Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This Lexington Goodwill location, by K-Mart has moved down the street from 754 West Main to 1307 West Main. The State has the story, and a picture of the new store.

I don't go to Goodwill often becuause I really don't need more stuff and don't have to hunt through records and books anymore with the Internet, but you never know what you'll find. I got both of my nieces bikes from one of the Myrtle Beach locations.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

UPDATE 16 November 2018 -- Here's the new location:

As commenter c noted, this Holiday Inn is currently between flags and operating simply as Columbia Northeast Hotel (owned by Mariot, but officially branded during construction).

I drove around the building and did not see any major work ongoing so perhaps the end is near (though there were some romm fixtures in the back lot).

To make matters interesting, the hotel across the street (in the last picture) has recently been reflagged as a Holiday Inn Express, so if you booked this one when it was a Holiday Inn, and you go looking for it in the area, you are going to be surprised..

(Hat tip to commenter AmericanColumbia)

Driving US-401 through Society Hill recently, I noticed that Johnnie's Truck Stop had closed. When I lived in Fayetteville, I would drive this stretch of road between there and Columbia semi-freqently (though less once the Interstate 55mph speed limit was raised). I don't know that I ever stopped at Johnnie's, but I was aware of it as there certainly was not much else in the area.

The Hartsville Messenger says:

For many travelers over the years, a trek through Society Hill has meant a stop at Johnnie’s Truck Stop Restaurant. For the local residents, it’s more than a place to stop and eat. It’s a place to share a morning cup of coffee and catch up on the latest news and gossip, a place where people greet you with a smile and treat you more like family than customers.

On Sunday, the local establishment will serve its last meal.

Last week, customers got word that owners J.W. and Sandra Jacobs were retiring. The couple has operated Johnnie’s Truck Stop Restaurant, a full service restaurant in Society Hill, for 41 years.

“We never had an official grand opening and will not have a grand closing but because of your patronage we have had a grand experience in the 41 years in between,” wrote JW and Sandra Jacobs in an open letter to all of their customers in announcing their retirement after Christmas.

Johnnie’s Truck Stop has been in the Jacobs family since 1967 when J.W.’s father, William Andrew “Andy” Jacobs took it over. J.W. was working at Sonoco when his father asked him to go into business with him. J.W. said his father helped him get his feet on the ground then left it up to him to carry on the family business.

The story also mentions that the restaurant stayed open during Hurricane Hugo, and cooked (with gas) for the emergency crews even though they had no electricty.

I have to say the place looks very good for apparently having been closed for six years, and wonder if somebody else took it on for a while after the owners retired. In fact, judging from the issue of Mid Atlantic Truck Paper that we can see in one picture, that would seem to date to 2014 (given that 2018 is volume 27 and the issue in the store is volume 23).

UPDATE 19 October 2018 -- Commenter Robby points out that this store was part of the small-ish Southern 500 Truck Stop chain, which had locations here in Society Hill, Elm City NC, Mt. Airy NC and Charlotte. Here is a Flickr album of the remaining three buildings, including this one, here are some memories of the chain, and here you can buy a picture of the Charlotte store operating through a blizzard.

I noticed this vacant storefront as I was walking Main Street the other day. Judging by the signs, this is an old building that is way overdue for a big overhaul, and got past the point of everyday maintenance. I would be interested in what is upstairs, and what shape it is in. As you can see from the sign, the tenant, House of Fabrics has relocated to 652 Bush River Road.

UPDATE 5 June 2019: According to The State this building is to be razed. Adding map icon too.

UPDATE 18 June 2019 -- Demolition started Monday (17 June 2019) and the building is now gone:

UPDATE 18 November 2020 -- The vacant lot from this building is now hosting a huge Christmas ornament:

Looking at the company website, it appears that Shoe Dept. is the correct name for this store front with no The and no full spelling of Department. It also appears to be a brand of Shoe Show, Inc. which also operates stores under that name and as Burlington Shoes.

Commenter ED suggests that the adjacent Dollar Tree will be expanding into this space, and indeed this may already has happened, as I have not looked back in there since May.

Shoe Dept. appears to still have a store in the Lexington area at 1792 South Lake Drive.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Uncle Maddio's was the follow-on in this location for Jasmine Deli & Cafe and opened sometime in 2013. I never ate there, and had not realized until looking at this post that in fact Uncle Maddio's is a chain of franchaises based in Atlanta, and is another fast casual pizza concept like Persona, Blaze, and Firenza.

Looking at the company web site, it appears this was the only South Carolina location, and the next closest is in Charlotte.

There were no signs indicating that Primier Plus Motors on Jamil Road is closed, but on the other hand, there were no cars on the lot, and the showroom was not active.

The website is still up, and the service department *does* still appear to be open.

(Hat tip to commenter Arthur)

UPDATE 5 February 2019 -- As reported in the comments, this is now a Hertz sales operation:

Well, I'm not sure what is going on here. The sign is extremely uninformative, and there is no sign of work being done inside or out. I hit the Forest Acres' Zoe's from time to time for the Greek salad, but have never visited this location.

UPDATE 31 August 2018 -- Removed the "temporary" from the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 31 August 2018 -- The State reports it as a restroom issue (in that the store had none) though parts of the reporting contradict that..

UPDATE 1 September 2022: Editing tags and adding map icon.

The signage still posits this closing as temporary, but the Free Times has verified that it is, in fact, permanent.

This spot has been the home of a number of restaurants over the years, including Capitol Cafe, Cat & Cleaver, Dunkin' Donuts (almost), Fever, and Roll Call Deli.

I never ate at Persona due to the fact that I rarely go downtown at lucnch time, and would go some place with parking if I did. I will say that I would not use that name for a restaurant as the first thing I think of is Persona Non Grata..

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 7 October 2020 -- Well oddly enough, this place is unchanged after a bit more than two years. The signage is still up, and the interior looks almost exactly as it did when it closed, down to the delivery moped. The chairs have been tabled though:

Also adding the map icon.

UPDATE 8 February 2022 -- They have finally taken down the Persona signage, but have left the possibility that the storefront might be some sort of wood fired pizza in the future:

Frank's Car Wash on Clemson Road has moved across the street and about a quarter mile towards Sandhill. I think I heard this was because of the Clemson Road widening project, but I don't really see how that figures in, as the road is already four lanes at this point.

The new location, which you can see in the last two pictures, is the former location of the Putt Putt Fun Center, plans to put a hotel on that site having fallen through.