Circuit City, 1950 Bush River Road: 1999 22 comments
I've written about Circuit City before. The gist of it was I never liked the store in its original concept because the salesmen were so predatory. This store dates from that era. Unlike the NorthEast store, this one (as far as I know) had only two locations rather than three. It started here, on Bush River right at the I-20 intersection and then picked up and moved out to Harbison when that area started to get hot.
Frankly that strikes me as a bad choice. This location is an easy-in/easy-out right from the Interstate, while nothing in the Harbison area is "easy". They may get more drive-by traffic there, but I'll bet they get less "destination" traffic.
Nothing else ever located in the Circuit City building after they left, but stores have come and gone from the surrounding strip mall. I believe there was an If It's Paper for a while and there has been a medical equipment tenant for many years now. I tried to shop there once for a hospital style "over-bed table" (they are *great* for using your laptop in bed!) but it turned out to be easier to order one on-line. Given the new traffic brought to Bush River Road by the new Wal-Mart Supercenter, it will be interesting to see what happens to this property.
UPDATE 11 March 2011: Changed closing date to 1999 based on commenter Andrew's research. Also added full street address.
UPDATE 4 June 2012 -- Not much visible has changed, but Hamrick's does have their building permit posted in the north doorway:
UPDATE 24 June 2012 -- The Hamrick's signs are now up:
UPDATE 20 August 2012 -- Hamrick's is now open in this location:
22 Responses to 'Circuit City, 1950 Bush River Road: 1999'
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JB
18 Jul 08 at 6:04 am
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So it did have 3 locations like the other one. Oh well.
ted
18 Jul 08 at 8:25 am
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This comment is out of place, but I could find no other way to contact the author. I wanted to point out that Hudson's Smokehouse Express on Knox Abbot Drive in Cayce has closed. Not surprising, as I found their service to be very poor. The main location in Lexington offers great service and great food, but the express location fell very short in the service department.
PS
18 Jul 08 at 10:17 am
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Well, I'm not familiar with that place, but maybe I can take some pictures when I get back from vacation.
ted
18 Jul 08 at 3:55 pm
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About Harbison...
When I moved to Columbia in 97, the Harbison area was quite "comfortable" and easy to get in & out of. That's why more stores moved in, and eventually, it became overcrowded with cars, and the traffic is terrible. I could really see it happening especially on Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving). I would take the back roads to avoid Harbison at all costs.
JP
J.P.
21 Jul 08 at 3:20 pm
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Harbison is really not that bad. You have to know what times to go and it also helps to know some of the back roads.
Mr Bill
21 Jul 08 at 4:50 pm
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Harbison is going downhill fast. Its getting more and more crowded and the crime rate is rising. The quality of people has dropped badly as well. Also that old circuit city on bush river road is a wasted building as is the whole shopping center. Bush River road is dangerous, drug infested, prostitute infested and a waste for any decent business to move to. The old days when Bush River, Broad River and Saunt Andrews were nice places is quickly dying. These places are filth now. Bush and Briad river is a complete hopeless mess. Its grabage and unsavable. Not trying to be mean but being honest. No decent business will move there because nobody decent is there anymore. sure, you may be able to stick a cash loan place, a pawn shop, a crap gas station or a liquor store n these places but thats about it.
Lenny
23 Jul 08 at 4:41 pm
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Since they opened the Bower Parkway, getting in and out of Harbison isnt nearly as hard as it used to be. People just like to say "Ugh Harbison is Sooooooo trafficky!!"
I worked at the Harbison Bi-Lo for 4 or 5 years in the mid nineties, and THEN traffic on Harbison was a bitch. During the Christmas season, it wasnt uncommon for me to take 20 minutes to get out of the BiLo parking lot after work.
Nowadays, i drive thru there all the time and even during holidays it isnt that bad.
Jeff
20 Aug 08 at 3:10 pm
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In response to Mr. Bill: Harbison is a long way from going downhill. It has had a few store closings over the year but that is not a predicate for how the area will survive. Circuit City had been in trouble for a long time and its demise was certainly predictable. Something will take its place soon. Granted, the Bush River Road and Saint Andrews Road areas have seen better times. Business moved away from these areas when Harbison started as a viable area. This is true in almost any city and is certainly visible in Columbia as is seen with the growth of Sandhills and the reduction of traffic along the Decker Blvd. corrider. But Columbia's growth has reached its peak and we will see a return to business closer to town. With the right tax climate and business incentives, we can see a regrowth of the forementioned areas.
joec
9 Apr 09 at 12:06 am
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The first Circuit City was across from Dutch Square on the back side, then they moved to the Bush River Road side of town. There was another one on Two Notch Rd. on the same side as Columbia Mall, but it was a big pain in the rear to park there also.
Del
11 Apr 09 at 11:27 pm
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What year did Circuit City move out of the Bush River Rd. location ?
Marie
2 Jul 09 at 10:23 pm
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I'm not sure. It was sometime after I moved out of town in 1985 and before I moved back in 03 or 04.
ted
2 Jul 09 at 11:01 pm
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The Harbison location opened in '99, but the Bush River location, which opened in '86, didn't close until '03.
badger
2 Jul 09 at 11:26 pm
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But before 1986 Circuit City was behind Dutch Square from the mid to late 70's through the mid 80's when they moved to Bush River Rd. BUT, the original CC before it became CC was called " Dixie Hi-Fi"..( I think) and it was on Broad River Rd. in a small strip mall along with Mo Levy's..but that was back in 1975.
Del
3 Jul 09 at 8:06 am
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Del,
When I started buying stereo gear in the mid 70s Dixie HiFi was a great place to shop. The people working there were knowledgeable and friendly but that was all lost when Circuit City took over.I think the other store you referred to was Levi's, not Moe Levy's.
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It seems like there was some type of apparel store opened there at one point but I couldn't make much out of it
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There was also a Kinko's in the building that was ACS for a while that is now Tri-County Home & Health
Andrew
1 Jul 10 at 10:22 pm
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Hi! My name is Adam Rosenberg and I'm working with WulfTeam Productions to create a documentary about Circuit City. Your photos of the abandoned CC building above are great, and we'd love to use 1 or 2 in the documentary!
Please let me know if this would be ok. You
would of course be creditied for your excellent work. Email me at asr2e@virginia.edu for any questions or visit our website: http://circuitcitystory.comThanks a lot,
Adam Rosenberg -
This Circuit City left here in 1999...read below:
RETAIL MOVES LEAVE BUSH RIVER CORRIDOR LOOKING FOR NEW LIFE
ALANA ODOM, Staff Writer
Retail stores are still shifting and shuffling in an attempt to get space on the area's hottest shopping spot - Harbison Boulevard.Circuit City and Kinko's are following Target's lead and moving to Harbison Boulevard's Columbiana Station, from space at 1950 Bush River Road.
Wes Bolick Bedrooms will head in another direction - Dutch Square Center - but it also will leave its current Bush River Road address, just as a General Cinemas...
Published on 1999-03-10, Page B6, State, The (Columbia, SC)
Andrew
10 Mar 11 at 11:28 pm
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Received an email advertising Hamrick's plans to move into this building...they will close at Outlet Pointe on June 16 and then in early July, for the first time since 1999, something will be operating in this building..but in the meantime, they're having a moving sale at the Outlet Pointe store
Andrew
29 May 12 at 1:12 pm
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I saw roadside signage today indicating that Hamrick's plans to open up at this site on July 2, marking the first time since 1999 that this part of the building has been in use.
Andrew
18 Jun 12 at 2:28 pm
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very cool...I got some daylight pics this afternoon comparable to the ones you just updated with...
The following domino effect has been set into motion here:
1) Hamrick's has departed Market Pointe Mall into a building that has been vacant for a dozen years
2) SC Dept. of Revenue offices will move out of the SC State Muesum into where Hamrick's just left
3) The SC State Museum will expand where the SCDOR is relocatingAndrew
24 Jun 12 at 10:06 pm
This Circuit City was originally located on Dutch Square Blvd. not I-20 & Bush River Rd.