

Another view of the St Andrews Lizard's Thicket.

Second, Rush's evolved in the 1960's from a Dairy Queen franchise into a major local chain across the city.  Rush's is definitely not for the diet conscious, but it appears to be a merger of the concept of fast casual with fast food before it even existed, offering typical fast food fare in a better-prepared diner style.  Essentially, it sounds like the forerunner of Five Guys with a more local flavor and more to choose from.  In fact, Rush's offerings consist of pretty diverse offerings such as all-beef hot dogs, burgers, fried chicken and barbecue.  This place I would probably be less likely to try, but it sounds good and definitely better than the criminally limited menu offerings presented at other local chains such as Alabama's Jack's Hamburgers.  However, I really cannot vouch for how good it is since I have never tried it.

 

 

Rush's on Decker Blvd. between Columbia Place and Decker Mall.  I also noticed one next to Columbiana Centre.

Last, Maurice's BBQ offers a taste of South Carolina's distinct mustard-based barbecue in a chain restaurant.  While I have not seen them anywhere outside the state, they are all over Columbia and recently expanded to Augusta, GA.  I have tasted Maurice's from the grocery store packages way in the past, and it is easily some of the best I have ever tried.  I am really a sucker for mustard-based barbecue, and I like mustard in general.  In fact, I tend to put mustard on top of barbecue sauce as a habit in the attempt to re-create that taste.

Maurice's sign and side of building located on Beltline Blvd.

Maurice's is not without controversy, though.  They got significant press back in 2000 when several store chains including Wal-Mart decided to pull the product over owner Maurice Bessenger deliberately flying the Confederate flag over one of his locations in protest over state sovereignty...an issue that lives on in South Carolina, but also an issue that caused the owner to be fined by the City of Lexington.  His beliefs, which erupted into his business practices, have gained him notoriety, but this apparently has definitely not hurt business for him.  After all, South Carolina did not exactly cheerfully rejoin the Union in the 1860's, thus feelings remain strong there even today.  Nevertheless, it erupted into a firestorm of controversy since his actions were considered offensive to many people.  This likely would have not gotten so far out of hand if not for him also doing things like publishing a pamphlet entitled "The Biblical View of Slavery".  In all, the owner's politics tend to leave a cloud over Maurice's.  Nevertheless, it is possible to find Maurice's barbecue sauce at Piggly Wiggly locations in lieu of the drive to Columbia, and it is definitely worth a try.

Maurice's locations carry a very distinctive design that stands out far more than most fast-food places.

There you have one of the more neglected aspects of my site...chain restaurants.  They are retail, too, and few things stir passion in people like good food.  That is especially true on those who have deliberately deprived themselves of it on a diet, which would be required at places like Rush's.  Of course, in the case of covering Lizard's Thicket I feel very hungry and deprived, so that has tended to be a more difficult topic to cover.  This also wraps up my Columbia series until if or when some historical photos, current photos or additional information come my way.  However, much more on Columbia can be found on the Columbia Closings site.

Abandoned Tweeter: Columbia, SC

I am personally unfamiliar with Tweeter, but I recall their bankruptcy around the same time Circuit City said goodbye.  While I do not know the circumstances, I photographed this location next to Columbiana Centre Mall.  I like the design, personally, and they did a good job with the logo considering the peculiar name.

The sign is intact as if nothing changed except for the store closing for a holiday.

Edgy, weird and an oddly complimentary color contrast.  It looked as good as new.  What happened?

Hillcrest Shopping Center/Hillcrest Mall: Spartanburg, SC

An accurate description of Hillcrest Mall is that it is a mall that never should have been built. What details exist of this mall online up to now are quite inaccurate, but looking through old newspaper articles should clear up the confusion. Basically, Hillcrest Mall started out as Hillcrest Shopping Center, which opened as strip mall in 1956 anchored by a mere three tenants: Community Cash, Smith-Ouzts Drugs and Hall Hardware. It was just an early strip mall with no department stores and not even a grocery store, but it continued to expand over the next decade. It has always been very successful as a strip mall as well, but its later mall expansion could hardly share that claim of success. With that, Hillcrest was definitely not the first mall in Spartanburg, but it definitely was the first strip shopping center.

Aerial shot of original Hillcrest Shopping Center in Spartanburg after a new expansion in 1964.

The first change at Hillcrest Shopping Center came in 1964. This was when a new A&P Grocery store was added to the strip as well as a Lambert's variety store. Other tenants in the 1964 shopping center included Amelia Anne Gifts, Hillcrest Styling Salon, The Cobbler Shop, Crestmont Restaurant, Smith-Ouzts Drugs, The Carousel Shop, Hillcrest Coin-Operated Laundry, Wallace Hunt Furniture, Jennings Shoes, the Barn, Friendship Room (group meeting place), Hlllcrest Barber Shop, Cambridge House, The Pastry Shop, Ellis Clothes of Distinction and Community Cash. Community Cash and Smith-Ouzts Drugs remained through the expansion. A couple other listed tenants were part of the new expansion. The biggest change to date, however, came in 1965. This is when a new Belk Hudson opened at the center, bringing a legitimate department store to the shopping center nearly 10 years after its construction. This store was added onto the north end of the strip, which created the first suburban location for Belk Hudson in the city.

Belk Hudson at Hillcrest Shopping Center prior to opening in 1965.  This was the only department store found in the original strip center, located on the end of the shopping center.  It was built after the last photo, but it would be located at the top if so.

South Carolina as a whole was slow to catch on to the mall craze. Richland in Columbia was probably the very first mall, but it was not until 1968 that Greenville opened the state's very first enclosed mall with McAlister Square.  While most cities of any size had a mall by 1965, Spartanburg had no mall even though I-85 was already built in the city. In fact, no mall of any kind existed in the city until 1975 when Westgate opened. Westgate featuring another Belk Hudson and Meyers-Arnold, which was based downtown. Although the two Belk stores overlapped, the two shopping centers co-existed peacefully. One was a mall, and the other was just a regular strip shopping center. Basically, you would buy groceries at Hillcrest and do your big shopping at Westgate, right? Wrong.

Jim Wilson & Associates, who had previously built many smaller malls including Jessamine Mall in Sumter, changed the plan for Hillcrest in the early 80's. Apparently Ivey's was looking for a store in the city, and Belk Hudson obviously needed a boost at the center. This was not a traditional mall in any sense. Instead, it was a mall appendage onto the existing shopping center. This new mall would be built leaving all of the existing shopping center in place, renovating the Belk Hudson and giving Ivey's a mall to be attached to in lieu of simply opening a store at Westgate Mall.

Ivey's under construction at Hillcrest in 1982.

Astoundingly, the major reason that Jim Wilson gave for building a mall on the undeveloped part of the site was that his daughter was in college in the area and "[He] was looking for a reason to come up and see her more often." [1] Huh? I understood he missed his daughter, but couldn't he have just built a Richway there or something? Unfortunately, this kind of logic applied often in ill-fated, poorly researched mall projects in the 70's, 80's and early 90's, which is the biggest catalyst behind the dead mall phenomenon today.  Market research and careful planning are incorporated much more in large scale retail projects today even though some still charge ahead without any thought.

Opening day comes on August 12, 1982. Dignitaries arrive to celebrate a mall that has a mere 110,000 square feet with 29 stores. If this had been built in 1965, it would have been worthy of a governor's visit, but why build this in 1982 when there is already another mall? Ivey's opened with 60,000 square feet of space to add to the mall, and the existing Belk brought the entire mall portion to little over 200,000 square feet. The mall was also built with the idea of expansion to a third anchor, which was promised but never materialized. The rest of the older strip shopping center was unaffected by the new mall except maybe in increased business. The mall itself was single level with breaks built in to deal with the sloping terrain it was built on. Inside were typical early 80's trappings such as planters and earthtones, though the mall did have skylights.

Ribbon cutting at Hillcrest Mall in 1982.  This is apparently center court, though it is difficult to tell.

Tenants in the new mall were not exactly those desired in a first-tier shopping mall. While chains such as Casual Corner, Waldenbooks, Hallmark, Radio Shack, GNC, Morrison's Cafeteria and Baskin Robbins were found in the new mall, most tenants when the mall opened were small locally-operated tenants. These "specialty shops" filled a mall when they were new, but they meant that the mall was a flop from the start. Unfortunately, the retail graveyard is full of small niche malls, and Ivey's here was definitely the niche that held it together.

Hillcrest Mall logo with part of the grand opening advertisement.  The logo seems strangely 90's, actually.

Now, fast forward to 1992. Owners already admit the mall is having vacancy problems, and less than 65 percent of the mall is leased even with anchors Belk and Dillard's. Dillard's has since replaced Ivey's, which was bought out in 1990. The buyout made people in the city very nervous noting that Dillard's was not exactly pleased with a smaller than usual store in a less than conventional mall in a new market, and Westgate was courting stores like Dillard's in a planned expansion. Even worse, the undersized mall in a less than ideal location was bleeding tenants. Chains stores in the mall were bailing out, while existing tenants were mad and the owners worried. [2]

Ivey's ad published after opening day.

In April 1995, the mall owners' worst fears were realized. Dillard's announced they were constructing a new store at Westgate Mall in an expansion, subsequently closing the Hillcrest store. After the new store was completed, Dillard's closed at Hillcrest in February 1997. At that point, all hope was lost for the long-struggling mall. Westgate was not doing this, though, just to do Hillcrest in. It was about survival. Rouse Company threatened Westgate's own well-being by planning its own huge regional mall anchored by White's, Dillard's and they were in talks with Rich's as well: long a coveted anchor in the city. Westgate's expansion was done to make sure that would not happen, but Hillcrest had to pay the price. [3] After Dillard's closed, the reason for the mall existing was over. Belk was cannibalizing its own sales operating stores at both malls, and in December 1997 Belk closed its older location at the mall after 32 years of operation.

Aerial shot of Hillcrest Mall on opening day.  This was the busiest the mall parking lot would likely ever be.  The new Ivey's store is in the foreground while the old strip mall is in the background on the other side of Belk Hudson.  This is all looking southwest.  The mall lasted a mere 16 years.

When Hillcrest failed, the owners wasted no time demolishing the mall. In June 1998, the last two tenants were kicked out and the mall closed. Demolition began on the mall in late summer 1998 and was completed late in the fall that year. In lieu of a mall, a new Super Kmart, Publix, movie theater and Stein Mart was constructed on the site. Hillcrest Mall lasted a mere 16 years, while Hillcrest Shopping Center was over 40 years old. Instead of a mall, Kmart should have been built there to start with.

Today, Hillcrest Shopping Center is a center full of big box tenants. While the offerings are more of the national chain variety, it has never faded. Kmart eventually closed, but the store was subdivided into Petco, Office Depot and Ross Dress For Less. However, Publix and Stein Mart continue to operate at the redeveloped center. Publix sits today where Belk Hudson was previously. The old A&P has also since been subdivided into smaller spaces. While the original strip is definitely showing some vacancies, it is doing very well considering it is Spartanburg's oldest shopping center.  Hillcrest indeed came full circle after 54 years, and it has withstood the test of time and a peculiar mall addition that proved not to be a wise move.  The stores are different, the look is different but Hillcrest is still there.

[1] Atkins, Nancy.  "Mall Opened Thursday, Two Months Ahead of Schedule." Spartanburg Herald-Journal.  13 Aug 1982. pg. B1
[2] Jean, Sheryl. "Hillcrest owners determined to survive". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. 11 Aug 1992. pg. B3
[3] Nelson, Kathy. "Dillard's to close its store at Hillcrest". Spartanburgh Herald-Journal. 13 Apr 1995. pg. A1

Jessamine Mall/Sumter Mall: Sumter, SC

Sumter Mall is alive and well today in the small city of Sumter located roughly between Columbia and Myrtle Beach.  Sumter is a comparatively wealthy city with eight major employers including USC-Sumter, two other colleges, Shaw Air Force Base and Pilgrim's Pride.  While I have not personally seen the mall itself, it is a very basic mall that is now part of the Hull Storey Gibson collection of malls.  However, when it opened it was a far different story.  Then, it was a very heavily hyped locally when the mall opened on July 6, 1980.  It was also known by a different name, Jessamine Mall, named for the state's flower.  Built by Jim Wilson & Associates, the mall featured all of Sumter's downtown department stores making up four anchors.  The single-level mall also featured Rite-Aid drugstore long before their Southern sweep, and it opened with a basic but solid roster of tenants for its era.

Jessamine Mall as it was called was anchored by Belk Stroman, Capitol, JCPenney and Wilson's Showroom, a catalog merchant.  Belk Stroman was unique in that it was was a little known Belk partnership store located only in Sumter, which was acquired from Belk Robinson in 1942.  Capitol was a store unique to Sumter, and it was not only the city's first department store, but it was also the last to open at the mall opening on July 27th.  Capitol was originally not interested in opening at the mall, but changed their minds later.  JCPenney and Belk Stroman formed the major anchors on each end of the mall, while Capitol and Wilson's were both junior anchors close to the center.

 

 

 

 

Views of the mall under construction as well and two of the original tenants.  The second is still there today.

The 1980's saw a shakeup of the anchors when Capitol Department Store shut down in 1982.  It was the first in the city, the last in the mall and unfortunately the first to close as well.  Unfortunately, small town department stores that relocated to malls in that period lost their core niche and thus were unable to compete against stronger competition.  Next, in 1985, Wilson's was sold out to Service Merchandise, though it is unclear if the store was converted.  After that, Tapp's arrived in 1986 to fill the space vacated by Capitol.  This was the only Tapp's location outside of Columbia.  The wheel of change did not actually stop turning until 2000.  1995 saw the departure of Tapp's after the chain liquidated.  1998 saw the end of the Belk partnership stores with Belk Stroman becoming simply Belk, but it was never signed as such on the exterior anyway.  Lastly, Service Merchandise folded as a chain in 2000.

 

  

Belk Stroman at Jessamine Mall.  The store never actually said "Stroman" on the outside similar to how "Beery" was not displayed on the outside of Belk Beery in Savannah.  This store looks pretty much the same outside today.

 

This Belk Stroman ad shows a model in the front and a pic of the store in the background.  Mr. Stroman was obviously very proud.

 

  

Included here is a drawing of the Capitol Department Store mall entrance and another part of the ad below with the store logo more prominent.  That was one swanky store logo!  I wonder if the store was as nice as the logo looked.  Capitol closed in the early 80's.

 

JCPenney looking straight-up 70's.  Note the planters in the second scan.

Rite-Aid hasn't changed much aside from how many places you find them today.  Their purchase of Eckerd and Harco in Alabama gave them great leverage.

 

Inside of Wilson's showroom.

Wilson's logo.  It makes me tired somehow...or maybe I'm just tired.

Sumter Mall received its last renovation in 2002 after the Hull Storey Gibson takeover.  Considering similar malls, this likely meant carpet throughout and a removal of any and all fountains and planters.  The former Tapp's and Capitol location is today Sears, which arrived in 1989.  Sykes Enterprises, obviously a non-retail tenant, took over the former Wilson's location.  Several shops also continue to operate in the mall, which were there from the day it opened including Lynn's Hallmark, Claire's, Waldenbooks, Radio Shack, Reed's Jewelry, Rite-Aid, Regis, Radio Shack and of course Chick-Fil-A.  While the mall today still lacks the offerings of nearby Columbia, it is a healthy mall that is among one of the most successful in the Hull Story Gibson portfolio. 

 

  

Original mall map and directory.  I bet the original center court was something special judging by that map.  That is, unfortunately, quite doubtful today.

With this, even though this is not one of the more exciting malls I have covered, I definitely wanted to show you this very interesting collection of photos, ads and mall promotion from just before opening day in 1980.  Maybe soon I can find some photos of how the mall looks today to compare to the original Jessamine Mall.  If the American mall is dying, especially the smaller ones, Sumter is definitely not one of those.

Columbiana Centre: Columbia, SC

Many of my previous mall posts have detailed cities with older shopping centers that fought off newer, larger rivals to come out on top.  Columbia is not one of those cities whose malls turned out so romantically.  Columbiana Mall, built in 1990, was just right for the time and place.  As the newest mall, it has since emerged completely the leader of the malls of the region despite the fact it is a one-level center in comparison to larger (and older) Columbia Place Mall and Richland Mall, both struggling.  Columbiana Center also essentially replaced Dutch Square Mall, the city's oldest and smallest mall, though Dutch Square continues to operate today.  Columbiana Center is located in Irmo in Lexington County just across the border from Richland County on the very edge of the Columbia city limits.  It is the only mall in Columbia not in Richland County, and it is located at the southwest corner of Harbison Blvd (S-32-2272) and I-26.

Columbiana Center was very much a planned mall years before it was built.  When I lived in the city in 1986, the site was nothing more than a pine thicket, and adjacent Columbiana Drive was known as "Mall Road".  Mall Road was nothing more than a five lane road to nowhere that ended abruptly at a large barricade past Archers Lane, but resuming past Crossbow Drive as a two lane road.   By 1990, around four years later, the mall was completed featuring only two anchors Belk and Sears with an empty anchor pad on the south end and one facing I-26.  The mall was built with a Spanish theme throughout including evenly-spaced repeating arches across all the corridors.

 

Looking along the main entrance wing toward the main entrance, which is pictured in the first photo.  The entrance is quite attractive on the outside.

 

The windows next to the main entrance change to roman arches.  It is a nice touch.  I love it when malls blend high windows and overhead skylights.

Looking along the Dillard's wing, which from here looks a hall of mirrors.

1993 saw the beginning of many changes in the anchors at the mall.  This was when Dillard's joined the mall in conjunction with a new wing extending diagonally north, leaving the original two empty anchor pads free.  J.B. White joined the mall in 1995 as the third anchor, filling one of the two pads.  Thankfully, JB White maintained its location at Dutch Square despite opening the new store at Columbiana.  The White's carried an award-winning cutting edge design compared to its brutalist and blocky older stores.  It is not known what the other anchor pad was intended for, but it is assumed that was either for Macy's or Tapp's, whichever came first.  Oddly, neither considered joining the mall at any point.  In fact, Macy's instead had agreed to join Dutch Square, but those plans never materialized.  By 1998, the situation became more complicated when Dillard's bought out JB White.  The problem here was that Dillard's already anchored the mall.  As a result, Belk moved from its former location in the mall into White's with Parisian opening its second location in the city in the former store.

 

Looking back from Dillard's along the same wing.  Note that the mall has two different types of flooring in different areas.  I like the darker flooring.  It looks elegant.

Two of the courts on the older part of the mall.  The first, I believe, leads to the food court (not pictured) while the second is at the edge of the Dillard's wing.  I did not photograph the food court due to the presence of mall security.

The anchor shake-up at the mall only helped to solidify Columbiana's position as the city's premier shopping mall.  After Dutch Square fell into obscurity over the failed Macy's bid followed by White's entry at Columbiana is when the mall grew increasingly as the leader of the regional market.  All other malls were located much further from the hot growth market around Irmo/West Columbia.  Today, all of the upscale stores of the city are located in the mall as well with the tenant line-up full.  In fact, the mall is reaching complete dominance of the market with all other malls in the city struggling to survive since the early part of the past decade.  The last major change to occur at the mall was when Parisian left the Columbia market in 2005.  In its place, JCPenney opened a location in the mall in the store that had opened as Belk.  The result is that only one original anchor continues to operate in the same location it opened in which is, of course, Sears.

 

One area of the mall with lower ceilings.

  

Court area between the main entrance wing, Sears wing and Belk (former White's) to the left.

 

Mall map showing a once boring, rather small mall nearly doubled with the Dillard's wing.

In all, Columbiana Centre is a reasonably attractive mall.  However, a few things stand out to me.  First, why is the most successful mall in the city only on one level?  In fact, both of the city's multi-level malls are failing.  Second, while the design is quite original it heavily emphasizes the stucco, which makes the mall feel cheap.  However, all that stucco looks to be very well maintained.  I did not see any mildew or deterioration on it.  On the inside, the design is quite original and I like the fact it has a very clear old Spanish theme to it.  It does look, however, like the mall may have been stripped down at some point.  I seem to remember fountains and palm trees which simply are not in it today.  I do not much like the name, though.  I would have preferred Harbison Mall, but of course it is not mine to comment on.  Obviously Columbians approve, because the mall was swamped on my visit. 

 

JCPenney looks a little odd.  This had previously operated as Parisian and before that was the mall's original Belk store.

  

 

Here, I am approaching Dillard's then capturing more detail of the Dillard's mall entrance.  It is pretty straightforward, and it is the only Dillard's in the city that actually opened as Dillard's.  The outside is a clone of all the others from that period.

  

The Belk entrance is something special.  It was the second to last J.B. White ever built.  Belk took over when White's was bought out by Dillard's.

 

Sears mall entrance is actually pretty unique.  The tiled design was thankfully abandoned here.

Older part of mall approaching empty anchor pad.  Why did they leave this anchor pad empty while building on for Dillard's?

The Harbison Community was already a major area of new development long before the mall was completed.  However, prior to the construction of the mall the development was entirely residential including many new subdivisions and apartments.  Regardless, the mall was part of the master plan in one of the earliest less recognized examples of huge new planned cities similar to Columbia, MD and Peachtree City, GA.  In fact, Harbison itself spans two cities and two counties.  Like those developments, it was commenced in the 1970's and completed much more recently.  The completion of the mall resulted in an explosion of retail near the mall, but covenants have resulted in this development largely restrained to Harbison Blvd.  Such careful planning may be a significant factor in why Irmo stays a popular area for younger and more affluent residential growth and why Columbiana Mall has emerged the leading shopping center in the region.

 

  

The mall's original two anchors fully employ the faux Spanish architecture even though JCPenney originally opened as Belk.

 

Belk, formerly J.B. White, is the showiest anchor.  The glass cylinder definitely is a design standout.  It's hardly Spanish-themed, however.