Columbia Closings   What’s not in Columbia anymore

Here's a little thrift shop in Lexington, not far from Lexington Arms and Mae's. Interestingly, their logo was not a tree. In fact, I'm not sure what that is.

(Hat tip to commenter James)

I had actually taken some pictures of this place last September, when I first got a report that it was closed. That proved to be short lived, and by the time I got over there, it was open again as seen in the first three pictures.

This month it re-closed, this time apparently for good as there is a real-estate sign in the window, and the menus have been taken down (although the nice neon sign is still there..)

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

Platt Springs road has an improbable number of jewelry stores, but now there is one less, and Lonely Street is in fact a bit more lonely..

According to their ad, Jewelry Warehouse had been there since 1977. Now they have closed their flagship store, and are in the process (which seems a bit protracted) of moving to Parkland Plaza and into the old Parkland Pharmacy location.

There was a place in Camden on US-1 that used to do the same thing, though I'm not sure how being able to put a car on a stick indicates the same skills needed to *fix* a car..

Well, this is hardly news now, but I was finally able to get by the Saint Andrews Road Food Lion near the dollar movies and get some outside pictures, though I did not have time to go in. I believe this store dates back into the LFPISC era, if not all the way to the Food Town era.

With this closing, I think the two closest alternatives are both Bi-Lo.

(Hat tips to commenters Joe H. & Nick L).

UPDATE 20 May 2013 -- Well, that's it. When I was in the store on 19 May, they announced they would be closings in 15 min at 6:00PM and "We will not be re-opening tomorrow":

I had noticed Lexington Arms a few years ago when I did a closing on the Piggly Wiggly / Ace Hardware across the parking lot.

At the time, just from the rather 1970s look of the place, I figured it was a local hole-in-the-wall and didn't take the effort to find out anything about it. From my web searches today, I was apparently totally wrong, and this was a well regarded European restaurant serving authentic French and German food -- some of which you can apparently make them an offer on..

(Hat tip to commenter Kc)

I remember thinking half-heartedly at one time that I needed to get a picture of neighboorhood bar Cactus Inn on Garners Ferry, but of course I didn't, and now the original sign is down and the place is half-remodeled into a title loan operation.

However you can still see the original look on google streetview for at least a while longer.

(Hat tip to commenter Frank)

Well, this is no surprise I'm afraid.

I've told how the original Rosa Linda's was the first Mexican (ish) restaurant where I was a regular, and an important part of my beach trips from the 80s into the oughties, so I was quite excited when the original Rosa Linda's family started to re-establish the restaurant in the former Hoof 'n' Finz in Murrells Inlet where US-17 business and US-17 bypass reconverge around Inlet Square Mall.

When they finally re-opened, everything tasted exactly as I had remembered it, from the yellow rice to the pinto beans flavored with crisp bits of lightly cooked onion. My only disappointment was that the new floor plan (and possibly elevation..) did not make a pizza oven possible as I had really loved the pizzas in the old locations. (And after all it was "The Mexican / Italian Connection").

My only concern was that attendance seemed very light the times I was there, and sure enough I found it closed on one of my 2011 trips.

Later, I heard it was open again, but the story seemed a bit confusing. Basically piecing things together from the Rosa Linda's Facebook page, and some things that local restaurant writer Becky Billingsley (who often seems to know more than she puts down) had written (here, here, here, and here)., I think the story was this: The original owners had a silent partner in the re-establishment of Rosa Linda's and when the initial financial goals weren't met, the silent partner took over the operation with some grandiose plans for making it a chain.

I was a bit reluctant to go back, as the original manager knew me by sight if not by name, and I didn't want to undercut her, but after I saw that they had moved to Texas, I figured it would be OK to check it out. My thought was that the new management would have tinkered with the menu, possibly adding some standard Mexican fare such as chile rellenos etc while keeping the signature items in place. In fact that was not the case, and the menu was completely new without any of the historical Rosa Linda's items. I thought it was acceptable, but gave me no reason to come to Rosa Linda's in preference to the many other Mexican restaurants on the strand. I mean, no Mexicana Mud? Come on!

After that, the place showed the dreaded Rule #1 from signs your favorite restaurant will soon be closing: The hours changed. More to the point, though the place was not supposed to be seasonal, it closed for the winter with a note on the roadside marquee that it would be open again in March. When I went down in March, the sign said it would be open again in April. I think we all know how that story ends! When I went down in early May, the branding signs (except for the parking lot marker) had all been taken down, there were Home Depot boxes and packing tape inside, and the new phonebooks sat in lonliness outside the front doors.

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Well, that didn't last long. I posted a closing for Carolina MoneySaver at this site back on 6 January 2012, and since then the followup operation, Carolina Title Loans has already moved in and then either folded or moved on.

I still kind of like the checker-board floor, which is unchanged from the MoneySaver days.

The pix are all, unfortunately, from yet another of our recent oversupply of grey days.

I'm not exactly sure what a Greek store would sell. Items branded with the logos of popular fraternities and sororities, I guess. Or it could be actual products from Greece, but I think I would have noticed that.

Anyway, the adjacent Petal Botique at 743 Saluda Avenue will be expanding into this space.