Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

As usual, when I'm trying to shoot against the sun, the results aren't pretty, but this Piggly Wiggly on the Charleston Highway near the I-77/I-26 interchange is on the way out -- in fact, it may actually be closed at this point.

When I took these shots on 3 August 2014, the store was mostly still in full operation. There were a few signs that they were trying to sell off the whole stock, but really, if you had gone for most any normal grocery item, you would have found it and the discounts were pretty modest (I believe most signs said 20%, but only to Pig cardmembers).

With this closure, I'm not quite sure where the nearest replacement store is. There's an IGA in Gaston, but the Reid's which would have been the nearest store in the other direction recently closed as well.

Of course, the new State Farmers' Market is quite nearby for adventurous souls.

UPDATE 21 August 2014 -- The place is now closed:

UPDATE 14 December 2021 -- After seven years, this store is still vacant:

Also adding a map icon.

"Rolls or cornbread?"

I snapped these two pictures driving by Lizard's Thicket on Beltline; perhaps I can get some better later. At any rate, the chain is renovating this old Shoney's building, and it will be closed until that is done.

I believe the nearest other Liz is the one on Forest Drive, also in a former Shoney's.

UPDATE 9 April 2019 -- I don't have a picture, but this location has been open again for a good while.

UPDATE 24 July 2020 -- Closed again, due to COVID-19 staffing problems as is the Airport Boulevard location:

UPDATE 10 February 2021 -- Open again, again:

UPDATE 31 January 2022: As mentioned in the comments, closed again for staffing issues.

UPDATE 5 July 2023 -- Now Moctezumas:

UPDATE 6 July 2023 -- Daytime pictures:

I have had my eye on this location of Carolina Wings & Rib House because the chain has been cutting its Columbia operations to the bone, and I figured this peripheral coastal location wouldn't last much longer. In fact, the place was open for the Memorial Day weekend, but by the time I went by again in late July it had apparently (from the state of things inside) just closed.

This location was in Litchfield Beach, in an outparcel of what was the Litchfield Piggly Wiggly shopping center (but which is now the Bi-Lo shopping center. Although I suspect that the general troubles for the chain were the biggest problem for this location, I also note that it is not visible from US-17 which can't have helped either.

UPDATE 20 April 2020: Add tags and map icon.

The concept of Maze Mania was simple: You go into the maze, find the cheese, and get out of the maze. Best time wins.

It was a little more complicated in execution. The "cheese" was actually a box size wooden mock-up wedge with an electric rubber stamp device embedded inside it. Every day, the cheese would be moved to a different part of the maze, where it would be put on a special stand near an outlet. When you started the maze, you would be given a timecard with your start time, and when you found the cheese, you would stick the timecard into the block, which would stamp a picture of a piece of cheese on the card (proving that you completed the task), then you would try to find the exit, where your final time would be recorded. Assuming you were a kid, your parents would probably be on the observation deck overlooking the maze shouting down more (or less) helpful hints. Presumably, if you were a college student, it would be a bunch of drunk friends instead.

I only ran the maze, officially, once, probably about 20 years ago. I thought it was a lot of fun, and always wanted to take some younger cousins or other relatives there, but somehow never made it happen. I noticed earlier in the year that the place didn't seem to be open in what should be a viable, if not peak, time, and so made a point of looking in on it this summer as I would drive by at various times which led me to the conclusion that it was closed.

I finally made the time to stop and have a look at it. The big mouse billboard was in obvious need of cleaning, and the door sign said "closed for the season" without specifying what season that was. I have concluded it was probably fall 2013.

Finding my way back into the maze itself, I saw lots of signs of neglect and general decrepitude. The worse bit was a whole section of maze wall that had fallen down (or been knocked over) but overall there were a number of loose boards, and vegetation encroachment. Still, I think a good handyman with some lumber and paint could make the place runnable again with no more than one or two days work.

As you can tell from the pictures, it was a rather gray day, and started raining when I was out in the maze, and yes, I did get lost. (You can always find your way out of a maze by following the right wall if all else fails, but it may not be the shortest route by any means!)

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Wow! This will teach me to stop throwing away everything from the credit union that doesn't look like a statement. Being in the Vista today, I drove down Pulaski Street to hit the no-fee ATM at Carolina FCU and was rather surprised to find it, and the substantial building in which it was housed, completely gone.

Well, perhaps not *completely* gone, as they are now working out of a trailer on Devine Street which is basically the same piece of property approached from the other side.

No ATM though.

(It appears the demolition also includes the old Gaines W. Harrison & Sons building at 724 Pulaski.)

UPDATE 15 November 2016 -- The Credit Union is now back at 710 Pulaski in a totally new building, or part of a building (it's also apartments):

Hungry hungry hippo..

I've always wondered if this little diner by the North Main Sonic was originally connected with the old North Main Street Varsity Restaurant.

While the Varsity name and pennant have always been there as far as I can recall, J S Renee is fairly recent. Back in the 90s and until sometime in the 2000s, the sub-marquee was D'Jasz which apparently also had a location on Rosewood.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

Personally, I'm still not exactly sure what an Ultra Lounge is, and how that is different from a nightclub, but Pure, in this much re-purposed modernistic building on Berryhill Road was one, though it is one no more.

If you look closely in front of the door in one of the shots, you can see a bag with the 2014 phonebooks. Like trying to determine which issue of The Free Times is in the rack in a closed establishment, unclaimed phonebooks are another timing clue. In this case we have further evidence however in the fight poster which touts a 22 February match. Given all that, I'd put the date in early February 2014. I have to say though, that the place looks pretty decrepit for having been open that recently. The dress-code posters, for example, have already faded into illegibility. (Interestingly, the last time they tweeted was 2010).

(Hat tip to commenter)

This building in Triangle City as been a number of different automative service operations, as I noted here. Automotive Tekniques moved in at the start of September 2011, and seems to have lasted until late last year. I think I had some photos of the place in operation, but I can put my hands on them right now.

Currently a zoning sign on the property suggests it will be changing from C-1 Intensive Commercial to C-2 General Commercial. I'm not sure what that actually means, but to me it suggests a future retail operation.

(Hat tip to commenter tonkatoy)

UPDATE 17 September 2016 -- This is now STS Auto Sales & Repairs. Cola Daily says they opened on 25 September 2014 and that the name stands for Sales To Service:

Well, there was some chatter on Have Your Say the other day about Church's Chicken, so I thought I would bring out these Church's pictures from Aiken. They were taken on a fairly recent visit this March, but I believe the restaurant has been vacant since before I left Aiken around 2005 or so. The place is on the stretch of US-1 (York Street) between I-20 exit 22 and downtown proper. Or perhaps you can consider Hampton Avenue to be the start of downtown (and Aiken's weird double streets). LoopNet says the building is in the city limits proper. (They also seem to be saying it can be reused, but the current state is a good bit more decrepit than the picture they use, and I have my doubts).

8 September 2013:

15 June 2014:

This place, by Yoghut in the Adesso building at the corner of Main & Blossom Streets was apparently a sister operation to Peppers House Of Pizza on Garners Ferry, and continued on several months after that one closed. If it were going to close, I guess the timing is not surprising. This building is right across from USC, and I imagine that anytime school is out is hard on the restaurants in this whole little strip (especially given the problematic parking for non-locals).

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

UPDATE 28 June 2019: Add map icon.