1600 Block of Main Street
Affording Luxury in Columbia
Polish immigrant Barrett Visanska (c. 1848 - 1932) and Austrian immigrant Henry Steele (1840 - 1908), who ran watchmaking businesses on the 1400 blocks of Richardson (Main) and Assembly streets, respectively, hold the distinction of being Columbia’s first Jewish jewelers. Others followed, including Philadelphia born Charles Reyner, Sr. (1898 - 1956), who moved to Columbia in 1916 and three years later opened Reyner Jewelers at 1610 Main Street. It stayed in operation until the mid-1960s, and at its peak had additional locations in Trenholm Plaza and Five Points.
In 1946, Nathan Picow (b. 1924) opened King’s Jewelers at 1625 Main Street. There, he also sold furniture, refrigerators, small appliances, stoves and television sets. From 1962 until 1982, Picow operated two stores on Main Street. Today, Picow’s sons, Ian and Jeffery, run the current location at 1611 Main Street, which opened in 1964. King's Jewelry at 1611 Main Street.
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Barrett Visanska's jewelry businesses occupied various locations on Main Street before relocating to the rear portion of the Sylvan Building (1215 Hampton Street), circa 1904. The Tree of Life: Fifty Years of Congregational Life at the Tree of Life Synagogue, Columbia, S.C by Helen Kohn Hennig
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Reyner Jewelers in the Manson Building, circa 1961. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
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1600 block of Main Street featuring Jewish-owned businesses Lourie's, King's Jewelers, and Allan's, 1978. Image courtesy Russell Maxey Collection, Richland Library
