Edens Food Stores, Inc. / Greenbax Stamps / Community Thrift / Eckerd Drugs / Rite Aid, 818 Harden Street: Mid 1950s, etc. 6 comments
I posted before about bygone Columbia grocery chain Edens. After I located one of the buildings on Rosewood, I have been looking for some of the others from time to time when I remember. I didn't have any luck with the two Main Street locations, but here is the Harden Street one.
Growing up, this was always Eckerd's to me, and it never really occurred to me that it had not been built as a pharmacy. Looking at it now though, I'm pretty sure this must be the original grocery building from the 1950s. In particular, I don't think anyone would site the doors on the street instead of the parking lot on any building newer than that. In fact, thinking about it, I'm surprised nobody ever changed that.
UPDATE 24 Nov 2010: Added Greenbax Stamps and Thrift Store to post title based on comments.
UPDATE 30 Nov 2010: Changed "Thrift Store" to "Community Thrift" based on Dennis's comment.
UPDATE 26 November 2019 -- This place is now Pet Supermarket:
UPDATE 10 August 2020: Update tags, change Eckerd's in post title to Eckerd Drugs.
6 Responses to 'Edens Food Stores, Inc. / Greenbax Stamps / Community Thrift / Eckerd Drugs / Rite Aid, 818 Harden Street: Mid 1950s, etc.'
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Tom
24 Nov 10 at 8:33 am
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Ted:
I've seen an old photo from the RCPL collection that was taken in front of the Five Points Theatre looking up the sidewalk to the north. There is a Edens sign on what appears to be the building that is now locals (and what was for decades the "Baldwin Brass Center" [which we called the Balls of Brass Center]).
Steve
24 Nov 10 at 10:16 am
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Steve,
The "818 Harden" address for Edens is from the 1953 city directory. That's not to say they weren't somewhere else on Harden at one time, or that the street numbers may have changed to put 818 somewhere else...
ted
24 Nov 10 at 2:38 pm
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It would have been WWII area that they were in the Locals building or the one next door. I'll have to do some perusing through the photo library. There are a lot of Camp/Fort Jackson soldiers on leave and in uniform in the picture.
Steve
26 Nov 10 at 12:03 am
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ted the name of the thrift store was Community Thrift. It moved out to Two Notch and was the nicest, best run thrift store in town. I still miss it.
Dennis
30 Nov 10 at 4:10 am
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Fixed!
ted
30 Nov 10 at 4:27 am
I moved to Columbia in 1964 and at the time this building was the Greenback Stamp redemption center. After that it was a thrift store, then abandoned (I used to park there to go to Group while in college in the 70s-80s) then it became an Eckerd. I don't remember it ever being an Edens, nor do I rember one being in 5 points. There was a 7-11, later Circle K on the corner of harden and Devine where a Pure Oil gas station once was.