Eckerd Drugs, 1720 Taylor Street: April 2000 10 comments
From what I understand, Eckerd was long an arm of J. C. Penny, which was looking to dump the thing for years before it was able to. That notwithstanding, Eckerd went on a building spree in Columbia a few years before the chain was finally taken over by Rite-Aid.
This included building a number of new stores which went under even before the take-over was in the works, and this building, at 1720 Taylor Street (between the train tracks and the old Big-T) was one of them. My memory is that it closed down almost as soon as it opened, though that may be something of an exaggeration. I'm not sure if it was caught in the chain's problems, or just not a viable location. Dollar General proves retail can work in that spot, but Eckerd's was a bit pricier.
UPDATE 15 May 2011: Changed closing date in post title to April 2000 based on commenter Andrew's research.
UPDATE 10 August 2020: Add map icon, update tags
10 Responses to 'Eckerd Drugs, 1720 Taylor Street: April 2000'
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Tom
27 Feb 09 at 1:13 am
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A friend of mine who works for Walgreen's says CVS stands for "Closing Very Soon."
Dennis
27 Feb 09 at 7:50 am
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I did not realize what a cut-throat business this was. I remember the Rite Aid in Richardson Plaza, as I use to rent VHS movies there. That would have been in the mid to late 80's. When I think Eckerd's, I think of the Dutch Square location with the lunch counter. I do notice that everytime an Eckerd's/CVS is built, a Walgreen's comes in and closes them down. You don't see many Walgreens that are not near another pharmacy. I think their whole business plan is to go into an existing market and close the competitors down. I stopped going to CVS as a pharmacy, because everytime you go in there, they ask when you "need" your prescription, then tell you it'll be 45 minutes. If I'm sick at the pharmacy, I "need" my medicine as soon as possible.
Jonathan
27 Feb 09 at 9:08 am
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I don't like CVS cause they have those cards like the grocery stores have. I hate having to carry a ton of cards to get discounts.
Mr. Bill
27 Feb 09 at 10:23 am
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Yeah, I hate those cards too. I don't care if I just walked in off the street -- give me your best price!
To be fair, the CVS clerks will often scan a courtesy card if you don't have one.
I'm going to do the DS Eckerd's eventually. I was actually boycotting Edkerd's for prescriptions at the end -- a store in Autusta misfilled one of mine. Luckily I knew what the pills were supposed to look like. They could have said something like "We're verry sorry and will take steps to see it doesn't happen again", but they didn't actually say anything, just took the bottle from me and re-dispensed it. I'm sure they were worried anything they said I could use in a lawsuit if I wanted to get nasty about it, but I think the situation warranted some acknowledgement on their part.
ted
27 Feb 09 at 12:12 pm
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wow they could have really messed you up. That's horrible.
Mr. Bill
27 Feb 09 at 4:20 pm
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Ted, What is the 'Autusta' you're referencing in your post?
Andrew
3 Jun 10 at 10:34 pm
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That's an unfortunate typo for Augusta as in Augusta, GA.
ted
3 Jun 10 at 10:37 pm
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If you read the article I linked on the US#1 (West Columbia) closing, you'll notice that this one closed the same time around that one of April 2000.
Andrew
14 May 11 at 7:41 pm
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here's the article (in case it doesn't work on the other page)
Andrew
14 May 11 at 7:44 pm
Actually this store was originally a Rite Aid. In the 1990s Eckerd's bought all the Rite Aids in SC. Ten years later, Rite Aid gobbled up all the Eckerds.
BTW, Eckerd was an independent company until the mid 1990s when Pennys bought them out. In 2004 Pennys, realizing what a turkey they had on their hands, sold half of Eckerds to CVS (mostly in the gulf states) and the rest to Brooks, a New England chain. Brooks kept the Eckerd name alive until Rite Aid took over.