{"id":5936,"date":"2012-06-05T01:03:46","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T06:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/columbiaclosings.com\/wordpress\/?p=5936"},"modified":"2016-11-05T15:57:13","modified_gmt":"2016-11-05T19:57:13","slug":"decker-mall-2500-decker-boulevard-spring-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/columbiaclosings.com\/wordpress\/?p=5936","title":{"rendered":"Decker Mall, 2500 Decker Boulevard: Spring 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Well, it's unclear to me exactly when the hammer finally dropped, but all the remaining private businesses are now out of Decker Mall. I decided to stop by last week, and found that once I was inside, the only occupied space was the Dentsville Magistrate's office, and that most of the mall is now cordoned off by wire fencing in advance of the place being remodeled to house a bunch of Richland County Government offices.<\/p>\n

I've written in various places about Decker Mall<\/i> tenants, and thus in passing about the mall itself, but I've never done an entry for the mall per se.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, Decker and Bush River<\/a> malls were twins, with both being laid out as a strip anchored on one end by Richway<\/a> (with the distinctive triangles on top) and on the other end by Kroger<\/a>. The only real difference was that Bush River had a multiplex and Decker did not.<\/p>\n

I'm not sure when Decker Mall<\/i> opened, but it was definitely while I was in High School, probably around 1977. At the time, Columbia Mall<\/i> was thriving, and just a few blocks away, so from the get-go, Decker<\/i> had to find a different focus. With a discount store as one anchor, and a grocery as the other, the stores in the interior between the two tended to be smaller national chains, local chains, and one-off locals. Apart from clothing and other stores that didn't catch my teenage eye at all, I can recall Gateway Books<\/i>, Flipside Records & Tapes<\/i>, and my favorite, The Land of Oz<\/a> video arcade.<\/p>\n

After the Richway<\/i> chain folded, Gold Circle<\/i> took that anchor spot, and then when they folded, Target<\/i> moved in. As far as I could tell, they always did a good business, but at some point a general mania struck Decker Boulevard businesses and they all begain a flight to Nort East Two Notch Road regardless whether there was still a customer base at the original location. When both Target<\/i> and Kroger<\/i> joined the flight, the writing was not only on the wall for Decker Mall<\/i> (that wall had been scribbled for years..) but now it was etched in.<\/p>\n

A number of local businesses that didn't rely on foot traffic held on there for years, but the last is now gone, and the next phase of life for the mall, if not *as<\/i>* a mall is about to begin.<\/p>\n

I have gone through a number of old city directories at the RCPL and have come of with this list of tenants for various years:<\/p>\n

1977:<\/p>\n

Does not list a mall at 2500, just Richway Stores<\/i>.<\/p>\n

1978:<\/p>\n