Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I remember this Krispy Kreme going back to high school days in the late 1970s. Lately it has seemed not to be open as late as the one near the former Myrtle Square Mall or the one in North Myrtle Beach, and I hadn't been in for a while. It was still a bit of a disappointment to see it closed and all papered over last December.

The Sun News says it actually closed in October. The company didn't provide them a reason, but it's not too far from other location I mentioned, so I suspect given traffic and staffing, it probably was just not worth it to them to keep it open.

According to this brief Columbia Star article, the Katie & Irwin Kahn Jewish Community Center opened to the general public in September of 2005. I get the impression from the writeup that the facility existed before that, perhaps associated with a particular local Jewish congregation. The center still has a web page here.

According to The State, Richland County purchased the center in December of 2024, and opened it as Richland County Wellness Center in the same month. The Wellness Center Page is here.

I'm not sure why The State article shows a proper sign on the building while when I drove by, there appeared to still be a temporary county banner over the original logo.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

Tropical Grille followed Smashburger into this endcap when the burger chain closed here in 2019. I wasn't sure exactly what the theme of Tropical Grille was, but they characterize themselves with:

Savor the rich, authentic flavors of Cuban and Latin-inspired cuisine at Tropical Grille.

which sound pretty good (if a bit chicken-y for me).

Looking at their website, it's an upstate South Carolina chain with 9 other locations, this one having been the only one here in the Midlands after the Main Street location closed in 2012.
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I like the mascot!

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

This storefront featured here back in 2010 when it ceased being a Food Lion, with Big Lots having moved in by September of 2011. Now with the ongoing Big Lots implosion, it will be vacant again in the near future.

According to WLTX Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary merged with Hickory North Carolina's Lenoir-Rhyne University back in 2012, in a move which locals expected to strengthen the Columbia campus, but which in the end has resulted in it merging with the new parent and moving to Hickory itself. One local pastor quoted by WLTX expects the move to exacerbate an ongoing local pastor shortage especially as graduates will now tend to end up in the North Carolina synod.

According to The State, the move was to be made by 1 January of 2025. When I drove through on 9 February there didn't seem to be anybody around though clearly the buildings had not been emptied and there was still a quirky vehicle on the grounds.

Also according to The State as of mid-December the property had not yet been listed, though Lenoir-Rhyne does expect to sell it.

(Hat tip to commenter george011210)

This Big Lots has had the closing sale going on since December, so I'm just guessing at the final closing date here, but I did go inside last weeken, and they are pretty much down to the walls. All the merchandise has been moved to the front rows with the back of the store completely empty, and even the restrooms closed down.

I had not noticed that this Truist branch was closed until recently. For various historical reasons (ie: Southern National) I have a Truist Visa, but have rarely if ever needed to go into a branch, and I have been going to the Killian Road Panera since the one next door to this lot started going downhill. I finally did notice it when I came out to take some Party City pictures.

Somewhat surprisingly to me, despite the fact that the next tenant is also a bank (Founders Credit Union) the building has been completely gutted, the landscaping has been torn up and the earth turned and trenches (for cables?) have been cut in the parking lot. It looks like quite a bit of work before Founders will be able to open.

I know I ate in this place once in 2024. I thought it was fine, nothing special, but certainly not bad. Given that Google reviews say it has been closed for around 7 months, I guess that must have been in the Spring or Summer of last year.

I'm a little fuzzy on the history of this place. I know it was a D's Wings, a Casa Linda and an El Patron before this, but I think I may have missed another Mexican restaurant somewhere in the rotation.

I do find the name a bit interesting as I associate Garibaldi with the foundation of modern Italy, not Mexico.

I noticed this vacant space in Columbiana Centre on my recent visit to check out the Forever 21 closing. It's a fairly generic name and google does not turn up any information about this particular storefront that I can see, so about all I can say is that it was there, and now it's not. Given the size perhaps it was a nail spa.

Since the sign is still up I suspect it hasn't been gone that long, so I'm just going with a "2024" date.

This FedEx Office location has moved from this outparcel in the Target wing of Columbiana Station to another outparcel of Columbiana Centre next to Wells Fargo and across from Men's Warehouse.

I never went to this particular location, but in general have found Kinkos/FedEx to be a bit more convenient than the competitor UPS locations. I print odds and ends from PDF at the Forest Drive location fairly often.

Not sure exactly what would go in here next. It's not set up as as restaurant, so that limits it a bit.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)