Where the Roof Was Sky
Richland Mall was widely described as Columbia’s first. Not the biggest mall in South Carolina, not the flashiest. But the first.
And when you stood in the middle of it, on the concrete concourse, looking up, there was no ceiling. Just sky, boxed in by flat roofs and metal trim.
Richland Mall opened on November 2, 1961, with twenty-seven stores and no walls between them. J.B. White held the anchor spot. Winn-Dixie stood in for groceries…