Edens Food Stores, Inc., 3718 Rosewood Drive: mid 1950s 10 comments
Commenter Bill Chisolm has this to say about Eden's Foods:
Anybody old enough to remember the old Edens Food Stores in Columbia and around S.C. They sold out to Winn-Dixie around 1955. I worked for them as did my father.
Several of the old buildings are still standing, among these are the ones on Rosewood Drive, North Main Street, Devine St, Harden St. and I am sure there are others. They were the place to shop for groceries in Columbia during their hey day
Being born late in 1960, I had never heard of the place, but the city directory for 1953 does list eight locations for the store, with this building being one of them. I would say it has been remodeled several times, but it does seem about the right shape and size for an older grocery.
Apparently the company was run by a local family as the city directory also lists
J. Drake Edens President-Treasurer
Joe Edens, Executive Vice President-Assistant Treasurer
J. Drake Edens, Jr., Vice President
I wonder if there is any connection there with Edens & Avant property management?
10 Responses to 'Edens Food Stores, Inc., 3718 Rosewood Drive: mid 1950s'
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Steve
3 Nov 10 at 9:37 pm
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Just out of curiosity..what are the eight adresses listed in 1953?
tonkatoy
4 Nov 10 at 6:53 am
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529 12th Street West Columbia
818 Harden Street
2604 Main Street
3718 Main Street Eau Claire
2708 Rosewood Drive
3718 Rosewood Drive
1520 Taylor Street
1508 Woodrow Street
Curious that that had both a 3718 Rosewood and a 3718 Main!
ted
4 Nov 10 at 12:13 pm
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3718 Main is where CiCi's pizza is now. I wonder if the streets have been renumbered since 1953.
tonkatoy
4 Nov 10 at 1:03 pm
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Based on the locations, here's what Google Maps yields for what's there now:
529 12th Street West Columbia: Juke's Barber Shop
818 Harden Street: Rite Aid #11583
Neither of the Main Street locations come up anything conclusive.
2708 Rosewood Drive: Rite Aid #11584
3718 Rosewood Drive: BodyFit fitness (based on the tarp on the pics contained herein)
1520 Taylor Street: former CVS that is having some work done to it (details are still unclear)
1508 Woodrow Street: Tripp's Fine Cleaners
Andrew
7 Mar 11 at 10:30 pm
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I think this location was Capital Kawasaki for a long time ('til @1999), and for a few years in the mid 2000s was a furniture store called "The Green Chair." It also seems like some kind of "elder care" related business might have been there in the past several years, but I'm not so sure about that.
badger
16 May 11 at 8:20 am
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badger -- I live near here and drive by it every day since 1991. If it was ever the Kawasaki place it was before 1991.
It was some sort of adult daycare a few years ago but only for a very short time.
It was vacant for a long long time before Green Chair moved in.
Dennis
16 May 11 at 3:16 pm
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a little more info -- this is from Columbia Powersports' website:
"Like so many successful businesses Columbia Powersports had a simple beginning; one man with an idea!
Started in 1978 as Capitol Kawasaki, Paul Dickey, the original owner, opened one store at 3718 Rosewood Drive. He was the sole proprietor, selling and servicing Kawasaki motorcycles and jet skis. After two very successful years Paul decided in April 1980 to incorporate and bring Wayne Wilkes into the business, and the two men as stockholders began to operate Capitol Kawasaki, Inc.
The business grew rapidly in the 1980's with Capitol Kawasaki,Inc. making the National Top 20 Sales Ranking five years in a row. In November 1986 Paul and Wayne decided to open a second dealership at 6329 Two Notch Road under the name of Columbia Yamaha, Inc. doing business as Columbia Yamaha Suzuki.
Since then, Paul has retired and Wayne has moved to 6217 Two Notch Rd. Another dealership has opened at 3750 Fernandina Rd. "
Dennis
16 May 11 at 3:20 pm
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In 1929, J. Drake Edens began with the Faust & Edens fruit store on the 1400 block of Assembly Street and, by 1933 had split with Simon Faust to form the J. Drake Edens Food Store. By the mid-1950s, Edens had grown his business into the Edens Food Store chain consisting of over 30 outlets. In addition to Columbia, there were Edens Food Stores in Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Aiken, Sumter, and other locations around the state. In 1955, the chain was sold to Winn-Lovett, Inc., and the stores were converted first to Dixie-Home stores and later to the Winn-Dixie brand.
Edens’ son, J. Drake Edens, Jr. was a prominent politician who served on the Republican National Committee and held key positions on Richard Nixon’s presidential election campaign committees in 1968 and 1972.
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@Paul -- very interesting, thanks!
ted
1 Jun 20 at 10:54 pm
Direct relation, Ted. Edens, like a number of grocery store chains, is property intensive. The leased and owned property are very valuable assets and the location of the stores is important to profitability. So Edens got very very good at shopping center development and management. When they sold the chain, Edens retained the property and continued on a commercial real estate developer and owner with a particular emphasis on grocery store locations, which require a bit of expertise.