Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Driving by the other day, I noticed some activity at this building, and there was a service truck working there today as well, so apparently something will be going in there, though the property still seems to be up for sale.

The same link says the building was built in 1988, so with Southtrust apparently moving out in 1999, it was a bank for ten years. After that, though I'm not sure it was directly after that, some sort of computer business named SimplyConnected moved in and then moved to Parklane. I don't know why SouthTrust moved out originally, but by 2004 they had been bought by Wachovia, which has itself now been bought out by Wells Fargo.

The property is on a busy segment of Two Notch near the Alpine intersection, but is a little hard to get in and out of if you are headed east (though you can go down behind the place to get over to Alpine and the stop-light). I suspect banking industry conditions had more to do with the initial closure though.

Until fairly recently (by my standards..) there were two open air markets in the Northeast area. I've written about the one on Two Notch road near Home Depot (though it burned down before that was built) here.

The other one was on Decker almost at the intersection with Percival Road and continued for some years after the other one was gone, and I'm not sure what finally did it in though it can't have helped that Decker had several major grocery stores on it.

The way I recall it is that it was very "produce" oriented, and that the fresh vegetables were out front under a sort of shed structure which is now gone. You couldn't really call it a building, and it was not air-conditioned. I believe there was a real building behind the produce area though I'm not sure it was the one currently housing the auto-tint operation. I don't think we went to this place often if at all growing up, though I do recall stopping there several times on my own to pick up Vidalia onions for sandwiches.

I think the synagogue in Arcadia lakes hosts a farmers' market now, and I believe there is an open air market farther out Two Notch towards Big Lots, but you really don't see this type of place around Columbia much anymore.

I'm not sure when this place closed, so I don't know if it took a hit in the recent economy, or went before that. The web-site mentioned in the sign is already gone. All in all, like running a restaurant, I'm afraid running a used car lot seems to be a good way to end up on this site.

I don't really know anything about Gamecock Country, but I was at a karate graduation in this building recently, and thought it must have originally been something else. A bit of googling shows that the building has apparently changed hands twice in the last two years. Google also suggests that Gamecock Country was a sporting goods store.

UPDATE 6 Sep 2009: Added Smith's Hardware to post title based on the comments.

Taco Bell continues to retire its "old style" south-western looking stores for larger new stores. This one is on Broad River Road just to the south of the abandonded Pizza Hut.

It's interesting that they've left so many of the fixtures inside the old store, but on the other hand, what are they going to do with them? They don't fit the concept at the new store.

Although I'm not realy sure what the Taco Bell concept is anymore. I guess they have a small niche between places like Moe's, Qdoba and Chipolte and table-service Mexican restaurants, but I'd much rather have Moe's on the fast-food end and go to a table-service place if it's more than a burrito.

The new store is visible in the last picture and is 1928 Broad River road, though further down the street than the adjacent numbering would lead you to believe.

UPDATE 24 September 2011 -- Now open as Atlantic Seafood Restaurant:

I'm not sure when the Richland Mall Theater was built. I can remember going to movies before it was built (specifically at The Atlantic Twin and various theaters on Main Street), and my coherent memories start around 1965, so it can't have been built too long before the first picture I saw there 1968's "Oliver!". What I most remember about that movie is that it seemed interminable to a seven-year-old. IMDB clocks it at two hours 33 minutes, so I'm not surprised I felt that way -- I expect I'd feel that way now too!

The theater was on an outparcel of the "original" open-air Richland Mall. I recall it as more or less at the section of the parking lot fartherest down Beltline from Forest Drive, but I've been wrong here before about the original Richland Mall orientation vs the orientation of the current mall. I think it was more or less where Bank of America and the empty Black Lion building now are, as shown in the second picture, but I could be mistaken.

The layout of the theater was a central ticket window with doors on both sides, a central concession counter and a corridor to each screen at the left and right sides of the lobby. I say 'each' screen, there were only two -- though at the time even two was an innovation. As you can see from the ad in the 15 April 1973 issue of The State the theater was a "Rocking Chair" theater, and this figured heavily into their initial advertising. What this actually meant was that the seats were more thickly padded than "regular" theater seats, and they did indeed have springs such that you could rock them frontwards and backwards a certain extent -- and of course a certain number of kids were always going to be obnoxious about that! (The Palmetto at 1417 Main Street was also a "Rocking Chair" theater -- I expect it shared ownership with the Richland Mall Theater).

The whole "rocking chair" bit paled for me though. What I was always interested in was the theater's "time capsule". This was a bronze plaque set into the concrete of the theater's right-hand sidewalk. It was engraved to say when it was buried and when it was to be opened. I don't remember the date set for exhumation, but I assume it was probably 50 years after the theater opened, so around 2018. I was an avid science fiction reader, but somehow I couldn't even imagine a date that far into the future that involved me personally. In the event, it turns out I'm doing much better than the theater, and though of course you never know, I fully expect to be here in 2018, but the time capsule is long since gone. I don't really remember when the theater was razed to make way for Richland Fashion Mall, but I suspect that it was after I left town in 1985. Otherwise, I think I would have heard what happened to the time capsule. I'm sure it must have been dug up, but whether they opted to open it at that time or to continue to wait, I don't know.

Although I saw a good number of first-run movies at the theaters over the years, I think the bulk of my experience with them came through their summer kids' matinees. The idea was that a) it gets really hot in South Carolina in the summer, b) moms get really tired of having the kids around all day during the summer and c) we could use some matinee business at the concession stands. What Richland Mall (and other theaters) would do was have kid-oriented second-run movies every weekday during the summer for a nominal price (say, $1.00). Moms would drop their kids off (unsupervised!) at the theater and shop Richland Mall while they were out of their hair, the kids would get to see a fun movie and have lots of Milk Duds and popcorn out of the heat, and the theater would get to rake in concession sales during normally idle time.

Some movies I specifically recall seeing this way were Alkazam the Great (a US dubbed [Frankie Avalon!] version of the classic Chinese "Monkey King" story), The Apple Dumpling Gang, Blue Water, White Death (the precursor to today's "Shark Week".., and a bit strong for the kiddies, really..) and The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (a now forgotten Disney flick that I loved!).

These programs still exist in some form during the summer, but as most moms work now and most households have air-conditioning, it's just not the same.

I'm trying to think what the last show I saw at the Richland Mall Theaters was. I'm not sure, but it could have been a midnight-movie showing of Peter Falk's classic The In Laws ("Serpentine, Shep! Serpentine!").

The new Richland Fashion Mall did (and does) have theaters on the top deck, but I don't believe they are related to the original Richland Mall Theaters. (And if they were, they aren't now, having changed ownership at least once, from "Litchfield" to "Regal").

"Please sir, I want some more."

UPDATE 3 Sept 2010: Commenter Dennis sends this link which has information about and pictures of a number of old Columbia theaters, including this picture of Richland Mall.

UPDATE 21 June 2010: Added [at top] pictures of Richland Mall Theater and a Richland Mall view with the theater in the distance from an old Chamber of Commerce promotional book.

These are the kind of businesses I notice off and on over the years, and if I think about them at all, wonder how they are making a living, until one day I notice that they are not anymore. These adjoining lots are on Percival Road, just east of Decker Boulevard.

The story, at least for the Upholstery shop seems to be a sad one, of the parents passing away, and the children not being able to carry on the business. I'm not clear on what the story of the little drive-in was as it was not detailed in the County Zoning hearing minutes which are online here. Apparently nobody even knew the name of the place.

The hearing seems to have focused on keeping the property commercial. The businesses had been operating on residential property as grandfathered operations, and when the business licenses lapsed, the ability to locate a business there did also. In this case it seems to me pretty much a no-brainer, and apparently it was approved. Both properties are now for sale, and time will tell what locates there.

Also, an interesting tid-bit came up in google when I was searching for the street addresses and "Duanne Warr", who was associated with the action somehow. As it turns out, in the minutes, he spoke for the proposed buyer of the property apparently as a realtor, but it appears he was once a Columbia heavy metal rocker cutting

One of the most insane records ever made!

UPDATE 7 June 2014 -- Commenter Sidney points out that the drive-in building has been razed, and so it has:

UPDATE 10 October 2016 -- The old drive-in lot is now about to be Tacos Nayarit Mexican Grill:

Looks like the big bad wolf has been at the door of Champ McGee's Little Pigs Barbeque and has blown the place down for a while. I'm no fan of barbecue myself and have never been there, but one of my cousins swears by this place.

The State says this is the second time the place has been laid low by fire. The first time sounds really bizarre:

The first fire happened after a homeless person crawled under the store and started a fire to keep warm. The fire soon got out of control and burned the restaurant down.

.

This time, McGee is guessing he can reopen the place in two months. Maybe he should go the third-little-pig route and rebuild in brick..

UPDATE 10 March 2010 -- They're back!