Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I was never particularly interested in going to TakoSushi, as the menu didn't sound up my alley, but there are a number of them about, so apparently it works for them. Although in the event, not in Forest Acres, I guess. The State has the closing story here, and say that the place was open for a little more than a year, after replacing Baskin Robbins, which closed in 2022.

The storefront is already in train to be a Jimador Real, which I assume is a smaller version of an El Jimador, though I don't really know.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Orvis was founded in 1856, and impinged very infrequently on my attention over the last 170 years. I had the vague idea it was some sort of L. L. Bean thing, (apparently there was more fishing involved than I expected) and totally missed that fact that a store had opened in Cross Hill Market, taking the place of PlantHouse which closed in March 2024.

Here are State stories on the store announcement, and the store opening. There doesn't yet seem to be on on the closing. The chain announced the grand opening on their Facebook just shy of a year ago.

The closing doesn't really have anything to do with Columbia as a market. The chain is in big trouble and is closing about half their stores (for now).

The "November" closing date is just a guess, given that we are more than half-way through October and the closing sale has already started.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Daniel's Fine Furniture has moved from their location across from the Airport to 1217 Sunset Boulevard in the same little strip which used to house JackSon's Southern Kitchen. They appear to have some sort of sale going on.

Here is the West Metro News on the move.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

After 31 years in business, the owner of "this little store" is retiring. You can see her heartfelt goodbye on their Facebook.

In the meantime, if you're looking for a suit, the closing sale is on.

These (not particularly good -- I was on my way somewhere else) pictures are from 20 May 2023, the grand opening of The Dales Biergarten and Bottle Shoppe, which will be closing on 17 October with a bit over two years under its belt. Taking over from wedding venue The Springdale House & Gardens, The Dales aimed to be

a family friendly Biergarten and retail shop.

.

The closing sites staffing issues, and the usual recent liability concerns.

You can read the venue's announcement here and stories from The State & Post & Courier here & here.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

This head shop was in the news back in 2023 as they were found to be, or thought to be, selling actual marijuana ("green plant-like material believed to be marijuana") rather than the more legal "almost" products.

The local store of the NC based chain claimed the substance was just hemp, and legal. I'm not sure how all the legal wrangling turned out, and I don't see any actual articles on the store closure, but it is definitely gone now.

Here is WLTX on the raid, and here are WIS & WACH.

Here is the store's side of the story from NC based alternative weekly:

Since opening his first Crowntown Cannabis location — then called Charlotte CBD — in east Charlotte in 2018, Michael Sims has moved comfortably in what could sometimes be considered a gray area.

Sims was under the impression that he was given the green light to sell hemp products by the passing of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, followed by a statewide pilot program allowing those who obtain a license in North Carolina to grow industrial hemp.

“Ultimately, we were okay with the gray area at first because we didn’t think it was that gray,” Sims tells Queen City Nerve. “Here’s the clearly defined definition of what hemp is by Congress. It’s no longer under the DEA. It’s now under the USDA. Here’s the rules. Okay, we’ll follow them.”

And follow them he did, as Sims and his partners have rapidly expanded their business, opening a second location in Columbia, South Carolina the following year and opening two more in the Charlotte area since — one in NoDa and another in Concord.

But on Jan. 18, things got a lot grayer for Sims after the Columbia Crowntown Cannabis store was raided by Columbia police and the state’s South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). During the raid, agents confiscated pounds of inventory from the shop that they “perceived to be marijuana,” arresting the store manager and charging her with conspiracy to sell marijuana.

Sims and his team dispute any such allegations, stating that all product in the store was hemp flower, which he believed to be legal in both North and South Carolina as long as it stayed below the .03% THC level stated in law.

As I said, I didn't see any follow-up articles online, but the place was gone at least by this September according to Streetview, and I suspect it went rather before that.

Commenter Midnight Rambler sent these photos (some time ago) from 18 November 2011 saying:

For those who camped out for concert tickets, these pictures bring back
memories. I took them in Nov. 2011 knowing the new business building would be going there.

This parking lot faced the North side of the Coliseum, fronting on Greene Street and was built over by the new Darla Moore School Of Business around 2012.

(Hat tip to commenter Midnight Rambler)

Came across these pictures from 2012, and as far as I can tell, the building, just past the closed Wal-Mart & Murphy's, is still there, but it ceased being Bush River Auto Mall around 2018, moving to another nameplate, Automotive Showcase at that that time.

It's a nice little house.

This location of Pelican's was in the old Winn-Dixie plaza at the corner, and was apparently some sort of bank at one time.

I had noticed that it was no longer sporting the Pelian's colors, but hadn't gotten around to checking it out. Apparently this location shares ownership with the Rosewood one, and closed in early May, which is not what I would normally expect, as that is just as the SnoBall season is really starting.

The place as been redone with really odd orange awnings above, and black below to block out the Pelican's branding. It seems, somehow, to also have acquired a new set of windows on the side nearest Decker.

When I mentioned that Old Chicago in this plaza had closed, I neglected to say that the across-the-parking-lot neighbor, Flapjacks Pancake Cabin had also closed. You will remember that this location was a former Western Steer which then became a strip-club. At the time there was speculation that the (then) new Wal-Mart was pressuring the city to de-zone the club to make the area a bit more family friendly, and it appears that Flapjacks didn't exactly leave under their own steam either. This Facebook is all rumors, but it appears that the plaza owners have non-restaurant plans for that wing of the property.

In the event, Flapjacks was there for about ten years. Here is the Sun News on the place moving in. (Notice that the original plan for the Old Chicago spot was a Quaker Steak & Lube, which never happened).

The chain still exists, and now appears to be restricted to Tennesse. For now, you can still see their Garden City page here.

That does beg the question on the location. Google & the street address say this is Murrells Inlet, but to me it is pretty clearly Garden City.

UPDATE 7 October 2025: Found a picture of the lighted sign and added it up top.