2548 North Main Street
Former Krispy Kreme
Commercial development along Cottontown’s western boundary has taken on many forms during the suburb’s evolution. For over two decades residents of Cottontown could enjoy hot, fresh donuts from their neighborhood Krispy Kreme shop, one of a handful operating in Columbia at that time. Jim Mayhew, who lived in the neighborhood with his wife, Edna, at 2405 Marion Street, opened the popular gathering place in 1969 and managed the successful business until 1976. Following several changes in ownership, the franchise’s Cottontown location closed in 1992.
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Krispy-Kreme Donuts, 1970s. Image courtesy The State
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Krispy-Kreme Donuts advertisement from the 1945 Columbia City Directory. The business relocated from 1422 Taylor Street to North Main Street in 1969. Image courtesy South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
Supporting the needs of the new suburb of Bellevue, later to be popularly renamed Cottontown, was a series of grocery stores, restaurants, and service providers established along North Main Street. During the development’s first years, only a handful of enterprises operated, including a blacksmith, a wagon maker, and an African-American grocery. Three decades later, in 1930, growth had been minimal with North Main featuring only 13 businesses. Within another decade, 34 businesses were open along the thoroughfare, illustrating the needs of the now matured suburb. This trend continued so that by the 1950s two grocery stores, A&P and Edens Foods, and restaurants, such as Doug Broome’s and the Varsity, were cornerstones of the community. Later arrivals like Krispy-Kreme Donuts were long-time Columbia attractions that opted to establish stores within the Cottontown area.