Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Another day, another Piggly Wiggly.

This store, at the corner of Clemson and Hardscrabble Roads, looks like it was a pretty nice one, though I can;t ever recall going inside. I might have thought that it would have benefitted from the closing of the Food Lion across the street, but in this case the ongoing woes of the chain seem to have outweighed any additional traffic from displaced Food Lion shoppers.

The closing of this store started rather oddly, with an "inventory reduction" sale. Since there is no reason for a grocery store to ever have such a sale in the normal course of events, this seems to have been some sort of signal that the store was closing before the management was able to say that officially.

This closing will be a big hit for Magnolia Pointe, as The Pig was the only anchor in the main strip of the shopping center. There is a CVS in an outparcel region, but that won't bring shoppers in to the shopping center proper.

(Hat tip to commenter ken holler)

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Well, a Columbia tradition since 1920 is gone. In fact I can only remember going into Moe Levy's once or twice back in the 1970s on shopping trips with cousins. At the time, I liked shopping for clothes even less than I do now so the place was not a magnet for me, but I was always aware of it as we drove past. I also remember in my earlier days conflating the constant signage for Levi's jeans there with the store name itself and wondering if Moe Levy invented blue jeans.

As I recall, the store had a closing scare a few years ago at which point I took some of these pictures. I forget exactly what happened, but obviously they did not close then. As for now, The State reports that most of the block has been bought by local developer Ben Arnold who hopes to bring a national retailer or restaurant to the Moe Levy's location.

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When Wendy's first arrived in Columbia (at two notch in Dentsville), it was one of my favorite places. You could place your order, pay, and pick up a, good, customized, burger almost without slowing down. Of course, I was only about 12 then, so my tastes were bound to change, and anyway the stores seemed to get slower and slower as the years went on. So it is that I believe the most recent Wendy's burger I've had was about five years ago on a trip to Aiken.

Still, even though I wasn't stopping in, I've always been surprised to see the stores close, first on Two Notch, then at the beach, and now here on Beltline by Richland Mall. They did a very fast tear-down of this store to include signage, order boards and drive-through menus. Looks like the register is still booted though..

(Hat tips to commenter Chris & my sister)

UPDATE 26 March 2014 -- Some daylight pix:

12 March 2012:

11 March 2013:

11 March 2014:

I took an annual trip to Aiken last week, and was amazed at the amount of storm damage over there. I had though all the "worst tree kills since Hugo" headlines were a bit of hyperbole since I didn't see anything like that here in Columbia.

Not that that has anything to do with this post. While I was there I also noticed that the Blockbuster in the Bi-Lo parking lot on Silver Bluff Road is finally getting a new tenant. Given how many Blockbuster closings I've done here, I figured I might as well add this one too. (Eventually, I'll get the Litchfield Beach store as well).

UPDATE 5 October 2020: Updating tags, adding map icon.

Originally, I was describing CanMan Dew's as being in the same location as Casa Linda.

This was confusion on my part engendered by looking at some closeup pictures of Mushi Mushi and noting that the storfronts and lighting looked the same, which it naturally would in the same strip mall.

So, anyway, I have taken the CatMan Dew's text out of the Casa Linda entry and put it here.

Thanks to commenter badger for setting me straight.

CatMan Dew's was the follow on operation to Mushi Mushi in this strip mall adjoining the Garners Ferry Wal-Mart. It came and went rather quickly, and I never actually saw it in operation. Commenter badger describes is as a burger and wing joint, and WLTX did a video story on it. (I don't have flash working right now, so I haven't been able to watch it yet).

UPDATE 25 October 2018: Add map icon.

Originally, I had a section on CatMan Dew's here, but as commenter badger pointed out, that was a different storefront.

You can see in this long-shot that this wing of the strip mall does have some similar locations, and I let the red awning and placement of lights to either side of the entranceway fool me:

Anyway, I have moved CatMan Dew's to its own post.

The Casa Linda location here was operating until quite recently, and seems to have closed at about the same time as their Lexington location. Currently the place is still a Mexican restaurant, Taco Time.

UPDATE 25 October 2018: Add map icon.

It appears from their facebook page that a commenter saw this location as Pancho's on 8 March, so I'm using that as a date, though it would have been a bit earlier.

I never ate at this location, but in general do like the one on Beltline. From the name, I suppose this is now a second location for Pancho's on Forest Drive in the old Redbone Alley building.

(Hat tip to commenter TahoeChic)

Clearly, I really like that sign.

This building sits at the corner of Garners Ferry and Old Veterans Roads. It's actually a little hard to get in and out of, though you can cut down Old Veterans to Veterans and then come out at the light. As of now, Prudential has moved to 3200 Devine Street. I don't yet have a picture, but it is the building adjoining the old Rice Music House location.

UPDATE 2 May 2016 -- It appears that this is now CubeSmart self-storage.

These pix from 27 February 2016 show the new building almost done, but with the Prudential sign still out front:

These pix from 25 April 2016 show the new signage up, the old signage gone, and the place either open or ready to open:

I have already done a closing for Huller's Black Forest in their final home on Saint Andrews Road. Before they moved there however, they occupied this Columbiana Drive building, up a flight of stairs from the Nathan's / Bruster's parking lot.

I thought I might as well do this one now, as the building has just reopened as The Tilted Kilt, a breastaurant a bit more upscale than Hooters and thankfully featuring no actual Scottish cuisine, most of which seems to have been created as a dare of some sort.

UPDATE 19 September 2022: Adding map icon.

Normally, I would split these two businesses up, but the building is so small they're both going to be in the pictures anyway.

At any rate, this little building on Saint Andrews Road is just in front of the old Cussin' Bill's, and under the hill from Fred's and National Mail Services.

I like the vintage Gull Wing style of the cleaning portion, and I'm not sure why they didn't just do the whole building that way.

It appears that Alabaster moved to Broad River Road around 2009, and Crown closed around 2010. I did not see any indication that the building is for sale, and apparently the Fire Marshall thinks someone may try to refit it, so we'll see what happens there.

UPDATE 12 July 2016 -- Now Best Catch Seafood Market: