Moe Levy's, 1300 Assembly Street / 1101 Lady Street: March 2014 8 comments
Well, a Columbia tradition since 1920 is gone. In fact I can only remember going into Moe Levy's once or twice back in the 1970s on shopping trips with cousins. At the time, I liked shopping for clothes even less than I do now so the place was not a magnet for me, but I was always aware of it as we drove past. I also remember in my earlier days conflating the constant signage for Levi's jeans there with the store name itself and wondering if Moe Levy invented blue jeans.
As I recall, the store had a closing scare a few years ago at which point I took some of these pictures. I forget exactly what happened, but obviously they did not close then. As for now, The State reports that most of the block has been bought by local developer Ben Arnold who hopes to bring a national retailer or restaurant to the Moe Levy's location.
14 February 2010:
10 April 2010:
11 November 2012:
30 March 2014:
Photosets:
UPDATE 1 April 2014 -- Add 11 November 2012 pix and photoset.
UPDATE 23 July 2020 -- The building has been razed:
UPDATE 11 May 2021 -- Construction of something is well underway:
Also adding map icon.
8 Responses to 'Moe Levy's, 1300 Assembly Street / 1101 Lady Street: March 2014'
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Dennis
4 Apr 14 at 11:35 am
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Moe Levy's opened up a second store in the shopping plaza on O'neill Ct. that houses Inakaya (formerly the Owner's Box). It was mainly just clothing, where the store downtown was larger and had a broader selection (great place to get hiking boots). The second store was only there for a couple of years, in the late 80's or maybe very early 90's.
Cam
4 Apr 14 at 3:07 pm
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They also had a store in Seven Oaks Shopping Center in the 80's. I went in the army surplus store in the mid 90's, looking at a boonie hat. I was not sure I wanted to take that style on, so I said to the older lady working there who was trying to sell it to me "I need to ask my wife." She looked at me and said "It's a hat." I just thought that was the funniest thing and went ahead and bought it.
jonathan
7 Apr 14 at 7:51 am
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At Jonathan-- That's funny! I never ask my wife for permission to do anything. It's much easier to ask for forgiveness after the fact.
Cam
7 Apr 14 at 1:19 pm
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@ Cam, yea I think that's the funny part. I did not want to purchase the hat at that time, so I was attempting to stall. It was a $12 purchase. Her point was, it's just a hat. Why do you need her permission to buy it? She called my bluff. I had to buy it! She was a very interesting person. She definitely added a great deal of personality to the surplus/pawn shop side of the business.
jonathan
7 Apr 14 at 2:28 pm
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From the photos I can see the interior of the store was updated at some time. I bought camping supplies from them until The Backpacker opened around '72.
Back then the floors were worn out wood and the place was dusty like an old hardware store.
Terry
8 Apr 14 at 4:40 am
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The State is reporting that the Arnold Companies is working on a plan to bring new life into this block but some of the details aren't public yet...stay tuned
* BTW this one isn't on the Alphabetical Closings list *
Andrew
24 Jul 15 at 2:41 am
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In 1970 I bought my first pair of bell bottom jeans from Moe Levy's. I was just 13 and a couple of "cool" girls in my neighborhood had bell bottoms, I was just starting to get interested in girls, and I thought if I wore bell bottoms... well maybe they would think I was cool too, but it didn't happen, they were several years older and not interested.
Coolness is not something that can be purchased.
Rick
24 Jul 15 at 8:48 pm
Well, I've outlived another quirky little piece of my personal Columbia. Went to school with Ira Pearlstine whose family owned (or managed or something) Moe Levy's. He is a big shot surgeon if Florida now I believe. Anyway I never did figure out who went there and for what, exactly. They were the last remaining place to sell Boy Scout stuff other than the BSA store over by Platinum Plus. I remember walking by their windows when I was very little, after my family ate steaks at Shimmy's next door, and being hypnotized by the knives and brass knuckles in the window.