Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed this vacant car rental storefront on a recent visit to St Andrews Square on Saint Andrews Road. I'm not sure when they closed or moved, but they are still on the roadside sign. (On the othe rhand, so is the Newsstand, which has been gone at least 20 years!)

I got a little behind the times here, missing two in a row.

The Southern Belly opened a location in this spot around 2018 after Spork closed. They lasted apparently until 2022.

After that, Krab Kingz opened on 21 April 2022, as detailed in this State story. They also folded in somehow the Hook Fish & Chicken operation from River Drive after they closed.

Krab Kingz seems to have folded sometime in 2024, with the last archived web page I can find from October 2023. I believe they were part of a national chain which still exists.

Now the place is Best Wings Of Columbia.

I noticed this fairly large complex not too far from down the Charleston Highway from Piggie Park last weekend.

As it turns out, it is the former home of the Midlands campus for Southern Wesleyan University, a college based in Central. In 2008 the school moved to Pinnacle Point Business Park off of Farrow Road (I'm unclear if it is still there, it seems unusualy difficult to call up an exact address or current status). At the time of the move the motivation was given as

Given the (empty) building directory board, I think the owners tried to bring in a number of businesses to replace the University, but apparently in the end it did not work out. To me it appears that the building was in reasonable shape when SWU left, but that years of neglect and vandalism have made it unusable without some major work.

There is a real-estate sign on the property, toppled over, but probably still in force, and likely associated with this 8 year old pitch for the building in better times.

Finally, here is the LoopNet summary on the property.

I'll confess that I never picked up on the fact this was an Asian restaurant until I looked at the menu this evening. From the name, I expected burgers, or maybe barbecue.

This building has been a number of different eateries including Moe's Grapevine, Rooftop Pizza Pub & Eric's San Jose.

ALley Street opened here after Eric's around August of 2024, so they didn't make it a full year. I think the building itself is a bit of a challenge. Apart from not knowing what kind of place it was, you might look at it and wonder how you were going to get grandma up the steps and inside. I'm pretty sure there is an accessible back door, but that's not readily apparent from Rosewood.

The building is currently for rent, so we'll have to see if another restaurant is in its future.

The State has the story, such as it is, here

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

I came across the photo of this closed liquor store and couldn't quite recall where I had taken it. A little context and googling shows it was in Friarsgate Plaza, across the parking lot from the old Bi-Lo, and that it was probably called Unlimited Bottles.

If you embiggen the picture, you can still see the face-mask requirement, and the door sign announcing "Something Delicious", the nature of which I can't quite make out.

Here is the Colliers real estate listing for the property.

I find it a bit interesting that the sign announcing that this is Friarsgate Plaza is now gone. I'm not sure if the name remains active or not. The Colliers text doesn't mention it.

This closing was first mooted back in 2020, I think, with Lidl speculated to be the next tenant. In the event, the owners of this Piggly Wiggly had time remaining on their lease and elected not to go anywhere.

Now the lease has ended, and apparently the property owners did not want to renew. This store, often called The Social Pig because Shandon neighbors often ran into each other here closed on 28 March.

This location is not particularly close to me, so I did not stop in that often over the years, but the few times I did, it was fine, and I got what I needed.

It's unclear to me whether Lidl is in fact moving in, but for now probably the Food Lion at Devine & Fort Jackon Boulevard is probably the closest non-specialty grocery.

You can read about the closing here & here, and the store's farewell message is on their Facebook along with the note that store fixtures are to be sold off on 15 April.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry & co)

I think Old Chicago has a decent pizza, and here in Columbia it has the advantage of being a decent place regularly open late. About the only negative thing I have to say is that they can't settle on a garlic bread appetizer. They have gone through three or four iterations in the last several years. Anyway, this Murrells Inlet location was not open late as consistently as the Vista one, as is typical for Grand Strand restaurants in the off seaosns, but nonetheless I ate there a good number of times over the last several years.

It was a new store, replacing another bar whose name escapes me, and which was completely razed to put up this building, but in the end it didn't last that long. I noticed in December driving by that it did not appear to be open when I would expect it to be, and finally a stop verified that it was gone.

The Sun News had the story here, saying that 30 November was the last night.

The follow-on is now open -- Bohemian Bull Tavern and Beer Garden:

I would have guess this Walgreens, next to Piggie Park, was in Cayce but Google claims it is in fact West Columbia. At any rate it looks to be a newer store, built as a Walgreens and not inherited from Eckerds or Rite Aid.

According to commenter Mr. Bill, this place closed on 17 March, and the sign was down and the place basically empty when I drove by on the night of 20 March. Commenter Lavender says the building is to be demolished, which may be the only way to get rid of a Red Box, which still seemed to be plugged in & running.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Bill)

This Dollar General at the corner of Taylor & Barnwell streets had actually closed once before, on a temporary basis. In September of 2023, they apparently experienced severe staffing issues, and the store was closed for a number of days. After working through that, they are now caught up in the chain's downsizing as it sheds a number of, largely urban, stores. The Post & Courier has the story.

According to that article, the store will be open until 25 April, but it was already looking pretty picked over when I stopped by on the night of 20 March, more than a month out.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)