Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I had wanted to see The Beach Boys at the Alabama Theater earlier this year, but could not get it together. In the event, I believe the date may have been rescheduled for later this year. Had it taken place, it would likely have been my last time to see two Beach Boys together, as long-time member Bruce Johnston announced his retirement from touring last month. With Bruce spending his nights in his own bed, Mike Love & Al Jardine are the only two official Beach Boys still active, though they don't get along well enough to tour together.

Anyway, when I mentioned I was going to the Beach, my sister pointed me to a news article mentioning that Mike's Beach Boys would be at the OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic golf tournament at the Grand Dunes resort, so I picked up a ticket (a really odd and frustrating process, ending up with something you can't just print out), and headed out Friday afternoon.

It turned out that the shuttle parking lot was the old Myrtle Square Mall site (which is still completely vacant after all these years), so i parked and got on a bus which took us a mile or so north. I had never been back in Grand Dunes, which is gated, but it is quite nice with golf, houses and a country club all right on the ocean. The concert site was backed up against the shore, and you could see boats passing by behind the stage. It was quite a chilly evening for May, and I had my sweater buttoned up.

The opening act was an Italian singer I had not heard of, Benedetta Caretta. She sang to backing tracks, without a band (aside from one song where she brought out a guitarist). From where I was standing, I could barely hear her, but she seemed to have quite a nice voice.

After she finished her set, which was probably about five songs, the roadies starting setting up for the main show, and Mike & co opened with a 1968 top-20 hit, "Do It Again", moving directly after that into the more well-known "Surfin' Safari".

John Stamos mentioned Mike's recent 85th birthday, and yes, I have to admit, Mike was not having a great voice night. He was certainly game, and the audience was appreciative, but the numbers which were originally sung by another Beach Boy back in the day came off better as the band was quite good, both vocally and instrumentally. I'm not quite sure why Stamos was there, whether it was a one-off, or if he is on the tour, but he has been associated with the band since the 1980s so it's never a real surprise to see him turn up. I thought he did a very nice version of Dennis Wilson's classic song, "Forever".

I didn't capture any of the first songs on video because from where I was standing, the sound was trash. I thought it was down to the wind and the sound system, but when I walked just a few feet closer a bit later on, I was suddenly in the focus zone, and the sound was excellent, and I did record several numbers (fumbling the start a few times) and the traditional closing duo: "Barbara Ann" & "Fun, Fun, Fun".

The setlist was something like this, though I won't vouch for the order except for the first two & last two numbers:

Do It Again
Surfin Safari
Catch A Wave
Surfin' USA
Surfer Girl
409
Little Deuce Coupe
Shutdown
Don't Worry Baby
I Get Around
Darlin'
Help Me Rhonda
Be True To Your School
Sloop John B
God Only Knows
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Good Vibrations
Forever
California Girls
California Dreaming
Rockaway Beach
Kokomo
Barbara Ann
Fun, Fun, Fun

Given the venue and time limit, there weren't a lot of deep cuts, but probably "Rockaway Beach" surprised some folks.

I was unsure at first whether this furniture & mattress operation in Harbison Court were actually going out of business, or if liquidation was their normal mode. However, there is a panel truck parked at the plaza entrance which proclaims that they are in fact going out of business. That does leave aside the question of a Spirit Halloween mode where they open up to go out of business..

At any rate, this is the old Tuesday Morning slot, so I imagine management was glad to have anybody paying rent, for any term.

I wasn't aware of this Triangle City furniture & decor shop, but commenter Lavender sends this link to their debut publicity from April of 2024, and here is their ribbon-cutting (oddly later than their opening).

As of now their Facebook is still up, but the web-site is gone.

(Hat tip to commenter Lavender)

I had my goto Starbucks coffee: The Grande Latte many times at Harbison Court during my peak coffee years, but not at this store. Once upon a time, the plaza was home to Barnes & Noble, and I would get my fix hanging out there in that long vanished era where closing time was 11pm.

This particular Starbucks I think I only stopped at once, some years ago. As commenter, Mitch notes, the parking lot here is not well designed and the front area where the store was is a particular hassle as I found once more taking these pictures.

The closure does not leave Harbison 'buckless, as I believe there is still one in the Target down the road, and there are alternate options such as Panera. You can read the story in The State or Post & Courier

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 4 May 2026: Fix tag typo.

This little building on Shakespeare Road has been a number of restaurants over the years, several of which have featured here (some as 6301 Shakespeare, as there seems to be some confusion about the street address). This particular one had not, and seems to have gone in around 2011, and was gone by November of 2014 by which time it was Shakespeare Fish Market, which itself was gone by 2015.

Currently the building hosts a used car lot.

As I recall, there was some drama in starting up this place, Brunches had been on Knox Abbott Drive in the old Shrimper location, and there was some sort of ownership split, with the Knox Abbott location becoming Just Us Cafe and some of the team establishing The Original Brunches in the Terry's Diner location on Leaphart Road.

From Google reviews, it appears that The Original Brunches closed sometime in 2024.

UPDATE 21 April 2026: Found two more pictures.

Well here's an interesting case: The Island Bar & Grill closed while I was avoiding it, and a new place opened, and closed all before I noticed it due to staying away...

This corner slot in Village Shops has been a number of places over the years. One I recall specifically is Villa Katrina, a Mexican eatery which, I believe, still has a location in Myrtle Beach. Anyway, the Island Bar & Grill had been there a number of years, and was an OK local option for the most part with decent burgers and other bar food, and a nice deck when the weather wasn't sweltering. That gradually started to change in recent years, leading to a number of sub-par dining experiences to the point the the place finally got taken off the list when I went there with my college room-mate & his wife and they lacked half the ingredients for her order without ever mentioning that fact until plopping it, basically inedible, on the table in front of her. After a previous visit with esentially no service, that was the final straw. You can see similar experiences in the Google reviews.

Anyway, while I was avoiding it like the plague, the place apparently closed around Spring of 2025 (Hey Google! -- You obviously know the exact date for every review, what's with this "A Year Ago" stuff?), and re-opened as Pawleys Back Deck, something I did not know until I wondered about the lack of cars in the parking lot and went to take a look. The reviews for that operation are somewhat better, but they seem to have left business in an involuntary fashion at the end of March.

By the way, if you are looking at the plaza sign, Tuscany Bistro closed at least a year ago if not more and was replaced with a Fish Camp.

This little building on Fernandina Road is still there, although apparently the state was not good at the time of these pictures back in 2011, and has apparently been a number of things since the Wellness Center left, though from Google Streetview the only signs I can read well enough to be sure are for a daycare center (or possibly two daycare centers).

As for the Wellness Center, it was a "Chiropractic, Nutrition & Acupuncture" clinic, and apparently either reflagged as, or sold the practice to Heinen Chiropractic Center. You can see their last archived web page here, and Heinen's first one here.

As far as I can tell from Google StreetView, this old-school auto upholstery operation was here, with its original building ad detailing from 1956 up until around 2016. At that time it was taken over by Studio 2LR,

a boutique architecture and interior design firm

who elected to keep the vintage paint-job, though they have apparently added some neat robitechture on the back side of the building.

This place does not have a lot of google reviews, so it's hard to say when it closed, but judging by Google Streetview, probably around 2015. The building itself seemes to have been razed around 2020, and the lot is now empty, so it's too late to get your salmon fix.

These pictures come from April 2010.