Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Back when blogs were a new thing, the "blogroll" was an important part of a blog. Basically the blogroll is a sidebar with a list of links to other blogs the author of a particular blog follows. As people have become used to blogs, and as other social media have taken hold, the blogroll has become less and less important. I have one (it's in the right sidebar), but haven't really kept it up for years.

One site in my blogroll I do visit regularly though is Scott Meyer webcomic Basic Instructions. Meyer is a former standup comedian, so his comic has a bit of a different rhythm from a typical comic strip. In the normal case, a comic will build to a punchline in the last panel (or sometimes a punchline in the penultimate panel with a reaction in the last panel), but Basic Instructions has a punchline in each panel. The comic's conceit is that it is a guide to everyday life, so each installment has a title like "How to do something mundane" with the advice given quickly heading for left field. Meyer doesn't really draw, but has a library of poses that quickly become familar and somehow always seem to fit the dialogue. The comic has a number of stock situations. Perhaps the most common is the cartoon representation of Meyer trading insults with his best friend Rick, followed by strips where he tries to convince his wife Missy of the wisdom of some inane idea of his. After that, probably the third most common situation is Meyer as the office manager of a very inept business trying to deal with his superviser (generally known to fans as "Mullet boss").

Recently Meyer announced that he was ending the strip, having discovered that he was starting to reuse the same gags almost verbatim. The fact that he has become a moderatly successful fantasy novelist probably was a big part of it too. In the event, the final Basic Instructions was posted yesterday, though re-runs will continue to run on the site, and several very funny paperback collections are available.

All of which prelude just gives me an excuse to post my very favorite Basic Instructions, one that never fails to make me laugh out loud, even after many re-reads.

So, without further ado, How to Figure Out What Someone Said:

This Boozer Shopping Center storefront lists in the February 2015-2016 phonebook, so I'm guessing is closed sometime this spring. And, no, they weren't responsible for the Patient Rarking -- I think there's a medical operation in the same wing.

As shown in the first picture, the main suite for Bike Street USA was what is now Jackie's Uniforms, but the Bicycles signage remains on the second suite they had to the right of that. As you can also see from the firt shot, the store started as Bike To Nature, which moved here from across the street when its original building was slated for demolition.

After moving, the store was bought by the Bike Street USA chain, which went bankrupt in November 2014 as described here.

As I was heading out to my vacation last month, I noticed this closed Arby's in Manning, not too far from the I-95 interchange. I'm pretty sure it was not closed around Easter, or I would have noticed it then, but by this point it had obviously been closed several months.

That actually makes it rather unusual, as chains which are still around tend to get their signage down pretty quickly from closed stores. In this case the signage is still up, even on the drive-through, and the furniture is still inside.

UPDATE 9 February 2018 -- Now a Cookout:

UPDATE 17 February 2018 -- Better pictures of the new Cookout:

UPDATE 17 February 2023: Update tags, add map icon.

I'm not entirely sure what the focus of The Outlet Store in Boozer Shopping Center was. Given the embroidery and printing aspects, I guess they did custom clothes and perhaps uniforms, though I'm not sure exactly how outlet fit into it.

They listed in the February 2013-2014 phonebook, but not the February 2014-2015 one, so I'm guessing they closed in 2013.

Star Music in the Seven Oaks Shopping Center has closed their storefront and moved in with adjacent Hannah Piano. According to their sign, they are looking for another Irmo location, and remain open on Two Notch & Assembly Street.

I was eating lunch at Grecian Gardens the other day, and noticed that the building next door (North) was vacant. It turns out that this was the former location of Agape Primary Care & Therapy who have now moved down the road into Lexington at 4711 Sunset Boulevard.

This former motorcycle shop is just down from the old Shoney's on Bush River. I'm not quite sure when it closed because for some reason I can't find it in my phonebooks. There are two calendars behind the counter, but I neglected to zoom in on them..

UPDATE 19 April 2016 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew on the Shoney's post, here is an excavator on the Shoney's lot before it was used to knock down this building:

There are certain restaurants I want to like more than I do. El Burro Loco in Myrtle Beach is one -- I go by every five years or so to see if it is finally any good. Bocci's in Charleston was another.

Since it was conveniently located next to the original location of Theatre 99, and near to The Market, and since I like Italian, I used to check it out every so often. I think every time I did, it was a really mediocre experience, including the last time, around Christmas 2013 when I waited two hours for an unexceptional pizza. They did have really sharp matchbooks though.

I had come from Pizzera Uno to the Pastime Pavilion in Lexington to see a movie. In point of fact, I was hoping to still find the latest Mad Max move showing though it was dropping out of first run at the time. I had done a quick google before leaving home, noting that the time and place for Max would make it convienient to a restaurant I hadn't been to for a while.

It all went well until I got to the theater and found that I should have taken time to click on the movie descriptions as well as times as the movie turned out to be about a dog.

Anyway, as I was walking back to the car in sort of disgusted amusement, I noticed the plaza's Marble Slab Creamery was closed. There were no explanatory notes or signs, but cleary the place had been cleaned out even though the marquee was still up.