Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This old building had been a number of things over the years, most of which I cannot at all recall, but I think at one time it was a "reproduction" furniture store, and at another time an arts & crafts store.

In fact, it was in that later incarnation that was the only time I went inside, and then only by mistake. I believe it was in the 90s, and the south strand did not yet have a lot of options for coffee. Certainly there was nothing like today's environment where every McDonalds has decent specialty coffee (and excellent regular coffee). I don't believe that Latte Litchfield had yet opened, (though the Chocolate & Coffee House in the Litchfield Exchange a mile or so north had). At any rate, to get back to the story, I was driving back to the Island and saw a sign on this building advertising Cappuccino, and thinking a late afternoon caffeine fix sounded pretty good, I turned in.

Well, as it happened, I had misread the situation, thinking that the whole building was one business, when in fact it was two. The arts and crafts store was in main front part, while the cafe operation was in the attachment to the rear, and was closed for the day, something of which I was unaware. In fact, the arts and crafts operation was closing too as it was, I think, 6pm, and as I stepped inside, the guy was turning off the lights.

He promptly turned them back on, showing rows of items I had no interest in buying (not that it was bad stuff, but I was just looking for coffee) and starting a speil about local craftsmen. In the end, I felt bad enough about causing him to re-open when he was obviously ready to leave for the day, especially when I had caused him to do so through my mistake, that I ended up buying a hand painted sheet-metal lizard magnet to make myself feel a little better about putting him to the trouble and hopefully to make him feel I had hadn't totally wasted his time. The lizard actually turned out to be a cheery little piece that is still on our refrigerator.

Both the craft store and the cafe closed fairly shortly thereafter, but as you can see from these pictures, both spaces were reoccupied, and lizards continued to be associated with the property.

Read the rest of this entry »

The State reports that lulumon athletica (which apparently is spelled without capitals) has closed this Shandon showroom, of which I was completely unaware, and will be opening a full store in Trenholm Plaza on 18 November 2016, apparently in this slot:

which featured here back in August.

I was going sort of the wrong way, and didn't get great pictures, but here is the former Circle K at the intersection of Hardscrabble & Clemson Roads. Commenter Andrew reports that it has moved to the catty-corner opposite in a former Kangaroo Express/BP location possibly since the two locations would be under the same chain ownership after Circle K bought out Kangaroo. Unfortunately, I forgot that part of the comment while I was driving around, and thus did not take any pictures of the other corner..

(Hat tip to commenters Clay & Andrew)

UPDATE 15 May 2017 -- Finally got back to get some better pictures of this place:

UPDATE 9 August 2017 -- As reported by commenter Jason this place has now been knocked down:

UPDATE 29 March 2023: Adding map icon and updating tags.

I could be wrong, and perhaps this place will re-open as tax season rolls around, but right now, it looks pretty defunct, with the furnishings completely stripped, a real-estate key caddy on the front door and abandoned televisions piled on the front stoop. The only ambiguity is that the marquee has not been taken down..

UPDATE 11 October 2018 -- This place is now a hand car wash:

When I was on the Island after Matthew, I found things in surprisingly good shape, at least since my refence point was Hurricane Hugo. The Island lost only one house during the storm, and that from fire.

However, there was obviously a good bit of storm damage, and I noticed that this house, which somehow had never struck my notice before, was in sad shape. Since it sat almost directly across the street from the Pawleys Island Chapel, I was not surprised to learn today that it was named Chapel View. I learned that because my sister brought to my attention this tweet from the Pawleys Island Police Department, showing the demolition of the house. The last picture above comes from this tweet, which I think is OK to directly post here since it was taken by a public agency.

There is a bit more information on the house at this SCIWAY post: Apparently it was owned by an artist from Virginia.

I believe this is the first house on the Island to be demolished since Wagon Wheel abuting the town park in 2010, though there is another house near the North Causeway that seems to go underwater quite often and I am not quite sure how it is still standing.

(Hat tip to my sister)

UPATE 19 March 2019: There are now extensive comments from the last owner about the house on the SC Picture Project page

Commenter Jason reports the closing of this locally owned bedroom store at the I-20/US-378 interchange. Assuming they are connected with the Augusta Road location, it appears this was a retirement.

Cola Daily implies in passing, that this location opened around November 2015, so that's about a year. I don't think the little strip mall has been open much longer than that itself.

UPDATE 21 January 2017 -- As mentioned in the comments, this space is fitting out to be a Sub Station II:

Well, I made my now annual trip to the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville NC this last weekend. Unlike last year, when the weather was miserable, you could not have asked for more pleasant weather this year. In fact, it was actually verging onto too warm some of the time.

There was the usual assortment of vendors and entertainment as well as some acts I don't recall seeing there before. I'll try to get a few videos up later in an update, but right now it is just still from Saturday & Sunday. I did not spend as much time weeding down the shots as I could have, so it's a bit verbose, or, 'pixose', perhaps. You can also see some shots I was trying to get but never captured fully to my satisfaction.

The faire continues on through Sunday 20 November, and Huntersville is not that far (though admittedly I-77, as always, is a dice-roll..) so if you've got a free day this fall, go for it!

Read the rest of this entry »

It looks like this Peruvian restaurant, the only one in Columbia as far as I know, opened in April 2016 and closed sometime in August 2016. In general the Yelp reviews were quite positive as was this review from The Free Times

Paraiso del Inca brought some much-needed ethnic food to the North Beltline side of town when it opened earlier this month. The menu is brief, but full of Peruvian dishes that cannot be found anywhere else in town. Some of the offerings include a creamy chicken dish featuring a thick, yellow curry-esque sauce, boiled potato, and ground walnuts; ceviche; and an appetizer called papas rellena, a deep-fried mashed potato ball stuffed with beef and onions.

(Hat tip to commenter KC)

I got back to town a bit late this year, and missed out on some of my State Fair usuals because the buildings closed early the final day, so no art, flowers, sand sculpture or baby ducks this year. I was able to have my annual Italian sausage sandwich, Fiske fries and ride the skyway, swings and bumper cars. Most of the regular rides were there, along with a couple of new, or at least re-painted wacky-house type walk-throughs. Apparently the rocket is no longer the "Time-Warner Rocket" and is just back to "The Rocket", though it does have a few new sponsorship plaques at the base. I still miss the Steel Building: That corner just does not feel right without it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Moe Levy's Reliable Loan Office was sort of a portmanteau operation with the signs promising Gun Shop, Coins Jewelry, Army Surplus & Camping Supplies under the Pawn marquee. In this spot since 1950, they looked poised to close entirely after the main Moe Levy's closed.

In fact, they did close in February 2016 with no definite plans announced as this State story details.

In the event, they found a new space at 1727 Laurel Street, and decided to continue with changes as related here. They are no longer pawnbrokers and will concentrate on the Army surplus side of the business as Moe Levy's Army Store. This State video has pictures of the new location and remarks by the owner which are interesting on their own because people just don't talk like that anymore and I miss it.