Capitol Loan Office, 1214 Main Street: 2002 3 comments
At one time, downtown had a lot of pawn shops. I seem to recall several on Assembly Street. There are fewer nowdays. Some of them got re-developed, and I think some of them got out-competed by shops in more logical places like Decker Boulevard. I never went into one until I was in my 40s. Though I can't recall either of my parents ever saying anything against pawn shops, I just always had the feeling growing up that they were sort of places of ill-repute. Perhaps that's because the classic n'er-do-well Andy Capp was the only character I associated with the shops.
I believe this shop on Main closed at about the same time as the Capitol Restaurant and that First Citizen's is supposed to do something with the property someday. Maybe they'll open it back up. I should think pawn-shopery is a lot less risky than mortgage lending..
UPDATE 4 May 2010: Added full street address to post title.
3 Responses to 'Capitol Loan Office, 1214 Main Street: 2002'
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badger
4 Feb 09 at 5:15 pm
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Was also one of the best coin shops in Columbia!
David
25 Sep 10 at 9:27 pm
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Very Nice people....used to talk middle eastern politics with them ( i think they were Jewish) i bought my first Nikon camera from them around 1995.....also a .38 special Smith and Wesson.....they had a good selection of low end High end Hi Fi gear, Maranzt, Harmon Kardon etc, again nice people...i was at USC 1990-96
stephen h edwards
27 Apr 11 at 9:41 pm
This business was started a very long time ago by the late Joe Russ. He was already dead by the time I came to Columbia, but his wife Naomi was still alive. At that time it was run by Naomi and her two children. By the late '90s, Mama Naomi had died, and the children were getting up in age. One one of them, Nat, retired and moved to Florida. The other, Lila, I believe is still in Columbia. Someone else might have actually taken over day-to-day operations of the store in its last couple of years, because I don’t recall seeing either of them during that time.