Hmm... Midlands Shopping Center For Sale 18 comments
Midlands Shopping Center started out as a virtual twin and sister site to Trenholm Plaza, anchored by two groceries, a five and dime and a post office. Over the years, however, it has failed to thrive and has largely moved beyond retail. With the recent demolition of the old A & P building, I thought perhaps somebody had a plan for the place, but I see today that it is all up for sale.
18 Responses to 'Hmm... Midlands Shopping Center For Sale'
Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'Hmm... Midlands Shopping Center For Sale'.
-
Rick
11 Aug 14 at 4:22 pm
-
The Edgewood Post Office has been up for closure on at least two occasions but the community (including Mayor Benjamin and in a previous round, then-mayor Coble) has rallied around to save it. The problem I think it struggles with is lack of visibility...it wouldn't be hard to drive by this stretch of Two Notch Road and not even know it's there. I didn't know it was there until my dad pointed it out to me...I've been in the Edgewood Post Office several times and there is usually a line (typically with one person behind the counter)...
I think other portions of the building are used for education facilities of some sort...I also think that the Columbia Police department has like region headquarters or a region substation of some sort in this building.
There is also on the end closest to Two Notch Road ((p1170137_tn.jpg) which is the 4th one down from the top of this post and the next one down before the Edgewood pics) that has screws that I think were once used to house the signage of the grocery store that it once had and I almost feel as if someone who remembered what grocery store signage of the heyday of this center looked like could do a 'connect the dots' with it and figure out if it's the remnants of signage of a Colonial Stores, Winn Dixie or another grocer of the era...though these pics (and a couple I've taken myself) don't show it very well...
Andrew
11 Aug 14 at 4:59 pm
-
I grew up in the area between Midlands Shopping Center and Trenholm Plaza. My house was equidistant from both. My parents stopped going to Midlands shopping Center in the mid 80s, although they did use the post office periodically for many years. Trenholm Plaza has really stepped up and improved over the years. The exact opposite has happened to Midlands Shopping Center. Guess that' s what happens when most of the area around a shopping center is the ghetto.
Cam
11 Aug 14 at 6:17 pm
-
@Rick -- Edna's on Two Notch is now Anthony's. Edna's off Forest Drive was torn down, *but* Edna's on River Road is still going strong:
ted
11 Aug 14 at 11:00 pm
-
@Rick and Ted - Thanks Rick for the Edna's salute. It's about time for me to wander out there for a double burger!!!!
Thanks for the Edna's pic, Ted. That i the best one I have seen so far on the web. Might make it my wallpaper for a bit!!!!
Wasn't there a Western Auto on Bush River Rd at one time? Somewhere around where Manifest is. I know there was some kind of auto parts place there at one time.
Homer
11 Aug 14 at 11:54 pm
-
We lived a few blocks down Covenant Road (in the 1960s & 70s) and I walked there pretty often with my mother to get groceries.
Help me remember.
Starting at the Two Notch end there wasColonial grocery store (later Big Star)
Rose's
a small pharmacy
a women's clothes store
Grant's (later Western Auto)
several small business offices in the back
Post Office
another women's clothes store
A & PThe big flat parking lot got a lot of carnivals.
For a brief time Midlands had Columbia's only Spanish (not Mexican) restaurant
Dennis
12 Aug 14 at 6:05 am
-
@Rick - Western Auto was sold to Sears in the 80s, which then sold it to Advance Auto in the late 90s.
Justin
12 Aug 14 at 7:36 am
-
Justin, thank you for that information on Western Auto. I have wondered off and on for years what had happened.
Speaking of Advance Auto, they have some good deals and sometimes I can find items I am looking for there that I can not find anywhere else, however the Advance on my side of town is not a store I enjoy visiting. The sales people there are of a certain UH.. well they spend too much time as if it were a social event rather than trying to assist the "other" customer.So I go to Auto Zone first, if they do not have what I need I go to O'Reallys, (I spelled it that way on purpose) if they do not have what I'm looking for I go to Advance, after that I just order it off the web.
Rick
12 Aug 14 at 5:40 pm
-
Ted, Thanks for the update on Edna's. I am going to Edna's on River Road this weekend just to see if the hot dogs are still nasty, and how much they cost.
I'll keep you posted on my findings.
Rick
12 Aug 14 at 5:43 pm
-
There was a rundown big old house on the property behind Midlands Shopping Center. A classic haunted house situation with a big staircase, a library full of moldy books, a creepy cellar etc. Anybody know anything about that? It was in an advanced state of decay in the mid 70s when I went trespassing, er, I mean exploring. There's a storage operation there now, I think.
Dennis
12 Aug 14 at 6:01 pm
-
@Rick - Here's a pic of Edna's menu from about a year ago. If you blow it up you can make out most of it.....
Homer
12 Aug 14 at 6:34 pm
-
@ Rick - The hotdogs are awesome, in a nasty way. My wife and swing by Edna's about once every two months. They're not open Sunday's so you'll have to hit it up Saturday. Still cash only too.
Justin
13 Aug 14 at 8:47 am
-
That Advance next to Mainfest is the Old Western Auto. My Dad was regional manager for Western Auto in the late 60's and 70's.
MrBill
13 Aug 14 at 11:38 am
-
Hey Homer, Right on picture of the menu, that was totally Righteous. You've still got the cool'ness thing going on brother.
Justin, yes they are/were awesome in a nasty kind of way, sort of hard to describe in an articulate way. One has to be eaten to fully understand. HA ha, just made myself laugh with my last sentence... I'll leave it at that, but I'm still laughing.
Rick
13 Aug 14 at 8:32 pm
-
I blame Homer for that, he said "If you Blow it up" Damn I'm laughing again.
Rick
13 Aug 14 at 8:38 pm
-
Where else can you get three gut bomb hot dogs for $3.30. Try that at Sandy's...
Or a double hamburger for $3.50. Damn, I want one now....
Homer
13 Aug 14 at 10:44 pm
-
My Mother would shop at the A&P on a regular basis back in the early 60's. I remember the 5 & dime shop there also. That may have been a Rose's. It seemed like we did a lot of shopping on Two Notch back then. The Atlantic Thrift and Uncle Sam's were the closest to home, as well as Cambell's drug store. Romanstein's grocery was a frequent stop. It was around School House Rd. and Two Notch. This is a not so safe area now. The confusing thing now is that the neighborhoods off of Two Notch are hardly ghettoes. I got some nerve up one afternoon and toured these areas. Many of them are actually quite nice. It may just be some bad players who give these neighborhoods a bad name and give a bad perception to the Midland's shopping area.
Joelc
22 Aug 14 at 3:22 am
-
The First Citizens bank branch in Midland Shopping Center has closed (and has been for a while)...
Andrew
17 Sep 17 at 11:32 pm
My Wife lived off of Two Notch Road for several years back in the late 60's. Anytime we have passed by Midlands Shopping Center since the early 90's, memories come back to her. She talks about her family grocery shopping there, about getting a new bike from the Western Auto for her birthday, going to the Post Office, and then she gets sentimental on me saying "What a shame, that use to be such a nice shopping center." And I agree, I remember going there as late as the early 80's. I know Western Auto was still open at the time.
Speaking of Western Auto, what happened to those guys? There was one still open on Garners Ferry Road near Jackson Blvd. up until at least around 1995.
Back to Midlands Shopping Center. My Wife states that area of town is much more depressed that it once was, and I must agree. The stretch of Two Notch from Dick Smith Ford, formally Pulliam Ford, Hmm.. has Ted done a closing on Pulliam? Anyway From Dick Smith to the Providence Hospital is not a area I venture into often. Especially since Edna's Hot Dog stand is not there anymore, Hmm.. is that another one Ted missed? I need to check the archives.
I remember Edna's had four hot dogs for a dollar. The hot dog wiener itself was bright pink on the outside and flesh colored on the inside, must have been the cheapest dang hotdogs they could find anywhere on earth, but that deal (4 for $1) was very popular in this area at the time. Dirt parking lot, picnic tables and all the fly's buzzing around one could tolerate. Ahh.. the good old days. That was a salute to you Homer.