Longtime dance shop owner finds perfect partner in Five Points

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Five Points’ newest business features a familiar face.

Dance supply shop The Turning Pointe relocated from the Forest Drive location it had called home for 38 years to 1030 Harden Street after owner Coleen Strasburger received an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“We had had offers before, and it was just never the right time or, really, the right price,” Strasburger said after a ribbon cutting at her business’ new location. “Lexington Medical approached us and said, ‘We’ll offer you this for your property,’ and we decided you know what, let’s do it. Let’s get this property sold and find us another home.”

After selling the Forest Drive property last December, Strasburger searched until she found the perfect spot. The building, which once housed longtime Five Points establishment Cribbs Bakery, was most recently home to cable company Spectrum before becoming available.

“This was the one that really drew us,” Strasburger said. “I really loved this space. … We had about eight weeks to renovate. So it was very, very scary. I was ready to put stuff in storage if I needed to.”

The space’s curved walls and already-installed track lighting appealed to Strasburger, who said one of the biggest renovations was the wood floor, now polished to a gleaming sheen.  

“We get excited when there’s a new business in the city limits – not that Turning Pointe is a new business,” Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said before joining Columbia District 2 City Councilman Ed McDowell in helping Strasburger cut the bright red ribbon. “It’s been a well-established business for a long time in our community that has filled a need for all those dancing folks.”

Strasburger said she’s been overwhelmed by the support from Five Points and city officials and is excited to be a little more centrally located to her customers, who come from all over the state.

“It’s been a great decision, a great move. I’m glad that I did it – now that it’s over,” she said with a laugh.  

The Turning Pointe stocks a variety of dance supplies and dancewear for ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, ballroom and other forms of dance. The shop is open from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday.