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The State, 1401 Shop Road: Summer 2020 (Moved)   12 comments

Posted at 11:26 pm in closing

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I have written about The State a number of times. For instance in this post, I note how anemic the second millennium State looks compared to the 1973 State. I am pretty sure I did a post when they started renting out parts of their headquarters when they could no longer fully occupy it though I can't find it now.

I was going to do a post when they announced they would no longer print a Saturday paper, but never got around to it. Now, however, they have completely vacated their Shop Road headquarters, and have moved printing out of the city, to Charlotte. Their headline:

The State to add newsroom jobs, move printing to Charlotte

tries to put a positive spin on it by putting some good news first, but the second part of that is pretty major. If the paper is printed in Charlotte, and the inserts are done in Raleigh, then as far as I can tell, that means the print edition has to be printed in Charlotte, trucked to Raleigh, trucked from Raleigh to Columbia and then put out for home delivery. Since their commitment is that delivery times will not change, that means the paper will have to be put to bed extremely early. I don't see how that can possibly compete with other news sources. I don't take the paper, so I could be wrong. I wonder if those of you who do take it have noticed a difference.

The same story said The State would move from Shop Road "this fall", but the branding is already off the building, as you can see, and it seems to me they have already moved (though I am not sure to where).

LoopNet has some more details, as well as a really nice picture of the building with the branding still up:

±3,500 to 60,000 square feet of premier office space available for lease. Close proximity to the CBD, University of South Carolina, and the booming Southeast Columbia Industrial Market. Fully secured building with on-site security and key card access throughout. Recently renovated with upgraded, modern finishes. Available space features dedicated reception at entry, which includes ample space for file storage and would allow for easy access to customers or clients. Access to two (2) conference rooms, one of which has an excellent view of Williams Brice Stadium. Cafeteria service via an industrial-grade kitchen. Large dining area and access to a state-of-the-art fitness center! Three Passenger Elevators and One Freight Elevator.

Stop the presses.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

Written by ted on September 11th, 2020

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12 Responses to 'The State, 1401 Shop Road: Summer 2020 (Moved)'

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  1. I visited their newsroom about five years ago. The place was more than half empty and surprisingly quiet.
    I used to know someone who worked in their circulation department in the 90s and early 00s who said that everyone involved in the paper's sales and marketing blamed the paper's declining circulation, in part, on the editorial board and the columnists who had "pissed everyone in Columbia off."
    BTW, according to their website, their address is:
    The State
    701 Gervais Street, STE 150 PMB 117
    Columbia, SC 29201

    Tom

    12 Sep 20 at 6:30 am

  2. MB

    12 Sep 20 at 9:49 am

  3. Tom, I agree with the sales and marketing team. Slamming the President constantly is not a good look for The State. We let our subscription lapse this summer after 40 years of home delivery. The price increase of $2 a week for a sometimes under 20 page paper was too much to stomach.

    Reading about a Tuesday Braves game on Thursday loses its appeal. The condensed one-sentence paragraph news stories....well, remember "In depth, in detail, indispensable"?

    Those days are long gone.

    Joe Shlabotnik

    13 Sep 20 at 3:44 am

  4. Content may have played a part in the decline, but the real culprit is both the 24 hour coverage on TV and the Internet. You can log on to WLTX.com, WISTV.com etc anytime of day and read the news. Catch your latest scores on ESPN.com.

    I'm sure the under 50 (I'll be 49 on Saturday) crowd doesn't even care about the newspaper anymore. Hell, the under 30 crowd probably NEVER even held The State newspaper in their hands.

    Sidney

    13 Sep 20 at 8:33 am

  5. I do enjoy reading the newspaper sometimes (though I'm a good 17 years younger than Sidney) but I think a large part of the problem is the shift away from newspapers (in general) from being locally owned to being owned by companies by McClatchy (and prior to that Knight Ridder). The same things has happend with local radio & TV news stations...I've mentioned here several times over the last several years a belief of mine that local radio/ownership regulations on these stations need to be strengthened.

    I know someone who got the newspaper on his iPad and could see that being the future.

    Andrew

    13 Sep 20 at 11:02 am

  6. Off-topic, but somewhat related ... anyone know of a place to buy a copy of the Wall Street Journal? I don't read it often enough to warrant a subscription, and I do still like to read an actual paper sometimes. I used to find it at Starbucks and Publix, but no more.

    Payne

    14 Sep 20 at 9:40 pm

  7. Seems to me that Barnes&Noble used to have a newspaper shelf at the right side of the magazine displays. Don't know if they still do though. If the library were open, they would have one..

    ted

    14 Sep 20 at 11:36 pm

  8. ted

    16 Sep 20 at 1:05 pm

  9. Googling the address that Tom listed above turns up a UPS store with mailboxes. Does this mean that The State Newspaper has been reduced to a third party rental mailbox?

    ED

    16 Sep 20 at 5:50 pm

  10. @Sidney - I am 32 years old and I read a few State newspapers every month, as well as the Cayce-West Columbia News and the Fish Wrapper. I like the feel of a newspaper, and physical newspaper articles don't feel as "cluttered" with ads and junk. Ads in the newspaper are less annoying than obnoxious website ads.
    Contrary to what it might seem, many people under age 50 are actually getting frustrated with social media and doing so many things on smartphones. Sales of paper books were actually increasing before Coronavirus. (I think the virus has led to a temporary increase in e-book reading, because there are so many free e-books in the Amazon Kindle store.)

    Robin L.

    18 Sep 20 at 1:21 am

  11. Apparently, it's also popular to own physical clocks, radios, flashlights, paper maps, and record players, instead of relying on smartphone apps. Calendars/planners are huge, i.e. the expensive Erin Condren planners.

    Robin L.

    18 Sep 20 at 1:31 am

  12. @Robin, ad-blockers work great on Firefox. I don't see many ads at all. Not even on this site, sorry Ted. And what's funny, is that I don't own any of those items you mentioned and haven't for decades. I kinda miss paper maps but I don't miss folding them back up, lol. I'm in IT and have been for over 30 years, so I love new technology. I use my calendar and light on my phone ALL the time. I use my PC or my smart TV for music when I am at home. And of course I use my GPS when I need to find a place.

    Sidney

    18 Sep 20 at 1:49 pm

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