Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Paint and sip studio where guests drink wine and create art with guidance from artist-entertainers.

That's the come-on for Painting With A Twist, and it's a pretty good one.

According to their retirement announcement, the folks running this one had been doing so for more than nine years.

Hopefully they have time to get in some painting of their own now.

This little plaza which was formerly anchored by a Bi-Lo and now by a Trader Joe's seems to be doing pretty well, so I doubt this spot will be vacant for long.

(Hat tip to commenter Ellen)

I believe the first tenant in this spot after it was built was Bruster's Real Ice Cream, but Hibachi Express has been there quite a while now. I hope it will be there in the future, but the place appears pretty well gutted by the Saturday morning two-alarm fire.

The restaurant was open at the time, but luckily all the crew and customers are safe. So far the cause of the fire is unknown. You can read about it at The Post & Courier or The State or see video at WLTX or WIS.

(Hat tip to Mr. Guy)

I believe this Harbison building first featured here as a Toys-R-Us, but now it's another Value City Furniture closing due to the chain's bankruptcy. As of last week, they were down to 50% off.

I don't recommend going anywhere this weekend, but there may be some deals left next week.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

As reported by The State, the Clutch Coffee chain has been bought out by Dutch Bros coffee (which is apparently quite large, though I had never heard of them), and the local Clutch outlets will be closed to remodel & retool before coming back as Dutch Bros locations.

This one, in Lexington is by the former Sonic location, which itself is apparently retooling to become an ice-cream shop.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I probably have enough furniture to last me out, so I don't know much about Sugar Creek, but they seem to have been well reviewed, and you can see their archived web site here.

This storefront featured here before as a Jewelry Warehouse location.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I believe I have only been in a Captain D's once, at a family event, where I ended up getting the corn-on-the-cob side item since I am not a seafood lover.

At one time, Captain D's & Shoney's were under the same ownership, and they tended to locate the two restaurants close to each other. This was the case on Two Notch and Garners Ferry, and was also the case here. In the event the Shoney's pairing with this Captain D's was closed in 2012, razed, and rebuilt as a Cook Out.

This store soldiered on for 13 more years after its partner succumbed, so that is some stick-toit-iveness.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

This Walgreens stands on the site of the old Cedar Terrace Pharmacy, which was torn down to build an Eckerds which was rebranded as a Rite Aid and finally as Walgreens. At the end of the day, I can see why the chain chose to close this location: It's not their current design, and is not too far from several other branches. That said, I'm not sure why they are transferring prescriptions to 7801 Garners Ferry, when it seems to me that the Devine Street location would be closer and more likely convenient to those customers.

When I think of this store, I remember this iconic signage from a few years ago which manages to encapsulate the straight-forwardness & transparency of the US health care system:

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I have been in this store, in the Two Notch Walmart plaza, several times buying computer equipment. As I recall, I got a complete desktop system here once, and the last time I was in got some cables for my KVM setup. In the event, I ended up buying the wrong ones, and they gave me a no-hassle return experience.

The chain was recently bought and taken private, and just got a new CEO. I get the impression they have had some troubles, but are not on the ropes, despite closing this store. We will see. In the meantime, there is still a location at Dutch Square.

Value City Furniture is a brand of American Signature. In trouble for a while, the chain filed for Chapter 11 in November of 2025, hoping to find a buyer to continue operating the stores. When none materialized, the company decided it had no choice but to liquidate and cease operations.

You can read about it here, and here as well as the Wikipedia link above.

The Sandhill location is interesting, in that it featured here as Sofa Express in a closing from the site's first couple of month's existence. Ironicaly, Sofa Express also went Chapter 11 and ceased to exist. That bankruptcy, along with the closing of the original Ashley Furniture Homestore incarnation were big blows to the fledgling Village At Sandhill along with the general crash of 2008, and the development never really recovered.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

I first knew this place as Frank-N-Stein, a monster-themed casual restaurant. That was followed by The Stadium Steak House and the first Columbia establishment to bear the name Twin Peaks, though the view was a bit more liberal there than at the current holder of the name.

I want to say Millennium came in sometime in the '80s -- at any rate they had been there quite a while.

Now the place, like seemingly every other address within miles, is to become student housing.

You can read about it in The State or The Post & Courier.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Bill)

UPDATE 22 January 2026: Actually the place had not been there as long as I thought. As several people point out in the comments, the Millennium name reflects the fact that the Buffet opened around that time.