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.

Decker Mall and the Lost Richway Malls: Columbia, SC

Columbia once had an astounding number of enclosed malls for a city of its size: seven total malls.  Of course, three of these malls were not malls in any form of the traditional sense.  These three were all tiny one-level malls built around discount chain Richway, which is why I dub these malls "Richway Malls".  Richway Malls were indeed small, only containing about 15-20 stores including a movie theater.  They were all excellent concepts in their time, but the fickle big box nature of them left them obsolete.  Charlotte had three Richway Malls as well, and Atlanta had one.  Decker Mall is not unique in the Richway Malls group except in one aspect: it is the last one of the three still standing and operational.  In fact, a visit to this mall was a trip back to the late 1970's, so those of you hoping to find an unmodified 70's mall still operational will not be disappointed.  I definitely was not either.

Decker Mall opened in 1977 with anchors Richway, Kroger Sav-On and a theater.  Its location is on Decker Blvd just east of Two Notch Road.  Columbia Place Mall, originally anchored by Richway's parent company Rich's, is less than a mile away, and both opened almost simultaneously.  While Columbia Place is a major regional mall, Decker is a very tiny and simple mall that blends in architecturally with the former Richway.  What architecture is on the mall is a very rounded, dated and extreme 70's modern, however.  The former Richway, of course, has the famous wedge skylights as well, though the design of the store is less boxy than its Georgia counterparts were.

 

A look along the Richway/Target wing.  The first photo was one of the ramps in center court with detail of the old brown linoleum tiles around the planter.

 

Approaching Richway/Target.  Strangely, the orange wall on the left is a relic left over from Richway.  Target never bothered to paint this over to match their store, suggesting that this mall was not at all important to their store.  A similar orange-painted wall like this was found at the side of Richway at Roswell Mall.

 

 

A look at the Richway mall entrance area.  It appears that part of the entrance was actually walled over to eliminate the connection to the mall.  The door on the left was an emergency exit.  The design was apparently to funnel shoppers to the same front door used by the store so that there was a mall entrance without multiple entrances.

Decker Mall opened at almost the same time as Bush River Mall across the city.  Like Decker, the anchor lineup of Bush River was identical, and Bush River was also a clone to Decker in every way.  A visit to Bush River Mall was essentially the same as a visit to Decker Mall, so with this post I am roughly giving you Bush River Mall as well.  Bush River Mall, however, fell on extremely hard times later in its life and no longer exists.  The third Richway Mall, Woodhill Mall, was somewhat different because it lacked the Kroger Sav-On, instead anchored by Tapp's.  I understand, however, that it was otherwise identical to Decker and Bush River.

My one attempt at detail of the skylights.  It's very spooky looking.

Walking back down the Richway wing with the latter photo showing center court and its subsequent sharp left turn and ramp down.  The store ahead is the DMV office.

Decker Mall was not a mall I remembered in Columbia.  I also did not really remember much about replica Bush River except the view from Bush River Road.  Nevertheless, I went to it several times and was amazed I never remembered it as a mall.  In fact, all I remembered about Bush River Mall was the Richway, yet I am sure that I went to some stores within the mall at some time and seem to vaguely recall walking up a ramp toward Richway.  It seemed the Richway at Bush River complete with its big sunrise logo sign and Cinema sign on the highway stood out very strikingly to me at 6.  That sunrise, of course, was replaced with the Gold Circle "G" just after I moved away before being sold to Target in 1988.  Gold Circle, owned by Federated Department Stores who also owned Richway, replaced Richway in all the Columbia Richway Malls in 1987 and 1988.  The only other thing I noted at Decker Mall different from Bush River is that the word "MALL" was prominent in red letters on the Bush River location next to Richway, while no prominent signage was noted anywhere at Decker Mall, including along Decker Blvd.  Maybe that was removed.

Now, I'm walking down the Kroger wing with the goofy designed place on the left, which I later realized was the former theater.  I think this was either a twin or triple screen theater, but definitely before the stadium seating era.  I absolutely dig the "space age" design even though it's tacky.

Decker Mall today is no longer a retail destination and to all appearances is at the end of its life, but mysteriously it hangs on due to the presence of a few key non-traditional tenants in addition to the general decline of the Decker Blvd area it is located.  Why that decline is significant is because it attracts more locally operated businesses and attractive lease terms, when such places would likely not locate there in a different area.  In fact, the mall is actually over 50% occupied!  At some point, Target closed and left the mall, most likely around 1999 much like what happened at Bush River.  Kroger Sav-On looks to have also left the mall for about as long as Target.  Today, Arcadia Storage, an air-conditioned storage facility took over the old Richway location along with the few retail and non-retail tenants operating in Decker Mall including the local DMV office, which is of course a major draw, and a church which operates in the old theater.  The mall is old, rough around the edges, dingy, but amazingly had no signs of roof leaks or neglect.  In fact, in a strange way the mall still has character.  While not glamorous, it is a definite a must-see for vintage mall aficionados along with Innsbruck Mall in Asheville. 

 

Now approaching Kroger Sav-On.  The Kroger Sav-On concept is actually no more than the standard Kroger today, but it offered a particularly wide selection and more complete shopping experience in the era it was introduced, making it a combination grocery/discount concept.  A few stores in the area still have this name.  That white and black rippled wall is a 70's design I have not seen in years, but I do not know what it is called.

A more standard-looking Kroger Sav-On is located across from Richland Mall for comparison and a view of the logo.

Decker, in comparison to the other Richway malls, is symbolic of not only its vintage, but also the ills of the area it is located.  Bush River Mall had a gruesome fate, but it has since redeveloped into a shiny new Wal-Mart Supercenter.  What happened to Bush River was that when Target left the mall in 1999, so did everyone else.  Absolutely nothing was left in the mall, and it was abandoned soon after.  The mall was essentially trashed at that point, and somewhere in that same period a significant portion of it burned to the ground, leaving odd parts of the mall standing as well as the former Richway.  The remaining shell was demolished for Wal-Mart in 2005, so no sign of Bush River Mall ever existing remains today.  Decker Mall also had a similar exodus of key anchor tenants, so why is this mall so different from Bush River?

Looking back along the Kroger wing back toward center court.

This goofy planter is wedged between the two entrances at the center of the mall.  No previous photos of this or Bush River made it clear where this exactly was, but it is located between the two entrances and is rounded on the outside as well.

The major planter in the center court, shown in better detail.  These plants are skinny, wild and woolly but still do not trump the jungle planters at Innsbruck in Asheville.

 

Why do old malls like this always have something kind of strange and a bit creepy?  Right off center court is this strange little back door, also including that accordion-type stuff like that next to the Kroger Sav-On entrance.

Woodhill Mall's failure was due solely to the failure of Tapp's.  Tapp's was the strength of the mall, and when it failed so did the mall.  Target, however, actually did not leave the mall at any point.  In 2004, the mall was simply torn down along with the Target and redeveloped with Target opening in the new shopping center.  The new shopping center still bears the Woodhill name despite the fact that it bears no resemblance to its former self.  The Woodhill location is the most affluent location of the three Richway malls while Decker is currently in the most depressed area.

Now, heading outside to look at some of the other quirkiness of Decker Mall.  Here is the entrance on the Kroger wing.  The Pharmacy sign o the left was a separate drugstore entrance right next to the mall entrance.  Note the old-style font used for "Pharmacy".

 

The center court entrance is outright bizarre.  Two entrances are beside each other with one set higher than the other.  Inside, this is the "center court" with a ramp dividing the two areas.

 

More detail of the main entrance.  Note the mall sign in the center, which is also a directory.  More detail is shown below.  Also note the rounded wall between the two entrances.  This is nook with the small planter shown in the photo above.

 

Decker Mall has nothing to be ashamed of.  It does look like they were a little more full further back, but this is impressive for an anchor-less archaic mall.  I am guessing the last two panels were for Kroger Sav-On and Target.  One of the labelscars read "A+ Learning Center".  I am actually most impressed with the actual retail stores operating in the mall even though they are all very small local businesses.

Today, there is not much to say positive in regards to the future of Decker Mall, but there is a lot to say positive on how the owners have managed to keep it partially filled with no major stores.  The scenario it is in right now is the best scenario period.  A possible remedy would be to somehow lure Kroger back to the center or Publix to the site by allowing them to rebuild the store.  Another is to just knock it down, but the economy in general as well as locally is going to make that more difficult.  Maybe Wal-Mart is also interested in that site, but it is not nearly as well located as Bush River Mall was.  Bush River has high visibility from an interstate while Decker is nowhere near one.  No matter what the outcome, Decker Mall remains and hopefully will continue to operate so that at least others can show their kids what the 70's and 80's were like.

I could have done a little better job showing the old Kroger Sav-On, but you can make out the labelscar i the photo along with a bit of an overview of the mall.

 

Lastly, I'm looking at Richway, whose final tenant was Target.  It operated as Gold Circle for a short time in 1987-1988.  I am guessing all Richway stores would have eventually become Gold Circle had they not been forced to sell off the chain.

Tapp's Department Store: A Lost Columbia Institution

Many outside department stores have attempted to dominate the market of Columbia.  White's out of Augusta was undoubtedly the most successful at doing this, and Rich's arrived with a bang in 1977, bringing three Richway locations along with them to the city.  However, the last store Columbia has been able to claim its own in any recent memory is Tapp's.  Tapp's, named for founder James Lemon Tapp, was like many homegrown department stores.  It had one dominant downtown department store and a very small suburban expansion in its later years.  It was considered the upscale department store in the city, while White's catered to a more middle-brow clientele.  A third store known as Berry's on Main also joined the original downtown line-up, though its existence was short-lived in comparison to Tapp's.

Photo of long-closed original downtown store taken on opposite corner of Main & Blanding.

Tapp's was a very distinctive store downtown, featuring a very early streamlined modern design completed in 1940.  That building was the second built since the store was first founded in 1903.  The downtown store was the first east of the Mississippi to offer an air-conditioned shopping experience, and a restaurant was included in the basement level .  In 1952, two additional stories were added to the downtown store [1].  This store still stands today at the intersection of Main St and Blanding St, and is the one pictured here.   More on the history of Tapp's [link].

Close-up of upper floors and logo.  Was this same logo used on the suburban stores or was this older?  For such a simple structure, it is elegant and classy.

Tapp's was very interesting in that its first ever store was not in South Carolina at all, but as actually in Dalton, GA in 1890. However, it was sold before 1900 [2]. Another store was operated in Charlotte in the mean time before coming to Columbia. [2] Fast forward to the late 20th century, Tapp's suburban expansion was somewhat haphazard.  It was first introduced outside of downtown at Trenholm Plaza in 1965. This is east of downtown in the more affluent area near present-day Richland Mall at the intersection of Forest Dr (SC 12) & Trenholm Rd.  Following that was the opening at Columbia's first enclosed shopping mall, Dutch Square, in 1970 as the mall's east anchor.  The last location to open in Columbia came in 1978 with the opening of a store at Woodhill Mall, a tiny mall also anchored by Richway.  All of Tapp's suburban stores were small one-level stores that were considerably smaller than the downtown flagship.  While that brought the chain to four total locations, the store would not expand again in Columbia past the late 1970's. However, a store would open in 1986 at Jessamine Mall (now Sumter Mall) in the location of the former Capitol Department Store. [2] It would be their last new store. In the article, James Tapp was quoted as "We have been competitive from the beginning. When we cease being competitive, we cease to exist". [2]

Street-level entrance and surrounding black tiles do not disappoint.  Is this building well-maintained or just well-preserved?  It looks almost like new.

Part of an ad announcing the opening of Tapp's last new store in Sumter, 1986.  The rest of the ad suggests the store was far less upscale than I originally thought.  The ad included Arrow shirts, Lee jeans, Izod and...Jams (yes that is LOL worthy).

Tapp's maintained its position on the Columbia retail scene for over 90 years, but the store was unable to compete with the glut of much larger new chain department stores in the city catering to a somewhat upscale demographic such as Dillard's and Birmingham, AL-based Parisian.  In September 1995, Tapp's announced it was ending business.  Unfortunately, its closure left a void on the city with the downtown store remaining vacant to this day.  Two suburban locations have since been torn down including the Dutch Square location and the store at Woodhill Mall.  The Dutch Square location was rebuilt as an AMC theater and Woodhill Mall was demolished in 2004 to make way for a regular strip mall.  The Trenholm Plaza location looks to have been since repurposed.

[1] Tapp's Department Store - 1644 Main St.  Live Columbia [Blog]. 18 August 2008. 
http://livecolumbia.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/tapp%E2%80%99s-department-store-1644-main-street/

[2] New Tapp's Store first outside of Columbia area. The Sumter Daily Item. 26 February 1986. Page 1B.

Dutch Square Mall: Columbia, SC

I hope everyone had a great holiday! I took a much needed break from posting, but am back to start the new year right with a new post, new mall and new city!

Childhood memories of malls by and large involved Georgia malls for me, but there is one notable exception: Dutch Square Mall.  In time, I have attempted to learn more about this mall that remained vaguely in my memories for years since I briefly called Columbia home.  At the time, I lived in West Columbia close to Columbiana Mall, but the year was 1986 and Columbiana was still in the planning stages.  Because of that, Dutch Square was still very much the place to shop in the Irmo/West Columbia area, which has remained one of the fastest growing and most prosperous areas of Columbia since the time I lived there 23 years ago.  However, Dutch Square itself has changed considerably as the neighborhoods around it have aged and competition has marginalized it while the mall itself has changed little in layout since it was built.

Dutch Square was first built in 1969 as the second major shopping mall in the state.  That seems laughable today with only 650,000 square feet of retail space, but in fact Dutch Square is actually amazing on how it survived as the smallest regional mall in a city that evolved into having four regional shopping malls.  I reason that loyalty means a lot, because while it is an ailing mall it survived 20 years past the opening of Columbiana only four exits up I-26.  To me, one of the most interesting things about the mall today is the fact that it is built on top of a hill with a constant slope through the mall.  In fact, the slope in the mall is some places uneven enough it almost makes me wonder if the place sunk at some point.  What is also interesting, though, is the keystone Belk store at the mall, which opened as Augusta-based J.B. White.  This was no ordinary White's, either, featuring three levels of merchandise.  At the time it was built, it was Columbia's second suburban White's location.  Unfortunately, Belk closed the third level not long after taking over the store in 1998.

Pictures do not do adequate justice showing the constant slopes through the mall.  I am not quite sure why they felt the need to build ramped sections all through the mall like that.  Columbiana and the Richway malls were like that, too.  The first photo is of the center court area.

 

Front main entrance corridor.  The doors on the front look straight-up 1969, but the renovations have toned it down a bit.  This mall was extremely dark in the 80's.

Dutch Square also contained one of three locations of Columbia-based Tapp's, an upscale department store that formed the opposite end of the mall from White's.  More distinct, though, was the third anchor of the mall, a Woolco discount store flanking the south side of the mall.  The mall also contained a two-level Annabelle's restaurant, though I have no recollection of where this was at or when it closed.  I know it was still operational as late as 1990, because I ate there with my parents and some friends of the family.  I recall it outside of an anchor, so I'm presuming White's.  In the last visit, I saw a big empty junior anchor next to Belk, but it looked more to be the size of a Goody's or McCrory's in lieu of the restaurant I remember.  Due to its vintage, the mall also has many stores with both interior and exterior entrances mostly on the front of the mall.

AMC Theaters flank the east end of the mall, which was the mall entrance to Tapp's for most of its existance.  That kid there seemed very odd sitting there just staring by himself.  Who lets their kids do that anymore?  This place probably won't still be standing when he gets to be my age...if he actually does.

Entrance to Burlington Coat Factory, previously Woolco and Brendle's.  Woolco anchored malls typically did not do well, but this was not the focus of the mall nor its strength.  This Burlington Coat Factory arrived around 1999 after Brendle's closed in the same location.  Brendle's and Office Depot subdivided the location much in the way they did Sky City at Innsbruck Mall in Asheville.

Belk has been on a spree lately renovating their mall entrances.  I absolutely hate it when they do that, too.  I wonder what this looked like when White's was still there.

Dutch Square was relatively small, but it had help across I-26 on the same Bush River Road with Bush River Mall, a much smaller mall anchored by Kroger and Richway.  Bush River opened eight years after Dutch Square opened, but its small size and discount anchors were never a threat to the mall.  This meant that anything that couldn't fit into Dutch Square could find space across the interstate, and the two malls complimented each other for years resulting in a red-hot retail corridor throughout the 1970's and 1980's.  The mall at first had no competition until Columbia Place opened in 1978.  However, .the location of Columbia Place completely across the city maintained a balance that had no effect on the mall.

A view from Burlington Coat Factory to the back entrance.  A built-in makeshift food court flanks the court ahead.  To the right is AMC and to the left is the long haul to Belk.

 

 

Looking toward the back entrance at the food court area (first photo) and back into the food court (second photo).  A Chinese restaurant is to my right.

In these successful years, only one major change occurred as third anchor Woolco went bankrupt in 1983, which was quickly absorbed by catalog merchant Brendle's and Office Depot, which subdivided the store.  As a result, Office Depot had no connection to the interior mall.  Office Depot may have previously been an A&P since information I ran across suggested it was at the mall in the 80's.  The prominent position of Dutch Square changed, though, when Columbiana Center opened in Irmo a few exits up in 1990 after two decades of dominance.  Richland Fashion Mall also opened a year prior, but its unique positioning and anchor line-up did not have as much of an impact as Columbiana.

Looking back at center court from the other direction.  As empty as it was looking in this photo, it is strange to realize how swamped this mall was as late as 1989.

Columbiana Center did not seem to have a dramatic effect on Dutch Square right away.  Uniquely, the two malls actually at first looked like they would compliment each other.  The only anchors the two malls shared were White's, and White's thankfully decided never to close their three-story store at Dutch Square.  In fact, it looked like the mall's fortunes may actually have begun to improve at that point.  That is because in 1990 the downtown Macy's, which was a legacy Atlanta-based Davison's, was looking to move from downtown to Dutch Square complete with an expansion.  As the old downtown Macy's store prepared to close, the plans were set to build a larger three level, 220,000 square feet Macy's at Dutch Square complete with an expansion.  The plans were set in 1992 to have the store opened by the following year, making Dutch Square a tough contender in the market.  Unfortunately, something happened and the project never came to fruition.  It should be noted that at the same time, RH Macy Co. was preparing to go bankrupt only to be "saved" by then-Federated Department Stores, which operates Macy's of today.  Federated Department Stores, which already owned then-Rich's at Columbia Place, was apparently uninterested in building at the mall.

A look at the second back wing containing Piccadilly Cafeteria.

 

Piccadilly Cafeteria opened as Morrison's and was converted to Piccadilly when Morrison's was purchased in 1995.

The 1990's saw many changes at the mall.  First was the bankruptcy of Tapp's in fall of 1995.  This closure left an obvious void at the mall, which was not left vacant for long.  Instead of waiting to bring in Macy's or another department store, the owners simply demolished the Tapp's and rebuilt the location as an AMC theater.  In the late 90's, Annabelle's left the mall as well.  The next change was in 1998 when Belk acquired the White's location at the mall in lieu of Dillard's, who had just bought out White's.  Last was the arrival of Burlington Coat Factory in 1999 after Brendle's went bankrupt in 1995.  Burlington Coat Factory left flagging Bush River Mall to join the mall.  Ironically, Burlington Coat Factory absorbed many of the prime Woolco locations in the early 1980's and still operates in many of those old Woolco stores today so even though they arrived late it was a natural fit.. This swap was because Dillard's sought other locations owned by Belk at that point.  This was for the best, because Belk at the mall has remained a draw.  The mall also was renovated in that time period, losing its 1970's trappings such as the dark linoleum tiles.  The Belk, however, has apparently not changed at all, still maintaining the same appearance as when it operated as White's.  Considering the colorless, boring remodels of today, that is actually somewhat pleasing to see.

Dutch Square, plain and simple.  Macy's, they need you here.  You promised them.

Looking down the mall toward Belk.  It always puzzles me why if a mall is ailing, the emptiest part of the mall is the Belk wing.  The whole mall tilts downhill toward Belk.  Hopefully that's nothing symbolic.

Twenty years after Columbiana Center opened, Dutch Square amazingly lingers on.  Bush River Mall, near the mall, has long since died and been demolished, now operating as a nearly new Wal-Mart despite the fact the area around the mall is looking somewhat empty.  The redevelopment of that site has undoubtedly been helpful since anchor Target left to join the retail explosion around Columbiana Center.  Regardless, the fact is that Dutch Square has an excellent location just southeast of the intersection of I-20 and I-26.  Indeed, the mall today is looking emptier than past visits with a relatively high level of vacancies.  However, the fact that the mall is the oldest in the city and has survived after being eclipsed by two other malls says that it has definite staying power.

White's in general had a very distinct way of doing escalators.  The down escalator was staggered slightly offset and thus lower than the up escalator, and they ran side by side.  While this works in two level stores, I can see this was problematic for this store, which operated three levels under White's.  The lights above suggest those upper escalators, but when I came up to them, I could see they were clearly walled off.  A dark third level in a store is always creepy.

On the outside, White's stores built in the 70's were stately but dirt plain.  This store featured the older elegant script "White's" logo in lieu of the "J.B. WHITE" in skinny black letters found on the last generation stores.

The owners should remember what almost happened in 1993 with Macy's as well as the fact that they are holding ground in an over-malled environment.  Perhaps they should consider expanding the mall again, tearing down a nearby shopping center and building a multi-level expansion.  Columbia still only has one Macy's location, and the one currently operational is in a struggling mall.  Since only two of four malls in the city are likely to survive, it is my hope that Macy's will consider joining either this mall or Richland in lieu of other horizons.  Now would be the opportunity to lure in Macy's as well as a few other stores under-represented in the area to keep Columbiana and the new lifestyle center on the other side of town from completely dominating the Columbia retail scene.  Perhaps Burlington Coat Factory should be replaced by a Borders Books and some new stores introduced into the market at the mall.  Dutch Square Mall turned 40 years old last year, so it deserves some attention after serving the city longer than any other mall.

 

I am betting these were renovated original signs, because signs this tall are typically not allowed today.   As you can see, the front highway sign lists all the major stores...well almost.  I do not recall where West Marine was in the mall.  I think listing Piccadilly Cafeteria would have been preferable to the dubious "Super China Buffet".  I'm guessing Super China Buffet was previously a sign for Annabelle's.  Maybe that's why Macy's opted out.

Never dare to let the mall entrance retain a vintage look...at least in mall management world.  This 90's stucco monstrosity is supposed to fool you into thinking this mall is not as old as it looks.  It usually takes more than a facelift to bring a person back to youthful beauty, and likewise it usually takes more than a stucco entrance blob to hide the real age of a mall.  The problem is, plastic surgery is a lot cheaper than a major mall overhaul.  Is this the equivalent of mall botox?

Luckily, the front side (or back?) doesn't go as overboard with the stucco.  I really like the stores with the outside entrances.  You typically find that in the oldest malls, and I think it casts a positive light on the mall.  Note Belk/White's in the background.

Burlington Coat Factory, an anchor to the mall since 1999 opened as Woolco, which went bankrupt in late 1982.  The store was subdivided in the 1980's between Brendle's and another store, which is today Office Depot.  Burlington Coat Factory absorbed the location in 1999.  The small vertical grooves in the brick are a dead giveaway of its Woolco origin.