Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This one surprises me.

Fuddruckers closed in February 2020, and and was quickly sold to Columbia World Outreach Church for $452,500.

They worked several months getting the place gutted and rebuilt. According to LoopNet

Upgrades include a new roof, all new interior finishes, restrooms, sanctuary to accommodate 192 chairs, classrooms, children's nursery and a large outdoor area.

Unfortunately they did not have long to enjoy it, and the property went back on the market in mid-December 2020.

There was a question on Have Your Say recently as to whether the Chinese buffet in Crossroads Commons (down from the former Bi-Lo) was still open or not.

It's not. As far as I can tell from Yelp, it closed in early 2020. I'm guessing that COVID-19 played a role, but the reviews had been trending downwards for a while.

I don't seem to have a picture of it, but there is one here as part of the LoopNet listing.

I noticed this evening that PK BBQ, the follow-on in this convenience store endcap to Kotas was gone.

A little google-work reveals that they have moved to the new Piggly Wiggly complex at 760 Highway 378. I have been meaning to get out there, as I believe that is another former Bi-Lo that I haven't yet done a closing for.

UPDATE 22 February 2021 -- Here is the new location:

This thrift store was the follow-on operation in this Parklane storefront to Marshall's Department Store which moved to the old Fort Jackson Boulevard K-Mart redevelopment sometime in August of 2015 (Just in time for the flood). I'm not sure why Marshall's was giving 7049 Parklane as the address here as 7121 looks OK.

At any rate, the last reviews I can find for this store say "a year ago" (google reviews are annoying that way: Why not be specific?), so I am putting the closing date as "2020".

I was driving through Cedar Terrace the other evening, and noticed that Vaccums Etc had moved out of their store there. It appears they have gone into the old Forest & Grant Photo Imaging storefront by Richland Mall on Forest Drive.

This closing was announced so long ago that I have several months-old daylight sets of pictures -- which will turn up eventually. I know I have stopped at this store a number of times over the years, and it was fine, though I did not particularly like coming back out onto Saint Andrews Road going left as I think there is no left arrow at Piney Grove.

In the final event, this is another Bi-Lo destined to be come a Food Lion. This State article, which I have probably linked before, has the details.

I do note that their street sign leaves their product line rather open-ended: "Food &".

(Lots of chatter about this, but I think commenter Andrew gets the hat tip for the closing signs going up).

D's Shoe Warehouse moved to Columbia Plaza from Capitol Centre at the end of January 2013. They replaced Awesome Mattress in this endcap location, and apparently remained there until around June of 2020.

At this point, the the storefront has been completely gutted, and it is unclear what, if anything, is on the way.

I find it curious that this plaza is 7201 Parklane, and Columbia Mall is 7201 Two Notch. I think someone made that happen on purpose somehow.

Virginia College was the follow-on operation in this Columbia Mall outparcel to Toys-R-Us. As you can see in that post, the college did some major work on the building before opening in 2010.

The whole chain ran into trouble in 2016 when the Federal Department of Education withdrew recognition of its accrediting body. (As I recall the feds were in a bit of a snit about for-profit schools in general at the time). They tried & failed to find another body that would accredit them, leading, as far as I can tell from the Wikipedia article, to the whole chain shutting down in 2018.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

When I go traveling on my own dime, I usually like to stay in Holiday Inn Express locations. There are some exceptions, such as Fernandina where another chain is just much better located, but in general they have reasonable prices, safety & comfort.

As such, I had noticed this hotel at Taylor & Huger from time to time as someplace I might have stayed if I were visiting Columbia for some reason rather than living here, but I had not noticed until commenter Alan mentioned it that they had reflagged as Fairfield Inn & Suites.

(Hat tip to commenter Alan)

I read recently that Richland County had totally dropped the ball on redevelopment of Columbia Mall, and had no idea what they were going to do, despite already buying all the anchor locations. Certainly on a brief partial walk through last Sunday, many shops were shut during regular mall hours, and the number of vacant spaces continues to grow. Stocking even looked a bit sparse in Macy's.

When I visited the food court, it appeared to me that only one vendor, Cynthia's Soul Food, was actually open at the time, though I think at least two other storefronts looked to still be populated and would probably be open on weekdays. I don't know anything about Sarku Japan, but google suggests that there is still one at Columbiana Mall.

I think the King Pizza sign can come down now..

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)