Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I did not know that Lifeway was the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, which obviously is not going anywhere. They are, however, unable to keep these stores open during the ongoing great-unretailing, and plan to close all 170 of them. The plan is to maintain an online presence, though how that will work out I don't know given that Amazon certainly lists religious books.

This storefront is in an odd little plaza that wants to be connected to the one behind it, but isn't, making access harder than it needs to be.

Somewhat ironically, this store moved here fairly recently, previously having been on the other side of Harbison Boulevard.

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)

The State says this store opened in January of 2016, giving it just a three year run. The company states they gave it a

thoughtful review process

which I take to mean it was losing money hand-over-fist given they could not have paid off the initial investment in that period and would, I suspect, have stayed if there were a reasonable prospect of doing so in the near term.

Given how long it has taken to re-purpose other buildings on Broad River Road, I see this building as an empty white elephant for years to come.

(Hat tip to commenter Dustin)

I was not aware of Tin Lizzy's, else I might have gone sometime. The menu looks decent.

When I first heard that it had closed, and was at 700 Gervais Street, I went to the building you see in the first shot, which is not, in fact, the location. Apparently 700 Gervais encompasses the whole arc of buildings around the parking lot there. WLTX has a (very) little more.

Apparently, the only non-Georgia locations of Tin Lizzy's left are in Greenville and Tallahassee.

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)

UPDATE 11 May 2021 -- It's now Crafty Crab (although nobody has changed the streetside marquee yet):

Many of these pictures were originally part of my Great Flood of 2015 entry Devine / Crowson / Fort Jackson Boulevard. I have decided to break the Auto Money Title Loans building (and later the Subway) out as separate posts to make them easier to find in the future as these two building, along, and even moreso, with the TitleMax building have become somewhat iconic images of the flood. The old posts will remain, and some photos are duplicated.

Anyway, both of these buildings sat on the bank of Gills Creek and in the 1000 Year Flood were filled with water up to the roofs. In addition the creek bank under the backs of the buildings was undermined to the point that with everything, the buildings were total losses.

21 October 2015:

Here we see the buildings a couple of weeks after the flood, when I got back to town from the beach and the roads were open enough for me to go picture taking.

19 June 2018:

Here both buildings have been fenced off, but have not yet been torn down as the FEMA process was still ongoing.

13 March 2019:

Here the Subway has been taken down, and the Title Loans building is next up.

18 March 2019:

Here are some driveby photos of the Title Loans building coming down.

28 March 2019:

Here is the current vacant state of the lot. The Free Times says:

"After extensive information gathering and a lengthy application process to FEMA, the city received Hazard Mitigation Grant Program assistance from FEMA to purchase afflicted homes and the former Title Loan property," a police department release said. "In purchasing the properties with federal grant funds, the city is required to demolish the structures in accordance with FEMA’s conditions, and return the land to green space in perpetuity."

That link also has a good picture of the pre-demolition state of the back side of both buildings.

UPDATE 21 June 2019 -- Here's a picture I took for some reason in 2013 showing the place in operation:

I was not really aware of this little place on Forest Drive, behind The Happy Cafe and in-between Tombo Grille and The Village Idiot. What I can tell from its google reviews is that it sold clothes and shoes. I believe it had the same suite as the former Tag It Art

UPDATE 12 May 2021 -- This is to become Flour Power a kids' party cooking studio:

Read the rest of this entry »

Places in the Vista come and go before I even hear about them. All I know about Newk's is what Google has to say

Regional chain offering a menu of salads, pizzas & sandwiches in a casual setting.

It sounds like something I might have liked, but I'm not sure when I last ate lunch in the Vista.

The State has a few more details, and it looks like the only Newk's remaining in South Carolina is in Summerville.

(Hat tip to commenter Judy)

It appears that the Broad River Road Lizard's Thicket is the latest location of the chain to undergo renovations. I noticed that it was closed coming up Dutch Square Boulevard this last weekend.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the Sunset Boulevard location may be the next closest.

UPDATE 17 June 2025: Updating tags.

Well, this is, I don't know, not ironic exactly, but a little odd: I was on the 700 block of Gervais Street today, getting pictures of Newk's & Tin Lizzy, and when I got home, I saw on The State that Le Peep had closed Wednesday.

While I was down there, I looked at the place several times, but somehow did not notice any sign on the door, and didn't take any pictures. The picture above, from the grand opening, will have to do until I get down there again.

I like breakfast food, but rarely get to have it as I do *not* like early mornings. One day I may get to try Le Peep at Sandhill, Famous Toastery or Eggs Up, but it will probably be a while.

Here's another empty counter in Columbia Mall's food court. I don't know anything about it, but google does suggest that there was a Mano's Express in the Dutch Square food court. It seems an uncommon enough name that I suspect they were related, though the other one seems to have focused on soul food, while this one went the burgers & dogs route.