Stimulus Money from JEDA Helps Mast General Store Move to Columbia
    |
COLUMBIA, S.C. – New stimulus money and an old-time general store concept have come together in a project that developers and city leaders are optimistic will be a key to the retail revival of downtown Columbia.
North Carolina-based Mast General Store will use $2 million in Recovery Zone Facility Bonds – the first such issue in South Carolina – to help convert the former Lourie's Department Store on Main Street into one of its popular general merchandise stores.
The low-interest bonds will come through the South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority (JEDA), utilizing facility bond allocations that the City of Columbia and Richland County received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The company will be responsible for paying back the bonds, part of an incentive package designed to attract Mast General Store to Columbia, and said it plans to hire approximately 16 full-time and 22 part-time employees at its new location. The store will sell traditional mercantile goods ranging from penny candy and bird houses to cast iron skillets and rocking chairs, along with clothing, footwear and trail and travel gear.
"This is a big move for us, however, the enthusiasm of our customers in and around the Columbia area is inspiring. Innovative financing and creative thinking by the City of Columbia, Richland County and JEDA helped make the difference in our decision," said Mark Gould, chief financial officer of Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, N.C., where the company began in 1883.
"We're thrilled that Mast General Store has decided to open its 9th location here in downtown Columbia. They were a critical early piece in the national success story that downtown Greenville has become and we think they may well have the same impact here. Playing a role in this has been very gratifying," said April Lucas, a lead partner and bond counsel with Nexsen Pruet's economic development and public finance groups.
The company plans to open its new store in the summer of 2011 in a landmark downtown Columbia building that dates to 1884.
"The Lourie Family operated a linchpin store in that critical location for decades. To see an equally committed downtown partner come into this location, especially a store as popular and highly regarded as Mast, is really a great boon to downtown Columbia and really to the city and the entire area. This is right in the heart of the state's largest and capital city," said Mayor Bob Coble.
"The news that Mast General Stores was coming to downtown Columbia has caused a new level of excitement and optimism about Main Street, at the heart of the historic downtown in South Carolina's capital city. JEDA is particularly pleased to have had a role in making this possible," said JEDA Executive Director Harry Huntley.
Mast General Store is a family of employee-owned retail locations based in rural Valle Crucis, North Carolina. The store strives to breathe new retail life into historic buildings located along downtown Main Streets with a vision of traditions for a better community, a better future, a better world.