Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

These are some not very good drive-by pictures of this branch at the corner of The Charleston Highway and Old Dunbar Road. There is a much better one in the real estate listing here.

I had it in my mind that the building had been vacant for longer, but it is listed in the February 2017 phonebook, so most likely it closed during 2017 (though as I said a few posts ago, the accuracy of phonebook information is dropping).

At any rate, the process of banks de-branching (pruning?) continues.

UPDATE 28 September 2021: Updating tags and adding map icon.

Havertys recently moved their Colonial Life Boulevard store to Harbison. I think the move added a bit of size to that store, and perhaps they think one larger store is enough, but whatever the reason, the Two Notch Road store near the I-20 interchange in Dentsville is now closing.

As a side note, the old Ramada Inn property almost directly across the street remains vacant after almost eight years..

(Hat tip to commenter Mike)

Yesternight Distilery moved into the old Abolute Discount Mattress space on 11 February 2017 according to commenter James R, having relocated from the The Old Mill after being gutted by the flood of 2015. It seems to me that over the last several years, I have seen a number of "Moonshine" stores open, something I had never seen before that. I don't know if there was some sort of law change that made it easier, or if it is just one of those retail trends. At any rate, Yesternight is now closed, though they apparently are still looking into reopening elsewhere.

I noticed something about this property when I looked for the address. It shares the street number "4884" with the small strip mall containing Lexington Pawn & Gun. I had always assumed they were separate properties, but apparently not.

(Hat tip to commener James R)

As commenter Andrew noted, another McDonald's is undergoing an upfit. This one, at the corner of Saint Andrews & Ashland Roads is apparently not going to be razed and completely rebuilt like the Forest Drive store.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 26 March 2018 -- Open again:

Well, a number of people have mentioned this place recently, and for that matter going back a good while, but for some reason, I just recently got around to visiting. It's quite a large and interesting property that is currently going to pot. I see from the real estate sign and LoopNet listing that it *is* on the market, but for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to be moving. Maybe $2,000,000 is just too much, though as I said it is a big property.

As nearly as I can tell based on this Facebook page, Hampton closed at some point between December 2013 and February 2014. In fact, we can corroborate with the Internet Wayback Machine, noting that the Hampton web site was up on 24 December 2013 and gone by 22 February 2014. (As an aside, it seems that phonebooks are less and less help for this sort of thing lately. For some reason the current Feb 2017 phonebook still has an active listing for Hampton..)

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This is rather an odd building to have a cellphone store in, as you can see from the rollup door in front and the reinforced door on the side. It seems a much better fit for the scooter company in the other half. Maybe Cricket thought so too, as they have moved to 4121 West Beltline, not far from the old Piggly Wiggly.

I was not really aware until recently that Sumter Street crossed Elmwood, but Dave's Transmission was on that end of Sumter, and more or less behind the old Jim Moore Cadillac property.

The Free Times says that the property is to become a restaurant, although details were sparse at the time of the article. Just looking at the pictures, it seems to me parking might be an issue.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

As mentioned by commenter Justin, and documented in this sale notice here, Hannah Piano in Seven Oaks Shopping Center is closing after 42 years as the owners are retiring.

The Liquidation Sale will offer new and used pianos of all sizes, finishes, and price ranges, digital pianos and all print music. Deep discounts will be offered over the coming weeks and the store will close their doors when everything is sold.

Unfortunately, the keyboard under my fingers now is the only kind I ever had an affinity for..

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

UPDATE 23 March 2018 -- The closeout is over and the place is now closed:

As mentioned in the comments by several people, Burlington Coat Factory is closing their Columbia Mall store to relocate to a newly built building at Village At Sandhill. The final sale has now started.

Burlington occupied the first floor of the former Columbia Mall J C Penny location after Penny's itself moved to Sandhill (I don't appear to have done a closing for that for some reason). The second floor was never repurposed and remains vacant. This move will leave that side of the mall without any semblance of an anchor store. In fact, all of the former anchors, save for Macy's are now gone, and Macy's as a chain is having its problems as well. The idea has recently been mooted for Richland County to buy the whole property for offices. I don't know -- I think at this point, razing the buildings, plowing the parking lot and planting trees might be the way to go. Charlton Heston could ride through on a horse..

UPDATE 7 February 2018 -- Here is the new Sandhill building (not yet occupied):

UPDATE 18 June 2024 -- There is some kind of construction happening at the old Burlington. I suppose it's related to the county buying the mall, but I haven't heard anything specific about it:

Also added map icon, and updated post title from "Moving" to "Moved", and gave the mall street address instead of just "Columbia Mall".

I had held off doing this closing as I never could tell for sure if the place was closed, or just not ever open when I would drive by. I think the real-estate sign in the last shot pretty much settles the question.

This sandwich shop was the follow-on operation to The Lost Cajun. I thought it was a bit unusual that it would reopen as a sandwich shop as the plaza already has a Roly Poly on the other side but I guess that one is more "wrap" oriented. As I intimated above, I never visited Palmetto Subs as it was never open when I was in the area, and I'll admit though I love sandwiches I also like padded booths and a little bit more substantial atmosphere. (As I've said before, I would love if somebody brought the "Dagwood's" concept from Surfside Beach to Columbia..)

Although I did not know it at the time Plametto Subs is a regional chain, and continues to have stores in Florence, Sumter & Darlington.

(Hat tips to commenter Brian and I believe a number of others)

UPDATE 19 February 2022 -- Now Konnichiwa:

Also adding map icon and updating tags.