Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

In a comment on a previous post commenter "Jonathan" identified this building on Two Notch Road across from Columbia Mall as Continental Sound. If not for that, I probably would just think of it as "that radio building".

The place is now some sort of loan operation called Cash -n- Dash and has been remodeled, so you can't tell it now, but at one time the whole front of this building was designed to look like a dashboard radio/cassette player. What is now the left star was then the volume knob, while the right star was the tuning knob. I believe the front windows did not have the opaque blue window then so they looked like a cassete insertion slot. I also believe that there was a digital tuning display above the windows. (Though they were not common in cars until later). In the beginning, it was set to "104.7" which was WNOK, which was a rock station at the time. Later, for whatever reason (advertising bucks, new manager whatever) the tuning of the building was changed to another station. My memory says it was WCOS, which was a country station, but I could be wrong.

At one time Continental Sound commercials were ubiquitous on Columbia television, so I really should remember exactly what they did. In fact I have only a vague idea that they sold and installed car stereos because the rest of the commercial was what drew my (and everybody's) attention. Their commercials were always tagged by a girl delivering the catch phrase Sounds Real Good! in a really appealing manner. I say "catch phrase", but I believe it was just meant to be a one-time commercial closing line, until she sold it so well that they went on to feature it in every commercial they did. Again, my memory may be playing me false as it often does, but I believe they actually used the same footage all the time, so perhaps the girl was never able to give the line the same oomph in later readings. Eventually, they did change it -- sort of. The original "sounds real good" girl was average looking -- perfectly OK, but not actress/model quality in the looks department. The final "sounds real good" commercials used a sexier girl who lip synched to the original girl's line.

I don't know what happened to Continental Sound. I think they folded or moved in the 1990s. Google suggests that after that the building was home to Big Apple Music which, I think, left the building's radio motif alone. I can understand why Cash -n- Dash wanted to change it -- it's certainly not what you would expect for that type of operation and would tend to confuse casual traffic, but it's still a shame to lose such a unique building. Though I suppose in a few years parents would have had to explain what a "cassette" was anyway..

UPDATE 14 September 2021: Adding map icon and updating tags.

This store has one of those vague names I dislike, or maybe half vague. I guess I wouldn't mind a vague name like Good Stuff, but when it's half specific and have vague (not to mention cutsey) like Linens-n-Things, I start to wonder What kind of things?. (As you might guess, I don't like Bed, Bath & Beyond as a name either..).

Linens-n-Things is in the new strip out on Two Notch near Sandhill which has Target and Michaels. It at one time also had OfficeMax, which is now a Haloween store (and which I would expect to close soon after the 31st). If I were Michaels, I'd be a bit worrried. Target is a destination store, and people are going to come out for it regardless, but the aggregate traffic for the strip as a whole is going to be hit pretty bad I would think.

It was raining pretty steadily when I took these pictures, and they had one of those guys who stands on the road and waves the closing/discount sign out on Two Notch getting thoroughly soaked. Normally October in South Carolina is about the best time and place to do something like that, but today he just ran out of luck.

UPDATE 31 October 2011 -- As commenter Andrew mentions, there is ongoing work at this storefront:

My memory is a bit unclear, but OK Carbs was in one of these storefronts (all different "suites" at 252 Harbison). This is the (generally) horseshoe-shaped strip mall that has Barnes & Noble and The Olive Garden. With the sudden rise to fame of the Atkins Diet and its emphasis on counting carbohydrates instead of fats, it was inevitable that someone was going to figure out (or attempt to figure out) a way to make money off the latest craze. I'm sure there were others in town, but OK Carbs was the one that caught my eye because I hit the Harbison Barnes & Noble fairly often (since, unlike the Richland Mall one, it actually is open during the hours you would expect a Barnes & Noble to be open..). I didn't follow the Atkins diet (my personal belief is that the best diet is eat less & exercise more, not that I follow that one either!), but I always respect someone trying to make a buck off of a trend. In the event, I don't know if they pulled out in time to finish ahead or if they rode it into the ground, but whichever case, OK Carbs, like Dr. Atkins, is no longer with us.

By the time Sears moved from Harden Street to Columbia Mall, it was long past the catalog glory days of being the company you could by anything from, but it hadn't yet been so bloodied in the retail wars that it would reject odd ideas out of hand.

This concrete slab in the Columbia Mall parking lot by the Charleston Crab House (and still actually owned by Sears to judge from the tow-away signs) was one of them. Over this slab was a canopy, and under the canopy was an island with a number of Sears-branded gas pumps. I don't remember a whole lot about the place as we only filled up one of two times there. I'm pretty sure it was self-serve, but since there was no such thing as electronic credit card reading pumps at the time, there certainly would have been a cashiers shed with an attendant. You could pay with cash, or, of-course, with your Sears Card.

My memory is that the place was an experiment that didn't last too long. I don't know exactly what happened, but I can hazard some guesses. First, the location was not convenient unless you were already at the mall. Getting in and out of the mall parking lot was (and is) much more time consuming than stoping at a corner station. Second, in the 70s people actually had some brand loyalty to different gas chains, and felt that name-brand gas was a better product than generic. Now we tend to think it's like sugar, and there's no problem buying Domino's if Dixie Crystals is more expensive. Third, at some point in the 70s (I believe) there was a major scandal about Sears's auto repair operation ripping people off (that's why about all they will do nowadays is change tires or batteries). The opprobrium from that may have tainted their gas business in people's minds. Fourth, it is simply the fact that selling gas was not in the core retail market Sears was (is..) trying to serve. As their fortunes declined, they may have decided that selling gas was a distraction and brand-dillution. (Though I have seen Wal-Mart trying the concept recently..).

At any rate, the place closed after not too many years. The canopy stood for several years after that, but was itself finally torn down. I don't remember the tanks being torn out, and there are still some access points, so perhaps they are still there (though that seems like an enviromental cleanup bill waiting to happen if it really is the case).

UPDATE 20 February 2020: Add tags, address, map icon.

I don't go to auto parts stores too often. I generally regard cars as a "hardware problem" that a software guy doesn't deal with too well though certainly I've bought the odd gas-cap or the like over the years. This particular shop had a bit of an out-of-the-way location; it was on "Wildcat Road", which is what Rosewood Drive becomes after it crosses Garners Ferry. This is behind the old K-Mart and its associated, dying strip mall (site of one of the locations of Robo's Video Arcade many years ago). I don't know what happened to it -- it wasn't a chain-wide thing as there are still several NAPA stores in town. I don't know what will happen to the lot, though it does appear to come with its own radio tower.

I already posted about the closing of the Two Notch Goody's, and the problems the whole chain was and is having, but I thought it was interesting that the building for the Bower Parkway Goody's, which apparently closed at the same time, has already been re-purposed. Granted these "giant book sale" things usually only last for a couple of weeks or months (though one at the old Waccamaw Pottery mall lasted for a few years), but it's something and it starts today, so you if you head out now, you can get 80% off some out of date computer manuals, and cookbooks by people you never heard of.

UPDATE 18 July 2009: Not its a "liquidation sale" for the next month or so. The sort of $5 entrance fee affair you used to see at Jamil Temple sometimes:

UPDATE 25 May 2010: Change post title to reflect full official name of the store and full street address.

UPDATE 22 Sep 2010 -- Now it's a Halloween store:

UPDATE 24 September 2011 -- It's to be a Stein Mart:

UPDATE 31 October 2011 -- Looks like Stein Mart is open:

UPDATE 10 May 2017 -- Actually I have been confusing 1120 & 1130 Bower Parkway. Goody's, the Haloween popup store and the Giant Book Sale store were all in 1130, most recently occupied by H H Gregg. 1120 where Stein Mart was is a different storefront.

This former residence on Broad River Road about a mile North of I-20 was for many years George's Book Exchange (I might not be recalling the name exactly right though "George's" was certainly in it). The Dutch Square area used to be pretty rich in book stores. Inside the mall itself, there was Walden's (which was still there last time I checked, though not in the original location) and some sort of mainly greeting card store which was down the internal hill from Waldens and on the other side of the walkway. It had several paperback racks with a different mix of books than Waldens. Across Dutch Square Boulevard from the Mall there was Cookesbury, which at the time seemed more general interest than the Christian focus it now has, and down on Bush River Road, somewhere past K-Mart and before I-26, was the Book Exchange which is now in Boozer.

Unlike all those, George's was not in walking distance of Dutch Square, but once I started driving, it was easy to check out when I was in the general area. Also, unlike all those, it must be admited that George's had a lot of R and X rated material. The professor I had for the Science Fiction elective I took at USC actually called the place "Scummy George's", but I don't think that's wholly fair. He had all sorts of books, and the mainstream books were not just a front for the adult stuff. (And some of the adult stuff seemed to be "collectible" issues of Playboy etc).

In my particular area of interest, the store always had a good bit of SF, including from time to time issues of the old SF pulps from the 50s & 60s. I remember picking up several old issues of Galaxy and Worlds of If there as well as lots of SF books. As far as I can recall, there was ever only one person at a time working the store (it wasn't large). I can't remember if it was always the same guy, but I'm sure that at least sometime it had to be the eponymous George.

Eventually, I stopped going to used book stores very often. I guess I got rather spoiled by having a real job, and knowing that if I wanted a book, I could just buy it new. Then came Amazon, and now I can find $0.01 copies of lots of used books if I want them. There's still a lot to be said for going to a used book store and stumbling over something you weren't looking for, but I nonetheless do it much less now than then. At some point after I tapered off (and was living in Aiken anyway), George's closed. I don't know if George retired, passed away, moved or just found it wasn't profitable anymore. Whatever the reason, the building now houses a barber shop. Of course if it's like most barber shops, the magazines in there now aren't any newer than George's collectibles..

The Paperback Exchange was on of my favorite places downtown in the 70s and 80s. It was not fancy, in fact it was a dump. My memory says that it was a little one story building on the East side of Assembly. The address was very easy to memorize, and is now occupied either by the former AT&T building or a the parking garage, I'm not sure which, so I'm including pictures of both.

The place had big glass windows on either side of a central door, and there was a wide wooden display shelf behind each window. I don't know what the building housed originally, but by the time The Paperback Exchange occupied it, this area was strewn with old magazines and comics yellowing in the afternoon sun.

The place was definitely a bit seedy, and porn was a good part of their stock in trade, along with men's "adventure" magazines like, um Argosy, Soldier of Fortune and the like. (Looking back, I'm a little surprised my mom would drop me off there sometimes while she shopped. Of course, she would have first look at whatever I bought...) There were never many customers when I was there, and I've wondered over the years if perhaps the place was a front of some sort though I never saw any indication of that at the time.

All that aside, what I went for was the Science Fiction rack (and later in the 80s, used comics). This was more or less in the center of the store and was, I believe, two double-sided wooden rack units. The books were in no particular order, but they did seem to turn over with fair regularity, and the place always seemed to have quite a few Ace Doubles. This was an interesting concept that Ace books pioneered in the 50s and 60s (though it lasted into the 70s) where the company would publish two books (often novellas by today's length standards) under the same cover, but upside-down to each other. Each book would have it's own front cover and there was (necessarily) no "back" cover. The books might be by the same author (Jack Vance: The Houses of Iszm with Jack Vance: The Son of the Tree for example) or different authors (Jaunita Coulson: The Singing Stones with E. C. Tubb Derai for another). Although I did not know this at the time, Donald A. Wollheim, who later founded DAW Books was the SF editor at Ace during a large part of this time, and since his tastes were often congruent with mine, I liked a lot of those old Ace Doubles. Anyway, I got a bit distracted there -- my point was going to be that at the time, at The Paperback Exchange, those doubles weren't yet collectible, they were just old and over the years I added many to my shelves.

The end came with development. As I said, I'm not sure exactly which of these two building occupies exactly the "1234" address, but between the two of them, they took out the entire contents of the first block of Assembly. I'm not saying The Paperback Exchange was any architectural treasure either, but in my opinion the AT&T building, at least, should not have been built there as it overshadows the Capitol... As far as I could tell, The Paperback Exchange never relocated to any other spot after it was evicted -- there were several other such operations in town at the time and perhaps they didn't have the margin to reestablish and compete. At any rate, I still have all those Ace Doubles.

OK, I'm not entirely sure what happened here (housing market crash related perhaps?), but it has the earmarks of being a big mess both for customers and the new owners, who have apparently put themselves in the unenviable position of running a store under the same name while having to explain to customers how they have no connection with the previous owners nor any responsibility to make customers whole vis-a-vis their dealings with same. I give them points for apparently making a good faith effort in that regard though. And where does this other company TRS fit into the picture?

I believe this is the third store on the highly visible left-front side of Sandhills to have something bad happen to it after The Atlanta Bread Company and Sofa Express.

UPDATE:

On the night of Saturday 25 Oct 2008 on my way back from Red Robin, I saw a new sign on Ashley. It was an official notice from the Sherrif or a Magistrate to the effect that Ashley either had to pay their rent or show cause why they shouldn't be evicted. I didn't have my camera with me, and on Sunday the 26th, it was gone

UPDATE 12 April 2010: Added full street address to post title.

UPDATE 21 May 2010 -- Apparently this place will become a Gold's Gym. I had previously reported that the Gold's would be going into the neighboring former Sofa Express location, but that seems to be a temporary presale operation only, with the actual gym going here:

UPDATE 14 July 2010: The Gold's Gym setup is done, and the temporary gym/presale in the old Sofa Express building is closed, with the new gym now running in this building.

UPDATE 25 April 2018 -- Ashley has returned to Sandhill, in the former H. H. Gregg location at 230 Forum Drive:

Google is a wonderful thing. I had been noticing this lot ever since I moved back to town, and I felt like I should remember what it was, but I never quite could. I had in my mind that it had been a car dealership, and that may have been correct, given what's left inside now, but the architecture didn't look right for that as a first use.

Plugging the (very visible) street address into Google though reveals that it started life as a Food Lion. In fact, we can find out that it was buit in 1978, has 22,056 square feet available on a 2.34 acre lot, and can be all yours for $900,000.. I can even now tell you that the latitude & longitude for the place are 34.034074 & -81.004620!

I also find that as a Food Lion, the store had followed a practice I dislike: getting it's Deli department into local restaurant listings. I feel the same way about groceries that use their deli to get onto the Interstate "Dining" exit signs.

I don't know exactly what happened to this Food Lion. I know that in the 80s, one of the network news magazine shows did a hit piece on Food Lion that hurt them quite a bit at the time. Perhaps that had an impact here. Perhaps they were planning the new store down Two Notch towards Pinestraw even then. In general I find Food Lions of this era to be a bit dingy and downmarket. Their newer stores are quite nice however -- the one at the South Causeway at Pawleys Island is excellent and even has Virgil's Root Beer. And here's a tip: Almost all Food Lion's have regularly cleaned, nice bathrooms in the left rear corner of the store -- good to know driving in a strange area!

It was drizzling while I took these shots, and the closing-cam works much better in bright sunshine, so the lot and building are not as depressing as they look here.

UPDATE 9 March 2011: Updated the closing date to 1997 based on the comments.