Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I thought about going to Norton a few times, but they weren't open on Saturday, and Best Buy was, so that was the deciding factor there. I was a bit surprised to notice that there was a closing sign on the door (which I thought I took a picture of) saying they were shutting down temporarily due to COVID-19, but when I did a google search, I found that the building went on the market in October.

As far as I know the Broad River Road location is still open.

UPDATE 22 March 2021 -- Here are the pictures of the door sign I mentioned:

According to commenter JamesR, all the Frank's locations were acquired by Tire Engineers but before they could fully convert to that branding, Tire Engineers was bought by Mavis. There is a bit more information here.

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)

I can't find out anything about this Sandhill Stride Rite shoe location except that it is no longer listed on the company's website, although I did learn that Sperry is a Stride Rite brand, which I had not known before.

Since I can find no other information, I'm going to list the closing date as 2020 under the assumption they might have been victims of the lockdowns.

When I went out to get pictures of the new PK BBQ location, and of the old Bi-Lo, I drove by Goodfellas on the way. I did not realize at the time that they had just recently moved to 630 Hwy 378 and had previously been in the current PK BBQ storefront. Judging by google reviews, the move took place some time around May of 2020 and when I went back to get these pictures, it appeared they are doing quite a good business in the new location.

(Hat tip to commenter Andy)

I can't find anything in the local media about this Jos A. Banks location in Sandhill, but going by the google reviews, it closed sometime around August of 2020. The chain has had some difficulty lately, but the parent company, which also owns Mens Warehouse has Just exited Chapter 11, so perhaps things are on the upswing.

There are two remaining Banks in the Midlands, one in Harbison, and one at Trenholm Plaza.

While I was checking out Bi-Lo, I noticed that this Hibachi storefront in the same plaza was vacant. I can't find out much about it -- there is only one Yelp review, but I'm going to guess it was another COVID-19 casualty.

My Gym was on a Sandhill endcap, on the Lowes wing. The last review I can find for them is about a year ago, so I am pretty sure this is another business closing we can chalk up to COVID-19.

This is the same suite that was originally home to The Grilled Cheese Company.

I thought I was done with Bi-Lo closings, but as commenter Andrew reminded me, I had missed this one in West Columbia just East of I-26. I can only recall stopping at this store once when it was Bi-Lo. I was driving through late at night and for some reason got a hankering for cinnamon rolls, the kind that come in the little aluminum trays with the white frosting on top. I don't think I've bought any since then, but they did hit the spot.

I get the impression that KJ's is using the IGA infrastructure to build their own brand. This one, unlike the one near the flea market, doesn't even have the IGA logo on the front, though I did see IGA products on the shelves. I didn't buy anything, but it looked fine inside, probably a notch above Food Lion.

The plaza where this store is located is unusual in that it doesn't seem to have a name.

For some reason, I thought I had already done a closing for Justice, but I don't see it, and none of the facts I just googled seem familiar, so I guess not!

Anyway, Justice was a tween girl brand with a bit of a complicated history. It was started by The Limited as Limited Too, and was then bought by Dress Barn. Ascena Retail Group, the follow-on name for Dress Barn after a reorg, went bankrupt in 2020, and this affected Catherines stores, some Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor Factory and Justice stores.

The Justice brand was then bought by Bluestar Alliance LLC but the final stores closed on 17 December 2020. The brand now seems to be owned by Justice Brand Holdings LLC, but the web site simply says to "Stay tuned" for future developments..

I have been holding off doing a post on Deno's because it wasn't clear exactly what their status is; however, at this point they are clearly closed for a long-term, if not forever, despite the fact that there is no real-estate sign, and all of the furnishings and equipment are still in the building.

Somehow I had it in my head that Deno's was a seafood restaurant, and so never went. Looking online now, I think I clearly would have liked the place. The last review I see on their Facebook page (which has not updated since 2014) is from February of 2020, so I think clearly COVID-19 was an issue here, and the roadside sign does mention that they were open for takeout for some time into the pandemic.

(Hat tip to commenter Barbara)

UPDATE 17 August 2021 -- The sign has been patched, but not re-logoed:

UPDATE 15 November 2023: Update tags.