Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I seem to end up taking Pinestraw to Fontaine to I-20 quite a bit, and would notice this little book and gift shop from time to time as I started angling for the left turn lane. A while ago I noticed that I wasn't noticing it..

The property is sandwiched between Satchel Ford and Two Notch just past Mr. Muffler and semi-across from Rogers Car Stereo in a hilly lot that is a little hard to get in and out of. I took a closer shot somewhere, and will add it when it turns up, but my memory is that Suite-D is the far right slot in the building.

I did a closing for this building a while back starting as Antonio's Restaurant and going through a number of different nightclubs and strip clubs.

At the time I made that post, the building seemed to be operating as Club Ego (despite the Studio 54 sign still being up). Since that time, Club Ego apparently shut down, and Club Colorz opened and shut.

I'm putting the closing date for Club Colorz as December 2010 because the flyers posted by the door talk about Christmas events (though I am not nearly hip enough to understand the contests being described), but not New Years events.

The building still has power, and is lighted nightly, so I presume there will be a new club by and by.

UPDATE 4 September 2011 -- It's now Laguna Sports Bar:

I noticed this building a few weeks ago when I saw the realty sign, and really couldn't ever remember seeing it before though it has obviously been there for years.

There doesn't seem to be a street number anywhere on the front of it, and looking for the realtor info seems to lead to it being part of the adjacent Grice's property, which I'm pretty sure is wrong as my mother took me to Grice's a number of times and I don't remember any larger building being involved.

It has a large antenna attached, so it may have possibly been a dispatch location at one time. Any ideas?

UPDATE 20 June 2011: Commenter JB turned up the address for this lot, so I have changed the post title to give it as 1943 Huger Street rather than just "SW Corner of Huger & Senate". Also, with that address I have been able to turn up a bit more info and have added two businesses to the post title instead of just "Building".

First, here is the LoopNet sale listing indicating that the property is being sold as a warehouse.

Next, here is a link from the Secretary of State indicating that this property goes way back and that Barnett Tire & Battery company opened on the site in 1920(!) and was only "dissolved" in 2005. Now just because nobody bothered to formally dissolve the company before then does not mean that it was necessarily a going business to that point, but the fact that there seems to have been a good bit of activity in 2005 makes me think it may have lasted until then.

Also in 2005, Congaree Delivery Service filed for a certificate to be an in-state mover (at least that's what I get out of that PDF).

And finally in 2005 City Council declined to rezone the property so that a religious organization could set up there. I'm not sure if I understand the timeline here though, as the council meeting was in mid-Sept 2005 and Congaree was awarded its certificate in mid-Jan 2006. Unless they planned to share the building with the religious organization it doesn't seem to make sense. (Also the reasons given for denying the rezoning look pretty tenuous).

(Commenter Andrew sent in a link to a much better map [above], than the scan of the handout at the mall I originally used [below], and the numbers are the same, so I'm adding it).

Well, I finally had a chance to go looking in some old City Directories for information about Dutch Square. I was looking at about 5 year intervals, and only had time to get up to 1997 before the library closed, so rather than a "Dutch Square: Then & Now" post, this is a "Dutch Square: Then & Then" one.

The 1971 directory is the first one to list Dutch Square, but notice that it uses completely different suite numbers than the later listings I have here. And all the City Directory listings use different suite numbers than Dutch Square itself uses on its current handout map.

In any event, it's not always possible to do a complete mapping of the old numbers to the current floor-plan as there has been a good bit of remodeling over the years (for example, the Woolco space being broken up), and some of the old exterior-only slots like Jackson Camera and Baskin Robbins don't seem to be pictured on the current map. That said, here is a mapping of some of the City Directory to Map numbers that I'm pretty sure of:

1971:

1977:

1982:

1987:

1992:

1997:

UPDATE 17 June 2011: Added the leaseplan map from a link provided by commenter Andrew.

UPDATE 21 June 2011: Added [at top] an artist's conception of the original Dutch Square from an old Chamber of Commerce promotional book.

Half-Moon Outfitters has moved from its location by Momo's, Tabouli and Za's up to 2912 Devine Street, the former location of Columbia Photo Supply and Rogers Brothers Fabrics.

Along with renovating the the 2912 building, they've also built a very prominent 5KWH solar array mounted on a "tree" in the parking lot. (For some reason, the linked article gives the address as 2920 despite the very clear 2912 plaque on the building wall).

It appears they somehow resisted my suggestion to re-brand as Full-Moon Outfitters when they moved into a larger space..

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Both the Trenholm Plaza and Sandhill Books-A-Million have reduced their hours. I assume the Harbison and Lexington locations have as well, though I haven't checked them.

The Sandhill hours are even worse than the Trenholm Plaza ones, being, I believe 9-9 all week except for Friday and Saturday. I find this curious as the days are getting long and school just let out. You would think that there would be an influx of under 21s hanging in the cafe this time of year...

I remember when I first discovered "big box" bookstores in DC and Kansas City, I could take the Metro to Pentagon City or the rental car to Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park and browse and drink coffee from after work until 11pm. In Columbia the Richland Mall B&N cut its hours to the point I could rarely visit years ago, but up until now, BAM had been holding out.

The champagne of bottle beer -- is that like The Cadillac of Fords? It just seems an odd comparison..

Obviously this building in Cayce at the corner of Frink & Ferguson Streets has been there a long time, and has probably been many things. The only two I can turn up in google however are Frink Street Tavern and Frink Street Pub, and in fact I'm not entirely sure those are two separate businesses instead of a variant name or mis-listing. If the are two separate operations, then Frink Street Tavern came first with Frink Street Pub opening and closing in 2007.

I say that because the myspace page given on the street sign still exists (after correcting the backward-slash vs forward-slash typo), and proudly proclaims an opening date of 25 February 2007 (while still looking for bartenders and "Kareoke" performers on 18 February..), giving this description:

We are a local pub located at 904 frink street cayce south carolina ...We have pool tables , golden tee , silver strike bowling and many other games ...we have the lowest price drinks anywhere , most beer is only a buck most liqour is only 2 bucks .....we do Kareoke ... live music ,juke boxes ,and like to have a good ole time ...We play country music , classic rock, and other good music ,we are open monday thru saturday from 2pm until ...and available for private party rentals on sundays .....Please stop by and enjoy an ice cold beer and get to know us ...you will have a great time !!!!!!!!! call us at 803-791-5875

However, the place is not listed in my Feb07-Feb08 or Feb08-Feb09 phonebooks, so I surmise that it did not make it through the year.

The various real estate listings all make clear that at this point this particular "track" of land is being sold with the building as more of a afterthought than an asset.

UPDATE 6 February 2012: Added Mote's Store to the post title based on the comments (which you should read). Apparently it was a little-bit-of-everything type old-time store.

UPDATE 25 November 2012 -- Looks like somebody has bought the property and is doing some work:

Commenter south mauldin asked a little while ago if this place were closed. At the time I wasn't sure -- I had driven by and the lot was empty, but I didn't have time to stop and check it out. The next time I went by, there was no doubt, with a For Sale sign by the road and a goodbye message on the whiteboard. That message mentions a three year run -- Somehow I thought it had been a good deal longer than that.

When I got out and looked around, I was actually rather impressed by the lot. There are some nice trees, and a stream runs along the front of the property providing a bit of lush greenspace insulating the place from the next lot over. I think the building could definitely use some windows on the front though, as it seems like it would get a bit claustrophobic in there.

While I was googling the place, I ran across this interesting thread on another blog, The Columbia Cheeseburger Crawl on Epicurious Eats. They sample the burgers at a number of Columbia's off-the-beaten-trail hideaways and render a verdict. Even though the crawl was just last year, both End Zone and Palmetto Sandwich Shop are already gone.

(Hat tip to commenter south mauldin)

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Commenter Sarah asked about Holt Drive Grocery a while ago, and this is what I've been able to find out. Commenter Andrew pinpointed the address at 2028 Holt Drive, and this is correct. The lot is off Rosewood at the end of South Waccamaw Avenue where it intersects Holt Drive.

The city directory for 1949 notes that 2028 is "under construction", while the city directory for 1950 just lists the name of "Dowdey, David D." for 2028. In 1951 the notation "gro" is added to the entry indicating a notation by the directory compilers that the location is a grocer's. However, the site is not listed in the business section of the directory as a named business at this point. The same goes for the 1952 directory.

In 1953, the city directory entry for 2028 expands to note "Dowdey Dave Distr Co Wholesale Groceries / Holt Drive Grocery". It also adds an entry for 2028½ (2028 1/2) as "Dowdey, David", so presumably, Mr. Dowdey lived on the premesis at the time.

There is some discrepancy between the Southern Bell phone directory listings for Holt Drive Grocery and the city directory listings. In particular, the last phonebook listing for Holt Drive Grocery is in the December 1964 book while the city directory continues to list it by name longer. I'm afraid I did not make my notes as clear as I should have on this point. In 1966 the city directory lists Holt Drive Grocery but adds the name Nu Blen Coffee Company. I believe 1966 is the last year of listing for Holt Drive Grocery, but the format I used admits the possibility that it continued to co-exist with Nu Blen. At any rate, in 1970, the name of Nu Blen changed to Nu Blen Coffee Roasters which continued for 1971. In 1972, the citry directory simply lists the address as "vacant".

Aside from the address the phonebook has little information as the business apparently never bought a Yellow Pages ad (few grocers did). However, in the November 1954 phonebook, the number for Holt Street Grocery was given as "2-8929". By the December 1961 phonebook, it had changed to "AL 6-9630", and in the last listing in December 1964, it was "256-9630".

Is the building pictured here the Holt Drive Grocery building? I can't say for sure, but I suspect that it is, as I can believe such a building was built in 1949.