Articles

  • Home & Garden
  • Cocktail & Cuisine
  • Palmetto Business
  • Total Mind & Body
  • Inspiring Individuals
  • Sports & Outdoor Pursuits
  • Literature & History
  • Arts & Culture
  • Tying the Knot
  • From the Editor
  • Travel
  • Furry Friends

The Magazine

  • Subscribe or Renew
  • Advertise
  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Events Calendar
  • Enewsletter

Professional Listings

  • Best of Columbia 2022
  • Financial Managers
  • Giving Guide
  • Head of the Class
  • Insurance Professionals
  • Premier Attorneys™
  • Premier Physicians
  • Real Estate
  • Top Dentists
  • Veterinarians
  • Corporate Scene
Search
Contact| Advertise| Subscribe »
Subscribe »

Enjoy the magazine all year long!

Subscribe

Purchase a new subscription and qualify for $100 of fine dining, theater tickets and MORE!

Renew your subscription
Give a gift subscription
Sign up for our email newsletter
Where to Find a Copy

South Carolina's Premier Magazine

Est. 1990

  • Home & Garden
  • Cocktail & Cuisine
  • Business
  • Inspiring Individuals
  • Outdoor
  • The CMM Vault
  • More▼
    • Total Mind & Body
    • Literature & History
    • Arts & Culture
    • Tying the Knot
    • Travel
    • Furry Friends
    • Best of Columbia 2022
Search
| Subscribe »
  • Articles
  • Palmetto Business
  • May 2022

Share This:

Store Manager Set to Retire After More than 30 Years

South Carolina State Museum

Sponsored Content

By Amy Bartow-Melia, Executive Director, South Carolina State Museum

Scottie Ash

Congratulations to Scottie Ash! Much has happened at the South Carolina State Museum since its doors first opened more than 30 years ago. Renovations, expansions, new exhibitions ... only one of its current team members has seen it all since the beginning. 

Scottie Ash was hired as the museum store manager six months before the State Museum’s grand opening on Oct. 29, 1988. She still remembers the date and how the area that would become the store looked “like a dark cave with nothing in it” when she was first hired.

With a blank canvas, Scottie planned how the store would look, saying, “I got to plan it from the carpet up to the lighting because there was nothing there. So that was kind of fun!”

She also was able to name the store, still known today as “the Cotton Mill Exchange,” to pay tribute to the historic building — once a mill, now a museum. Ever since that opening day she has overseen the museum’s store, using her expertise in fashion merchandising to decide what would be sold. In other words, you can thank Scottie if you have ever bought anything at the Cotton Mill Exchange. But as the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end,” as Scottie will be retiring from the museum later this spring. 

Fondly remembering the good times, she says, “The eclipse we had back in 2017 was the most fun I’ve ever had.” Difficult times came with two moves during museum renovations, to which she says, “The only thing worse than moving a house is moving a store.”

She’s proud of the museum store, which she built from the ground up, and the team of hard-working staff and volunteers who have helped over the years. She attributes their dedication as part of the reason why the Cotton Mill Exchange has garnered the word-of-mouth praise and reputation as a place where visitors could always find a piece of South Carolina pride.

The entire staff of the museum wishes her the very best and can’t thank her enough for all the years of hard work at the South Carolina State Museum! 

The Cotton Mill Exchange at the State Museum

The Cotton Mill Exchange offers a surprising array of unique items from beautiful linens and jewelry to decorative items for your home or office, gourmet food, and more. The 4,000-square-foot museum store features a spectacular range of unique gifts and food products representing the Palmetto State. 

This spring shoppers can find wonderful options for graduation and wedding gifts, as well as a special selection for items related the current exhibition, “Bindings and Betweens: South Carolina Quilts,” including coffee mugs, puzzles, notecards, and more.

Plus, when you shop locally at the Cotton Mill Exchange, you help support the mission of the South Carolina State Museum. Guests are invited to shop at the museum on-site and online at SCMuseum.org.

«  back to issue

Subscribe

Straight to your mailbox all year long!

Get The Magazine

The Magazine


  • Subscribe or Renew
  • Advertise
  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Events Calendar
  • Enewsletter

Articles


  • Home & Garden
  • Cocktail & Cuisine
  • Palmetto Business
  • Total Mind & Body
  • Inspiring Individuals
  • Sports & Outdoor Pursuits
  • Literature & History
  • Arts & Culture
  • Tying the Knot
  • From the Editor
  • Travel
  • Furry Friends

Professional Listings


  • Best of Columbia 2022
  • Financial Managers
  • Giving Guide
  • Head of the Class
  • Insurance Professionals
  • Premier Attorneys™
  • Premier Physicians
  • Real Estate
  • Top Dentists
  • Veterinarians
  • Corporate Scene
(803) 787-6501
©2022 Columbia Metropolitan. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Refund/Cancellation/Delivery Policies