Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Tee'd Up was the follow-on operation in this Lake Murray adjacent building to Shooey Malone's. Judging by the farewell note on the place's Facebook, the owner had another avenue open up, and a chance to sell the property as well.

Although the note is a bit vague, something else if obviously coming, and work has already started on the building for whatever it is.

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)

I noticed the other day that the carwash at the corner of Percival & Brackenridge is gone, and all the bays on the building are now enclosed in rollup doors. There doesn't seem to be any name on the place now, but perhaps a new auto-related operation is coming.

We've mentioned this closing several times in Have Your Say, but Blythewood based Chubby's Burgers has closd their Jackson Square location. This storefront is a mention on Good Luck With That, having hosted a number of different restaurants in the relatively short time the plaza has existed.

I always expected I would check out Chubby's sooner or later, but if it's a matter of driving out to Blythewood, that may not now happen.

The Free Times has the story.

I don't believe I have ever been in one of these places, but they & their predecessor Jewelry Warehouse have been around forever.

This Sandhill location opened in November 2021, and you can still see the opening on their Facebook.

I didn't see any end date posted, but they Store Closing signs are already up, and the suites are for lease, so if you want to check it out, you should probably do so soon.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

Well. This was a long time coming, but pretty much inevitable. This Panera Bread location had been epically mismanaged for a number of years, as a glance at the Google reviews will show. I used to come here pretty frequently as it is fairly close to my house and they had a patio that was pleasant in temperate weather. However over the years things just got worse and worse with tables never being wiped down, the dish return stations going unbussed, the bathrooms unscrubbed and the counter almost completely unmanned. If you did manage to place an order, something inevitably would be wrong with it, and if you ordered coffee, the urn would invariably be cold. Add in being panhandled at first outside and later inside, and it was just not a good experience.

Apparently the space is being prepped for a Metro Diner, a chain with which I am unfamiliar, but which appears to be sort of a down-home breakfast & comfort food place.

In the meantime, I have found the Panera on Killian Road to be pretty well run, if harder to get to.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

I was not really familiar with this small Asian grocery storefront, though I have done closings on this wing of the plaza before. Commenter Gypsie says it has probably been closed since late last year based on review dates.

I believe there is still another Asian grocery on Saint Andrews Road down near Quail Valley.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

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.