Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Tiffany's moved to this spot in 2019, and took advantage of the larger footprint -- I would often see the billboard there mentioning evening events in the summer, and always wanted to go have supper there to see what it was like, but in the end did not and they have now closed the restaurant side of the bakery business (which still remains). I'm not sure exactly how this has shaken out as there is apparently still a cafe there with the bakery, but apparently that is now focused more on breakfast, coffee & pastry.

Here is The State story on the changes.

The parent company of American Freight, Hilco Consumer-Retail has gone Chapter 11, and all American Freight stores are closing.

I had seen this location on Atlas Road many times over the years, but I never really grasped it was a retail outlet, the name making me think something more industrial. The parking lot is smaller than expected, meaning I couldn't really get back and get the whole store in the frame, but as you can see the Store Closing banners are already up. I guess if you need some furniture for the holidays, now would be the time to go looking...

You can read about the bankruptcy here.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I noticed this decrepit office trailer, which appears to be a car-lot type of thing on the lot next to Century Glass the other week, and I assumed that I had run across the remnants of a small used-car operation that I had never really noticed while it was operating.

However, when I checked StreetView, I can see that as of January 2024, this was simply a vacant lot, so the decrepit trailer must have been hauled there as a decrepit trailer sometime this year. The stop-work notice suggests that someone was trying to develop the spot, but it seems an odd way to start. Does anyone know what was going on here?

I'm not sure exactly when this smoke shop closed. Street View for November of 2023 shows the sign still up, but the place did not appear to be open. I will go with "Early 2024". I am pretty sure the chain remains in business with a shop on Saluda, at least.

Art Smart Academy has moved from their Broad River Road location to 571 Chapin Road as of November 2024.

LoopNet says it is a 2 acre lot, and the aerial picture shows impressive depth, so I'm sure some sort of commercial future is ahead for the property.

(Hat tips to commenters Gypsie & Tom)

Cars & Beyond set up shop on the old National Pride Car Wash lot after the existing structures were razed (other than the sign, which was re-purposed). From the name of the place, I assume they were connected with the nearby Tires & Beyond, which closed in 2022 with a promise to re-open, though that appears to have fallen through.

Actually until commenter Gypsie mentioned that this place had closed, and that it had definitely had had an online presence as open, I had it in the "never opened" category in my mind. I saw some guys setting things up, as you can see in the first picture, but after that, it never actually seemed to be a working car lot -- at least I never saw any stock there when I would drive by.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

As reported by commenter Sidney, the Whiskey Kitchen house restaurant at the Delta Northeast on Two Notch is rebranding as a Mexican eatery: Dos Amigos. With a few notable exceptions, I have always found restaurants in hotels to be "eh..OK" in general. We'll have to see if this is any different, though as recent comments have pointed out, there is no dearth of Mexican restaurants on Two Notch..

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

I've always enjoyed the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville, but for one reason or another I have not been able to get there since 2016, so when I saw that there was a charity Ren Faire in Socastee, I thought I would check it out.

It was a nice sunny day, and the place was drawing a decent size crowd. They have a good number of craft booths, concessions and the usual Ren Faire players including kind-friendly fairies, bawdy ballad vocal groups, fire eaters & jugglers. It is nowhere near the size of the NC encampment, so you only need an hour or two to take it in, but it was a fun way to spend a Fall afternoon, and if you will be in the area next weekend, I suggest you check it out.

Here's another place I was completely unaware of. Apparently Good Life Cafe (or Goodlife Cafe in some usages) started out as a vegan place on Main Street then moved to this Taylor Street storefront last year, and slightly changed ist orientation to a "plant forward" restaurant, a term I had not heard before.

Although they have now closed their doors, several other restaurants with the same ownership remain open, and their closing sign suggests 1624 Bistro on Main as a source for some Good Life favorites.

You can read stories about the closing from The State & The Free Times

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Flour Power Cooking Studios is apparently a national chain, with their Columbia location being in the back building at Forest Village by the former Village Idiot.

Looking at their Google reviews, it appears their main business was kids' birthday parties, something that seems to have gone over well on the whole. Their Facebook closing message doesn't really give any reasons, but I wonder if the inflation in food prices over the past year or so made it a long reach for a lot of parents..

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)