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Value City Furniture, 240 Forum Drive: January 2026   no comments

Posted at 10:42 pm in closing

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Value City Furniture is a brand of American Signature. In trouble for a while, the chain filed for Chapter 11 in November of 2025, hoping to find a buyer to continue operating the stores. When none materialized, the company decided it had no choice but to liquidate and cease operations.

You can read about it here, and here as well as the Wikipedia link above.

The Sandhill location is interesting, in that it featured here as Sofa Express in a closing from the site's first couple of month's existence. Ironicaly, Sofa Express also went Chapter 11 and ceased to exist. That bankruptcy, along with the closing of the original Ashley Furniture Homestore incarnation were big blows to the fledgling Village At Sandhill along with the general crash of 2008, and the development never really recovered.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Written by ted on January 22nd, 2026

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Millennium Buffet, 409 Blossom Street: December 2025   7 comments

Posted at 11:57 pm in closing

I first knew this place as Frank-N-Stein, a monster-themed casual restaurant. That was followed by The Stadium Steak House and the first Columbia establishment to bear the name Twin Peaks, though the view was a bit more liberal there than at the current holder of the name.

I want to say Millennium came in sometime in the '80s -- at any rate they had been there quite a while.

Now the place, like seemingly every other address within miles, is to become student housing.

You can read about it in The State or The Post & Courier.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Bill)

UPDATE 22 January 2026: Actually the place had not been there as long as I thought. As several people point out in the comments, the Millennium name reflects the fact that the Buffet opened around that time.

Written by ted on January 21st, 2026

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Pitt Stop / Shell, 200 Knox Abbott Drive: 30 November 2025   3 comments

Posted at 10:05 pm in closing

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The Pitt Stop convenience store and Shell station at the corner of Parkland Plaza has closed.

According to the Post & Courier story located by commenter Andrew, Cayce city government is telling people not to panic: It won't be more student housing.

What it will be is apparently currently unknown.

Interestingly, that news story shows the place branded as Express Lane, which doesn't show up in my online searches or Google Streetview (which shows the Pitt Stop branding).

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

Written by ted on January 20th, 2026

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Clean Eatz, 5225 Sunset Boulevard Suite D: December 2025   1 comment

Posted at 10:53 pm in closing

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Clean Eatz is more than a restaurant that offers healthy food. We are heart-driven to change livez through clean, balanced food, thought-provoking education.

That certainly sounds ambitious, even if I'm not quite sure what it means, but this location of the chain, next to the former Brueggers, has now closed.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

Written by ted on January 14th, 2026

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Kairos Mediterranean, 4600 Devine Street: 14 December 2025   2 comments

Posted at 10:35 pm in closing

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Kairos was part of the first wave of tenants in this new building which was constructed after the razing of the old Ruby Tuesday.

I ate here probably a dozen times or so over the several years it was open. Originally they had a few tables on the sidewalk in front of the store which I liked to sit at in good weather, but at some point they lost those, and nobody working there seemed to know anything about it.

I was rather ambivalent about the concept itself. I believe someone here called it "bowls of goo" a few months ago, and that was kind of an issue. I found that if I just treated it as a bespoke salad, it was good, but trying to go beyond that was just too much thrown together that should probably have been separate.

The place closed without warning (as restaurants tend to do) in mid-December, and the WLTX story is here.

(Hat tip to Mr. Hat)

Written by ted on January 12th, 2026

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Crossings Deli, 8604 Farrow Road Suite F: 26 November 2025   3 comments

Posted at 9:12 pm in closing

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Here is another local spot I was unaware of.

Crossings Deli at the intersection of Farrow & Parklane Roads closed around Thanksgiving, and is now soul food venue LeeBoy Kountry Kitchen.

Crossings farewell message is here.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

Written by ted on January 8th, 2026

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SAS Shoes, 3306 Forest Drive: December 2025   no comments

Posted at 10:13 pm in closing

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Apparently SAS means San Antonio Shoemakers, and they are headquarted, logically, in San Antonio.

I was not really aware of their Forest Acres store until commenter Larry mentioned it, but it is in the little retail center abuting the former Richland Mall. I took these pictures in mid-December, so the logical time for the final closing would probably have been the end of the year, but I have not driven by again to see if in fact they are now closed.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Written by ted on January 5th, 2026

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Happy New Year Columbia!   no comments

Posted at 10:22 pm in commentary

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Written by ted on December 31st, 2025

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Merry Christmas Columbia!   no comments

Posted at 5:43 pm in commentary

Written by ted on December 24th, 2025

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Heat Was In The Very Sod   no comments

Posted at 6:52 pm in commentary

Written by ted on December 23rd, 2025

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