Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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This Dunkin' Donuts storefront, to go into the old Capitol Cafe site, was announced with more than a bit of fanfare in The State on 24 June 2008.

Since that's about a year and a half ago, and since there has been no apparent work done at the site since the sign went up, I think it's fair to conclude that this is not going to happen..

UPDATE 26 Jan 2011 -- Well, all the Dunkin' branding is gone, and work has progressed. It's got some fancy looking hanging lights in there, but whenever I tried to get a closer look at what was going on inside, I got dripped all over from some sort of overhead leak:

Club Kryptonite was in what is actually one of the more normal looking buildings in its section of US-17 Bypass (just north of Broadway At The Beach) in Myrtle Beach. Sure it is somewhat cylindrical, has huge torches and a comic-book logo on the front, but it's not a pyramid like the nearby Hard Rock Cafe or a really awkward looking sphere like the next-door Planet Hollywood.

I would hear the Club Kryptonite commercials from time to time on the radio at the beach, and they always made it sound like a really hip, risque, happening, appealing place, except for the fact that I'm years past the target demo, don't dance, hardly drink, don't much like loud techno or hip-hop and get stopped up if there's any smoke in the air... Still I wouldn't have minded seeing the inside.

Looking at the club's fossil web page and various fliers one thing that is somewhat surprising is that there is no mention of any connection with DC Comics. It's obvious that the club's logo is meant to invoke Superman's chest shield and, of course, Kryptonite is the fictional substance that is Superman's one weakness (OK, he's also vulnerable to magic, but that's not as widely known..). Obviously the club couldn't use the famous "S" logo without permission, but apparently DC neglected to ever trademark the word "Kryptonite". (I actually think the spelling "Klub Kryptonite" would have worked a little better, appropos to nothing).

According to the Myrtle Beach Sun News, Halloween 2009 was the club's last gasp:

I believe that this is the final radio ad and that this is the final promotion:

More pictures and audio after the jump..

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I never ate at this San Jose on US-1 near the I-20 interchange. Firstly, it's not near anywhere I usually am, and secondly (and more importantly..) it looked pretty suspect as far as quality goes.

At first I assumed it had just gone under (and was somewhat surprised at all the stuff left inside), but driving down the road towards I-20, I found a very nice looking new San Jose restaurant, so I assume it moved to the new building though there are so many San Jose places in Columbia that I can't swear it's the same operation.

UPDATE 16 Jan 2010: Commenter JB says this used to be The Oak Grove Superette, so I've added that to the post title.

UPDATE 4 March 2010 -- Here's the new San Jose building:

UPDATE 20 Jan 2011: Added "The Carolina Grill" to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 20 May 2021: Adding map icon and updating tags.

UPDATE 25 January 2023: Add tag.

I don't have much more to say about this Blockbuster (on Two Notch near Polo Road) closing that I didn't already say at the recent Decker Blockbuster closing, other than that this one is taking its own sweet time to wind things down. It seems like its been in "closeout sale" status for over a month now. (I say "now", I haven't driven by in a couple weeks, so it may in fact be gone at this point).

Meanwhile, I suspect we will see more Blockbuster closings here this year:

Blockbuster CFO Thomas Casey said closures of underperforming stores is supported by the fact that just 35% of Blockbuster stores generate about 80% of pre-tax earnings.

Speaking Jan. 12 at an investor event in New York, Casey said about 25% of a closed store’s revenue is transferred to other area Blockbuster locations. Blockbuster currently operates about 3,600 stores, with plans to shrink that number to 3,200 stores this year, while expanding Blockbuster Express kiosk operations.

“We’re pleased with the performance of our store-closing program,” Casey said.

UPDATE 5 October 2020: Changing the post title name from "Blockbuster" to "Blockbuster Video". Updating tags. Adding map icon.

It took me a while to figure out what this building was since I didn't get any street number in these pictures. I finally tracked it down through the realty sign, and find that this spot on Fernandina Road near the former Camping World and former Outdoor RV & Marine World was once Columbia Business Equipment.

It appears that sometime in 2005 they moved their Columbia operations to 5123 Bush River Road, and added a Charleston branch, leading them to take the now more appropriate name Carolina Busness Equipment.

Google doesn't pull up any other tenants at 3770, so apparently the building has been vacant for five years now.

I mentioned the situation of the Economy Inn on Briargate Circle in passing in my closing for The Delhi Palace Indian restaurnt which moved from the Inn to Saint Andrews Road.

To recap briefly, the place had gotten into a really odd state, and the original Lobby and meeting rooms in the front building by the restaurant had fallen into disuse and genteel disrepair. Oddly instead of combating this, the hotel had decided to lease the area to a church and remodel an area in the guest room building as a new lobby.

I don't know if it was triggered by Delhi Palace moving out and leaving the front building entirely unused or some other consideration, but the place has dropped the Economy Inn affiliation, and is now a Rodeway Inn & Suites (though you can still see the Economy Inn branding on the new lobby area for now.

We could use a little bit of that right about now..

I have never found a sub place I like as well as Dagwood's Deli in Surfside Beach. Most other sub places feel very down-market with indifferently bussed, hard, booths and the feeling that you're meant to wolf your sub and bolt the premises. It's been several years, but I recall the only Quiznos I've ever been in (in Arlington VA) the same way, and was not impressed.

Be that as it may, this Quizno in Five Points is now history, the latest of several fairly short lived operations in the Harden Street storefront.

I don't remember the Bad Ass Coffee Company at all, but apparently it received an SBA loan in December 2005 to set up business at 817. I do think I vaguely recall seeing the other recent business there, The Just Fresh Bakery Cafe & Market, but never stopped by. It will be interesting to see what goes in next.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

UPDATE 10 Jan 2010: Added "Manhatten Bagel" to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 11 May 2010: Updated the post title to change "Quiznos Subs" to "Quiznos Sub". Interestingly (or not), in this post I remember my experience with Quiznos in the DC area as "not impressed" while today I recalled it much more positively. They say the memory is the first thing to, um what were we talking about?