Efird's Department Store
National Register Listing
Street Address:
1601 Main St., Columbia, SC (Richland County)
Alternate Name:
Lourie’s Department Store
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817740154
Description and Narrative:
The Efird’s Department Store building is locally significant in the area of commerce. Between 1919 and 1958, Efird’s Department Store was one of the most significant stores in downtown Columbia, notable for its introduction of the one-price cash store concept to the city. As one of the earliest and most successful department stores on Main Street, Efird’s set the tone for the downtown shopping experience that generations of Columbia shoppers experienced from the early to mid-twentieth century. Only four years after the Efird’s Company arrived in Columbia in 1915 it undertook a comprehensive rehabilitation of the ca. 1870 building in which it had established its store. The 1919 project resulted in both structural and aesthetic changes including the addition of a third story and the installation of a new brick façade and store entrances. The building survives as a significant example of early twentieth century commercial architecture in downtown Columbia. Efird’s began in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1907 when Hugh Efird purchased the Charlotte Mercantile Company, a dry goods store commonly known as the Bee Hive. Shortly after Hugh convinced his brother Joseph to work for him, the two Efirds and a third brother Edmund Lilly bought a controlling interest in the company, renaming it the Efird Department Store to reflect their ownership. Expansion throughout both Carolinas soon followed, making Efird’s one of the largest department stores in the United States during the early twentieth century. Additional stores in Virginia eventually brought the company’s total number of stores to more than 50. Listed in the National Register October 9, 2012.
Period of Significance:
1919 – 1958
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Commerce
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
October 9 2012
