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For much of its life this was Frierson's Drug Store, which was an anchor in the community; then it was a Goodwill Industries for 8 years. The building has had two numbers assigned to it through the years, probably depending on which side of the building had the door at that time; the half with an entrance is 211, and the upstreet half without an entrance is 209.
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In the earliest days of Greer, there was a large house on the corner of Trade and Victoria (over the current locations of Galleries and Empire now, though set a bit off both streets to give them a bit of front yard) surrounded by a large lawn — and what is now 211 was on the south end of that lawn and entirely unbuilt.
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Between 1898 and 1904, a well was dug in the lawn; it was located in what today would be about dead-center of the 209 half of the current building. A small wood outbuilding, likely a shed, was added at what is now the very back of the 211 half.
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At some point between 1911 and 1922, the house, the well, and the outbuilding were removed, and the Brian Brigham and Empire buildings had been built in their place. To the south of this lot, which still remained empty as of October 1922, the Cartwright Food Hall building (then Wood-Mendenhall) had been built and a small office building added (where Crate is now).
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Between Oct. 1922 and January 1930, the full row of storefronts had been completed; unfortunately, the map only identifies them as "S" (stores), without telling us what was in them at the time. It does indicate that 209 and 211 were originally built as separate stores and likely had two entrances and two different tenants.
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By 1950, the two had been joined together, the wall removed and replaced with iron supports posts.
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1955: The first record we've found of a tenant: Lewis' Department Store.
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1957: vacant
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1958: for a very short time in March (about March 20–28), this was Greer Factory Outlet which held a fire sale of new and used merchandise "for as low as 10c on the dollar."
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1959: vacant
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1963-1976: With the address listed as 209 (wonder if the door was on the other side then?), the occupant for more than a decade was Frierson's Drug Store ("In Greer It's Friersons... A Real Drug Store"). Frierson's had been a long-time anchor on Trade Street, located in 237 Trade (down on the corner of Randall, where CBL's fountain is now) for more than 25 years. That building was very old and likely in poor condition; it was torn down and never replaced, and Frierson's moved up the street to your building sometime between 1960 and 1962. Frierson's shut down at the end of 1976 and sold their fixtures in January, 1977. As a side note, we have an old Frierson's wall calendar in our collection.
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1977-1980: vacant
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1981-early 1990: Goodwill Industries
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mid-1990: now, for the first time, the address has changed to 211 and the occupant is Signtific, a combination sign shop and party shop owned and operated by Rose and Art Fletcher. Maybe the door moved to this end... or maybe they just updated the street number listing to reflect the entrance.
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1992: vacant
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1993: A&M Wholesale Florist. This was likely associated with Wyatt's House of Flowers, a florist shop next door in 213 (Crate). We don't know how long they were in business; we have a dark period in our records of who the tenants were during the "dark years" of the 90s and early 2000s, when the city was struggling the most and much of Trade was shuttered and out of business.
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????–2021: Shoppes on Trade. A collection of about 50 vendors and a chocolate shop; moved to West Poinsett and became the "Shoppes Off Trade."
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2021–: Not Just Gamin’, a game and comic store owned by Jason Sizemore.
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Part of 209 and 211 Trade Street