CHANGING FACE OF FIVE POINTS: Mayor celebrates new businesses opening in popular neighborhood

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Five Points has always been a popular neighborhood in Columbia, but things have changed over the years in the area.

This month alone, two new businesses set up shop on Harden Street.

“Here we are with another small business opening up. Columbia’s backbone is small business,” said Mayor Daniel Rickenmann. “It’s so exciting to have another retail shop down here in Five Points.”

Pannerprete Vintage was born a few years ago as a vendor at the Soda City Market held each Saturday on Columbia’s Main Street.

“I want to thank anyone who has every shopped with me at Soda City or has stopped by and said ‘Hey, y’all are awesome,’” said Katie Roberts, owner of Pannerprete Vintage. 

The store opened its brick and mortar location Monday morning.

“Soda City has so many wonderful vendors. It’s great to see another success story moving to a brick and mortar shop,” said Columbia councilman Will Brennan. 

Roberts thanked many people at the ribbon cutting ceremony Monday morning including her mother.

“She’s the one who took me thrifting when I was a kid and got me interested in second-hand clothes,” Roberts said. “Without her, this wouldn’t be happening either.”

Just a couple doors down is another new business which just opened its doors this month in Five Points.”

“We’re a community center,” said Ruth Smyrl, manager of All Good Books. “Our whole goal is to draw a group of people in Columbia together to read.”

Smyrl says the idea for the store came from one of her co-workers at the USC Law School.

“He said ‘Do you think an independent bookstore can work in Columbia?’ I said ‘Absolutely.’ He said ‘Would you come work for me if we did it?’ I said ‘Yes.’ It took two or three years to come to fruition,” she said. “It was a lot of hard work behind the scenes to restore this ancient building.”

She says the wood floors required a lot of work due to beer stains from the building’s days as a bar. However once the store started welcoming customers in the door, people started flocking to the new Five Points business.

“We’ve got a great selection of books. It’s a carefully curated selection. We consider everything we buy,” Smyrl said. “We have a great selection of coffee and serve beer and wine. It’s a great place to hangout in the afternoon.

In between the two new stores sits another relatively new addition to the area. Swiff opened its door last year and sells designer clothing out of its Harden Street location.