Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I really like this building on US-1 near Wal Mart, or at least the classic part of it -- I could do without the two prefab sheds at each end. Whenever I see a gull-wing light tree like the one on the left (west) side of the lot, I get a real feeling of nostalgia. When I was a kid in the mid 1960s, we would take US-301 to Florida every summer and Christmas, and somewhere along that route, there was a big abandoned truck-stop. I don't know where it was exactly, though it was fairly early on the trip, so it was probably in South Carolina (and as we went South, it was on the left). Anyway, the lot was strewn with those gull-wing lights and it always made a big impression on me.

Aside from the light, the canted wrap-around bay windows on the west end are another really nice touch, as is the trapezoidal riser on the east end. They don't make 'em like that anymore. I would guess the building started as a gas station, probably in the late 1950s, but I don't really know.

As of now, KC Customs & Detailing still has a web page up, and from that I can definitely say they were in this spot as late as February 2010. There are also some shots of the building with the KC signage still up.

UPDATE 15 Jan 2011 -- It's now Poppa Joe's New & Used Tires:

UPDATE 14 April 2018 -- Adding "Texaco" to the post title based on the comments

I took some daytime pictures of this site, but the sun was against me from the side I was on, and they didn't come out well at all.

Anyway, this building comes up here from time to time, and I've been meaning to do a post on it. The only prior history I knew was Miami Subs Grill which was there at least until 1998. I don't know why i never stopped there. Partly I think because I was living out of town at the time Miami was in business, and I didn't want to take a chance on a place I didn't know versus hitting my known good spots and partly because the name just didn't grab me. When I think "Miami", sandwiches aren't really part of the image that comes to mind, and if I did have to guess at a Miami sandwich specialty, I would have guessed some sort of pressed Cuban sandwich -- subs didn't really enter into it, so it was sort of like seeing a place called New Jersey Grits.

Splendid China was the next tenant, and has been there for quite a while now. Driving by at lunchtime today, it appeared they were doing an excellent business.

Commenter Jimmy provides the D'Lites and Vision Center parts of the building's pre-Miami history, which I don't recall at all.

(Hat tip, obviously, to commenter Jimmy.)

UPDATE 9 July 2010: Added "Salisbury" to "Vision Center" in the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 8 October 2025: Update tags and add map icon. Add State article from commenter Midnight Rambler.

Commenter Midnight Rambler sends this articl from The State on 17 January 1986:

I've written about this building before, both in a closing for Steak & Ale (the original tenant of the whole building) and in one for House Brand (a furniture store which used the east side of the building after it was divided).

I see now that since the House Brand signage has been off the east side of the building, the previous Buster's Bistro sign is again visible.

I don't know much about Buster's other than it was the first tenant in the newly subdivided building and that according to several commenters on the Steak & Ale closing, the chef, Sig Buster, started at Fresh Pastabilities in the Forest Park (Piggly WIggly) shopping center on the other side of Trenholm, and opened Buster's Bistro after closing that.

The place is not listed in the 2008 phonebook, and so would have closed during or before 2007.

UPDATE 16 June 2022: Adding tags and map icon.

I finally got around to taking some pictures of The Village Tavern. This place was on Berryhill road, which is a frontage road on the north side of I-20, starting at Bush River Road and going east. I did not take it all the way to the other end, but it seems a fairly quiet road with very little traffic (though there is, of course a constant rumble from I-20 itself).

The area where the tavern building sits is quite pleasant. Visibility of I-20 is mostly screened by vegetation, and the tavern plot is very lush and grassy with Stoop Creek running behind the building, under a Berryhill Road bridge, I-20 and eventually into the Saluda River.

The tall neon sign at the edge of the property was the only part visible from I-20, and I would see it for years as I drove past either on errands in town, or on my way back to Aiken. Somehow I never got around to checking the place out while it was still open though.

Commenter Walt wrote this back in February:

I hope they found another place!

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I wrote about this place before, or at least it's main building when I did a closing for Piggly Wiggly Store 62. After The Pig closed, the building became a Gold's Gym which with this demolition moves to the old Sofa Express slot at Sandhill (apparently with plans for the old Ashley Furniture Homestore storefront as well).

As of Sunday 20 June 2010, the site is in sort of an odd state. From the front it almost appears untouched, but most of the back side has already been completely gutted or torn down, leaving the facade as sort of a potemkin shopping center.

According to commenter "mg", Dick Smith Nissan will be locating here eventually.

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I've writen before about The Shrimper on Knox Abbott Drive. This was the chain's other location, on Two Notch Road in front of Atlantic Twin Theater and more or less across the street from Dick Dyer Toyota.

The Southern Bell ad is from 1974 -- I'm not really sure when The Shrimper closed; 1980s is just a guess, but it seems like quite a while ago to me. The building was split into two storefronts after that. I'm not sure about the one farther from Beltline, but the end towards Beltline has been a copier store at least since 1998, and probably before (though it looks to have had some trouble lately).

I note that the ad offers Calabash Style seafood. It seems to me that that's a selling point I see mentioned less and less in recent years.

UPDATE 9 June 2010: Added "Lum's Restaurant" to the post title base on comments (and the 1970 Yellow Pages).

UPDATE 18 September 2020: Here is a Shrimper cup I found at my sister's house:

Also updating tags and adding map icon.

I wish Zorba's Express in Irmo were closer to home so I could get out there for pizza more often, but last time I did, I noticed that this nearby storefront in the same Publix plaza was now vacant.

Judging from the google hits, Kwik Kopy seemed to offer the same range of services as The UPS Store or FedEx Office. I wonder if the copying business is taking hits from home printers and electronic documents. I vividly remember the first time I used a copy center (it was kind of a new concept then) to make a copy of The Lions' Book. It took hours and cost me a considerable chunk of my nearly non-existent college-student cash. Today, someone would just download the PDF..

UPDATE 7 June 2010: Changed post closing date from 2010 to 2009 based on comments.

UPDATE 15 March 2022: Updating tags and adding map icon.

This motel is a landmark which has existed for all of my life, but which I never (in memory) saw until 2006. This motel is on the east side of US-17, just south of Gullie's Shell station, and north of the Georgetown credit union. To say that by 2006 I had driven this stretch of road more than a few times understates it a bit, but I never had the least clue that there were buildings just off the road -- the whole place was so overgrown as to be completely invisible. Apparently the lot was partially cleared late in 2005, and when I was down that winter, I had quite a What the heck did I just drive by? moment as I passed by the first time after that.

Graphitti in a concrete slab at the old office building dates this place to early 1956, and the fixtures all have that mid 50s look as well. In fact, the bathroom tile looks a good bit like what I have at home which is almost exactly the same vintage. I have no idea what happened to the place. It certainly wasn't (and isn't) uncommon for Grand Strand businesses to fail, and the south strand was very isolated and non-commercialized for quite a while. For years the abandoned cabins of another motel sat at the South Causeway of Pawleys Island, more or less where the Food Lion now is. In fact for years, the only motel south of Murrells Inlet was the Quality Inn Seagull -- most people then and now rented houses to vacation in the area.

The whole area is being further cleared now, all the way back to the marsh. I suspect work would have started sooner after the initial clearing of the motel except for the economy. At any rate, I suspect the whole thing will be houses before too long, and I fully expect the motel to be knocked down before the year is out. (I've already got my shower handle, to go with my other one from Douglas.)

If anyone knows what the motel was called, when it closed, or why it closed, sound off!

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Well, this is the second Tuesday Morning to close in the last serveral years. Of course events now seem to suggest that the first one I wrote about at Trenholm Plaza probably was a casualty of the up-scaling of that venue rather than any inate problems (based on a classy restaurant being put into that spot, and Tuesday Morning opening a new location just a few blocks down the street).

I doubt Spring Valley Commons is upscaling (at least not as long as there is "self storage" in the old theater slot), but I guess time will tell if we see another Tuesday Morning in the same general area. I have finally been in a couple of Tuesday Mornings, and it strikes me as a store you would not have reason to visit very often, so it seems to me that each store would take a pretty large population to sustain one.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew).

UPDATE 2 March 2023: Updating tags and adding map icon.

I had noticed several times that this very interesting building on Millwood was vacant, but somehow never got around to taking any pictures until recently. This is the former location for Shandon Florist, an 80 year old area stalwart which has since moved to 2733 Millwood Avenue.

This real estate listing (which also has an aerial photo) says the building was built in 1962, and in a few of these shots it appears to me that there might be some roof issues which might have factored into the move. Still, I quite like the building. It seems to draw on the same period inspirations that went into the old Eggroll Station and Silver City buildings.

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