Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Here is one where I just kept misplacing the pictures over and over. I observed back in 2013, when the first photos were taken, that this McDonald's on the Charleston Highway near the junctions with I-26 & I-77 still had the boxy kids' play area architecture. Since I like that look and knew that the chain was phasing it out, I took some pictures. And, indeed, at some point after that, they remodeled and dropped that look completely. The problem was I kept taking pictures of the new look and forgetting to do anything with them while they were still near the top of the stack. Finally when I did the Lazy Llama closing I took some more and remembered before I lost track again.

I have to admit I have not really eaten at a McDonald's in years, but they do now have a quite good cup of coffee.

Well it's back out to Shops At Risdon for this closing. I don't know anything about Andrew's Jewelry, but it looks to be in the final stages of a going-out-of business sale. Actually as these were taken late last month, they be done by now.

Before we picked out The Parthenon as our favorite, my father and I used to go to the location of The Villa which was in the building that now houses Pawley's Front Porch. After that, I kind of lost track of it, as Bush River Road was a good distance to drive at that time. I did get out to that location once later, and found the food and service to be good, but for some reason I just felt antsy in the dining room with no windows anywhere and I did not go back.

Recently they have announced that they are closing and that 22 December 2021 will be the last day, and reported in this ColaDaily story. As of this writing, that is next Wednesday, so you still have a few days to catch up with them if you like.

(Hat tips to commenters Heath & Ed)

I'm not sure if Lazy LLama is a chain, but there do seem to be a number of coffee shops around the country with that name, or slight variations. This one was in the old Piggly Wiggly plaza on the Charleston Highway at Fish Hatchery Road. The plaza is called Cayce Crossing, and the store name has "Cayce" in it, but the street address is actually West Columbia.

Interestingly, the follow-on operation is also a coffee shop with an animal name: Koffee Koala.

Also, I just checked the map icon to see if it were correct, and the image Google Maps brings up tells me that not too long ago, Lexington Dry Cleaning was in this slot, so I am adding it to the post title as well.

(Hat tip to commenter Robin)

This Synovus out on Garners Ferry Road is on the countdown now for a closure in Mid-January next year. Commenter Joe Shlabotnik notes that the suggested alternate location for this branch's customers is quite a drive from here. I suspect many people will make other arrangements.

(Hat tip to Joe Shlabotnik)

Commenter Tom mentioned that this Irmo Corner Pantry Exxon at the I-26 Peak exit had been torn down for the ongoing road work in the area. By the time I got to the area, there was really nothing left to see, but you can view the old building at this LoopNet listing and by clicking through to old images in Google Streetview.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

I noticed the other day that this cellphone shop on Two Notch up towards Sandhill was vacant, and I don't have a lot more to say about it than that.

This building, next to the old Limelight (etc) on Berryhill Road was not really on my radar, and I could not have told you what it looked like or indeed, probably if it were there at all. However when commenter Gypsie mentioned that it had been razed, I was able to find out that it was called the William M. Mackie, Jr. Interstate Center and find a picture of it in this old LoopNet page. There are also pictures in Google Streetview, and that establishes that the LoopNet picture is taken from the back, where all the parking and the main entrance was. The front view was pretty non-descript.

The only business I find that was definitely in the building was Vision Property Management which was in Suite 200. Their web page is just parked now, so it's not clear to me that they are still around (and acording to the BBB, they may have had some problems).

With the building gone, it's a pretty good sized lot, but there is no indication of what is next (though I assume nobody would spend the money to knock it down without some plan going forward).

Appropos to nothing, Google Maps seems to think this is "Berryhill Drive", but I'm pretty sure "Berryhill Road" is correct.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

UPDATE 18 February 2022 -- Commenter Andrew points to this interesting DOT video about using the building for Fire Fighter training before the demolition:

I took the opportunity Saturday to make my annual trip to Brookgreen Gardens and the Nights Of A Thousand Candles Christmas display. This year was quite warm for a December night, unlike some years in the past, and it was very pleasant to be out and about under the trees with all the lights and candles.

As usual, the big picture stays the same: sculpture, trees & lights, but the details change yearly. This year, I think there was more going on in the Children's Garden for instance, and less in The Fountain of the Muses. I also think that they took some cues from last year's Bruce Munroe installation, which I liked quite a bit, especially in the riverbank area which rather combined the ideas from his frog display and his firefly display in a way.

One very noticable change was that the popular "Holiday Memories & Trains" exhibit has moved across the main concourse to the Rosen Galleries, leaving the old space as a members' lounge.

Though some of the remaining nights are sold out, if you can Read the rest of this entry »

This building, at the corner of Two Notch & Beltline, was originally an Eckerd Drugs, and then a Rite Aid. After Rite Aid closed, a pediatric deltal operation called Small Smiles moved in. According to what I can find, this national chain got into trouble and went Chapter 7 in 2015.

At some point after that, Capital City Dentistry set up here, and fairly recently moved up the street into the old Enterprise Rent-A-Car building:

Looking at the outside damage, it looks to me like a good deal of work is needed before anyone else can move into this building, but according to the real estate sign, it *is* leased, so apparently somebody is going to make the effort.

UPDATE 28 January 2022 -- As reported in the comments, this building has now been razed to make way for a Murphy Express: