Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Maybe there is no such thing as a recession-proof business...

On the other hand, this WPDE story speculates that perhaps Wal-Mart put some pressure on this Garden City strip club to close as they opened a new SuperCenter across the street. Certainly, the coming of Wal-Mart seems to be what closed the nearby Krispy Kreme (though the building is still standing so far).

I believe The Pink Pony building started life as a steakhouse, though the WPDE piece says the club had been there for a dozen years.

UPDATE 4 May 2011: Added Western Steer to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 12 April 2016 -- This place is now being renovated to open as Flapjacks Pancake Cabin:

Wow! If IrmoJeff hadn't mentioned that this was a Lizard's Thicket, I never would have known that in fact this was the Lizard's Thicket, the original first location from 1977. You can see an artist's representation of what is clearly the same building on the company's history page, which says:

The original Lizard’s Thicket was a five room house converted into a restaurant with three small dining rooms and a small kitchen.

Now I go through phases of eating at Liz and not eating at Liz, but I find when I'm down, or fighting a cold or trying to get back on track after days of erratic eating that their Southern comfort food really hits the spot. I particularly like to get a vegatable platter with field-peas over rice and macaroni & cheese.

I'm not sure when the original location closed, but it was a good while ago though there is still one on Broad River Road.

La Fogata until fairly recently has seemed like the up-and-coming local Mexican chain, joining San Jose, Monterray and Casa Linda. They had this location on Broad River, took over the Pirmarily Pi location on Sunset and took over the Village Bistro location at Sandhill. I don't know if they over-extended, or just figured the economy would turn around faster than it has, but they've since closed this location and the Sandhill location. I've never eaten at a La Fogata, but comments on the Sandhill closing indicate it was pretty good.

I don't know anything about the La Fogata follow-on operation, El Meson except that it was also a local Mexican restaurant. Their door sign indicates that they may be back. The omens are mixed for that. On the one hand, the roof and roadside marquees are down. On the other hand the fixtures and decor are still inside.

Does anyone actually drink Clamato?

(Hat tip to commenter IrmoJeff)

UPDATE 25 May 2011 -- Well, it appears that even though the fixtures are still apparently in place, there will be no re-opening:

UPDATE 31 March 2012: Added Westbury's wing joint to the post title based on commenter IrmoJeff's info.

UPDATE 24 August 2012 -- Now Tain's Caribbean Cuisine & Bar:

UPDATE 17 June 2025: Updating tags and adding map icon.

In a companion closing to yesterday's, commenter Andrew sends these before (8 April 2011) and after (15 April 2011) pictures of the Blockbuster on Emanuel Church Road, saying:

This is located in West Columbia at the intersection of Emmanuel Church & Old Barnwell Road. The Street address is 2916B Emmanuel Church Road. It is in a shopping center called Sandy Ridge Square, anchored by Bi-Lo.

Thank you, Andrew. I confess that I had to plug the address into google maps and then zoom out twice before I had any idea of where Emanuel Church Road was.

(Andrew offers a hat tip to commenter Thomas for the heads-up)

UPDATE 5 October 2020: Change post address to "2926 Emanuel Church Road Suite B" from "2916-B Emanuel Church Road" for consistency. Update tags, add map icon.

Well, here is yet another Blockbuster Video closing. It's the same old story about competition with Netflix, Redbox and various video-on-demand services, but it seems that there have been some new developments since I last did a Blockbuster closing.

For one thing, according to Wikipedia, the chain went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September of 2010. I had heard that, but I had not heard that their plan for coming out of bankruptcy failed. That does surprise me a bit. I figured they would emerge from bankruptcy, and then fail again. The Wikipedia article says that on 1 March 2011, the Justice Department moved to force them into Chapter 7 bankruptcy, ie: liquidation.

Then another unlikely event intervened, and just a few weeks ago, on 28 March 2011, Dish Network bought Blockbuster:

The Denver Post reported that Dish, a Denver-based satellite-TV firm, plans to use the assets to enhance its subscription offerings and start streaming video and shipping DVDs, in order to compete with Netflix. Analysts say such a move would present a number of challenges for Blockbuster, that it would require renewing studio deals, securing streaming rights and building out the needed infrastructure.

(Hat tip to commenter chiefa)

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LoopNet says this store was once a Piggly Wiggly, but it's the Harris Teeter label-scar most visible on the side of the building next to CVS.

For some reason, I always get Harris Teeter and Winn Dixie confused, and I had it in my mind that HT had abandoned South Carolina when that was actually WD. However, it does appear that Harris Teeter has abandoned Columbia. Their store locator shows the closest location as being around Rock HIll.

Currently this whole plaza is mostly empty except for the CVS and some sort of bank back-office-looking building. That's a little surprising given that it serves Polo Road, which I tend to think of as an upscale area, and not really in line with the Food Lion which anchors the next plaza on Two Notch, on the other side of Polo.

UPDATE 27 February 2014 -- This is to be a Planet Fitness gym:

For most of my life, this building was a Gulf Station and was our default family choice for gas and light service.

After the place closed as a Gulf, it seemed to go through several phases that I am now hazy on. In particular, I think there was a period after it was a full service station and before Circle K when it was still a gas-only station, but without service. During this period, the service bays were closed, but the car-wash bay was still in operation, and you could get a code to with each fill-up to go through the wash.

Circle K took over the place in sort of a half-hearted way. They never really committed to making the place a "modern" convenience store, and the service and wash bays remained walled off, but unconverted, forcing the convenience operation into a really small cramped space. In particular, they never put in interior bathrooms as all stores now do, and the old Gulf restrooms on the Trenholm Road side of the station remained the only ones (though they were never ADA-ed).

Though the place remained my default gas station, there were some inconvenient touches to that aspect as well. First they gradually closed off the Trenholm Road door. At first sometimes you would go and it would be open and sometimes it would be locked, then finally it was always locked. Second, they took the pump locks off the pump handles. That meant you had to hold the pump handle throughout the whole fueling operation. I think some places feel this is a safety issue, but I say that's bunk. Thirdly, from time to time, they seemed to have the slowest pumps in SC. On those days, I think if I had not pre-paid, I would have just driven off rather than wait for the gentle trickle to creep up to $20. (Of course nothing *creeps* to $20 nowdays..)

Initially when the place was a Union 76, even though the store itself was technically a Circle K, they signage played up the 76 affiliation, and the Circle K branding was almost invisible. Sometime last fall, they completely, and messily, disaffiliated from Union 76, knocking out the logo panel on their street sign, and pasting Circle K branding on the pumps (take off the pumps now that the CK is closed).

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 23 May 2011 -- various pictures as below:

On 17 May, it appeared that the underground tanks were being pumped dry:

On 18 May, they started digging up the underground tanks. Hopefully all those holes in the tanks were made during the excavation:

By 21 May, the tanks had been carted off:

By 22 May, the hole has been partly filled in, the pumps are off in the corner, and the next step is unclear. Knock the building down? Start an interior refit?

UPDATE 16 June 2011 -- Hmm. New sign, and it appears that the building is slated to be torn down. A ground lease is a type of lease where the tennant gets to build on the land during the lease period, and of course build-to-suit means a new building as well. Looking at the supports for the canopy on the Trenholm Road side, it appears that they have already decided that backing into things doesn't matter anymore..

UPDATE 18 July 2011 -- Well, demolition has started. Already the canopies have been knocked down. They haven't torn into the building itself as far as the walls go, but it sure doesn't look like it's long for the world:

UPDATE 19 July 2011 -- Well the end has come! Interestingly, the bathrooms were the last piece left standing. I shot some video of them knocking down part of the bathroom wall, but it didn't come out:

UPDATE 19 July 2011: The whole building is down now. Also added first pic of Circle K logo at top:

UPDATE 20 July 2011: Add 18 July 2011 photoset below.

UPDATE 21 July 2011: Today they knocked down the street sign and the trailer is gone. (No pix yet). Also I added the 19 July photoset below.

UPDATE 23 September 2011 -- Well, the place is apparently to be a Circle K again according to the new sign in the lot. And in the meantime, the old chargecard sign hangs on..

UPDATE 5 May 2012 -- It appears that new construction has finally started, or at least excavation:

UPDATE 21 May 2012 -- Landscaping and excavation continue and now they have boarded out the foundations for part of the new construction. Apparently they will be building in what was green space in the former Bell's Drive-In as well as the old Gulf/Circle K lot. At least my memory is that Gulf & Bell's sort of shared a parking lot, but that Bell's itself sat in this little strip between the gas station and the drugstore which never had a building after Bell's was torn down:

UPDATE 2 June 2012 -- The new underground tanks are going in:

UPDATE 6 June 2012 -- Looks like it's going to be a fairly small building:

UPDATE 17 August 2012 -- The new building is almost ready to open. In fact, I saw a car pull up to the "Redbox" and apparently rent a movie:

UPDATE 12 September 2012 -- The construction is finished, and the new store is open. I was conflicted as to whether I should mark the post as "open again" given that it is a completely new building, but in the end I did. If it ever closes again though, it will get a separate closing..

PHOTOSETS

Photoset 18 July 2011
Photoset 19 July 2011
Photoset 20 May 2012

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

I don't know anything about Tires Unlimited other than that they sold used tires and were located in a very neat little building that was obviously once a service station.

It appears to be of an early '60s vintage, similar in some ways to the old Bill DuBose 66 station on Covenant.

The building now seems to be an impromptu parking lot for Blue Ribbon, and looks like it could use some TLC.

UPDATE 18 March 2011: Added "Patterson's Texaco" to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 25 May 2016 -- This place is to be a gas station again, albeit with a convenience store rather than service bays this time. Cheap Way is coming:

I first wrote about this building in a closing for The Village Bistro in August 2009. After that operation closed, La Fogata Mexican Restaurant set up shop, lasting at least a year, and apparently closing around the start of March this year.

I never managed to make it to La Fogata though I do like Mexican food. It's just a good ways from Forest Acres, and if I'm not in the mood for Moe's or a Mexican Mexican place like San Jose or Casa Linda, I usually end up at El Chico, headed the other way from town. Commenter Kp who tipped the closing says it was pretty good though.

(Hat tip to commenter Kp)

UPDATE 23 March 2011 -- Well, the signage is down and the place is up for lease again:

UPDATE 26 May 2016 -- As mentioned in the comments, this is now Top Dawg Tavern:

I was a bit reluctant to do this post yet, hoping that the place was going to make it, but I've been by several times within the posted hours (including a Saturday evening) and found it dark (though the phone still rings..)

At any rate, I first wrote of this building when I did a closing for longtime tenant Little Mexico and follow-on Cancun.

After Cancun another Mexican operation Mi Tierra set up shop in the building, and lasted about a year. (And you should visit both of those closing links because the previous comments and pictures for Wata Wing are spread out between them).

After Mi Tierra closed, there were indications fairly early on that the place was to become a Wata Wing chicken wing operation. The setup seemed quite protracted, and with the stall out of the Wata Wing roll-out in the old Taco Bell on Knox Abbott:

combined with reports of some legal difficulties the chain (which I should stress is probably totally different people in different areas) was facing in Maryland, it seemed for a time that this location might not open.

In the event it did open some time between 3 November 2010 and 1 December 2010 when commenter Badger stopped by.

I had thought, given this sign:

that the operation might be headed in a Hooters, Wing House direction with the "Wata Girls" front and center, but that seems not to have been the case.

If this location is closed (and it certainly seems to be), then that would throw into question the opening of a Wata Wing in the old Shoney's/Santa Fe/Savannah's location on Two Notch Road:

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This building, on Two Notch Road, next to the former Hi Line Imports, and more or less across the street from the former Ranch Restaurant, had a definite Huddle House look to it, but I couldn't ever remember actually having seen a Huddle House there. Some research in old city directories at the library showed that 4967 Two Notch Road did not exist as a street address prior to this building being built, and that it was in fact built as a Huddle House.

The ad is from the February 1990 Bellsouth phonebook, and the restaurant did not last long beyond that, being gone by the February 1992 directory. As far as I can tell, there were never two Huddle House restaurants open in Columbia at the same time, and shortly after this one closed, the one at 3801 Rosewood Drive began listing in the phonebook. That could mean either that this one relocated, that the chain was only issuing one franchaise for Columbia at a time, or it could simply be a coincidence.

Today the building is Auto Image, where summer lasts all year.

UPDATE 17 August 2023 -- Update tags, add map icon.