Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed this little building on the south side of Devine while I was taking pictures of Hardcore Tennis. Wedding invitations and stationery are things I have 1) never needed or 2) seldom needed, but apparently Jot Stationery Design Studio specializes in both.

With the New Year, they have moved to 3140 Carlisle Street, as described in this post from their blog. Apparently, before Jot moved in, this location was an optician, Devine Eyes, and an arts & crafts store, In The Loop.

UPDATE 1 February 2012: Added Manya, a women's clothing store, to the post title based on the comments and this.

When I lived in Fayetteville, there was a time when I ate lunch at Ryan's almost every day. I thought they had a very good salad bar with a number of unusual items, like peanuts (which are actually better on a salad than sunflower seeds in my opinion). They also had a cheese wheel of real cheddar, which when slipped into the excellent hot yeast rolls made a nice impromptu grilled cheese sandwich. The only minus factor was that the lettuce was shredded, sub style, rather than chopped into larger pieces as is usual.

At some point our lunch preferences shifted for one reason or another, and it was years until I tried Ryan's again. This time it was the one in Georgetown, on the section of 707 near the Wal-Mart, and I was not impressed. I don't remember if this was the case in Fayetteville, but by this point I definitely preferred booth seating, and there was none. The chairs were rather uncomfortable as well. The cheese wheel was gone, the peanuts were gone, and the yeast rolls didn't seem as good. I figured some of it might be that particular store, so several years after that, when I was on Two Notch near my lunch time, I dropped in at the store there, and found it to be about the same.

In later reading, I learned that while the chain was originally started by an Upstate company, it was eventually sold to a national chain running several different buffet operations, and I suspect this is when the place's character changed.

That firm, Buffets Restaurants Holdings Inc. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy (for the second time..) on 18 January 2012. As part of that, they closed or planned to close 81 or their 494 stores (which include Old Country Buffet, HomeTown Buffet, Fire Mountain, and Tahoe Joe's Famous Steakhouse in addition to Ryan's).

The Georgetown store is one of the ones that shut as well, but it appears that the Two Notch location will stay open as the firm works on recovery.

Props to the manager for writing a personal note.

What's next for this site? Experience would suggest an Asian buffet or a Mexican restaurant (and more power to them if that happens..)

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Bill)

UPDATE 22 April 2020 -- Commenter Mr. Bill sent in some pictures of the demolition of this building, which I manged to lose for a while. Here they are:

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a Waffle House go under -- until now.

I actually had this Waffle House in my sights for several years. Due to the way it was situated, I thought it would make a good subject for a Nighthawks type picture. In the event, I never got around to it. (For one thing, the best place to set up would be the gas station across the street, which is also 24 hours, and probably would have gotten me some pointed looks at best).

I suppose this does help with directions though:

"Take the only Interstate exit without a Waffle House.."

UPDATE 2 February 2012 -- some daylight pix:

UPDATE 5 April 2012 -- It would appear someone has a grudge against those of the distaff persuasion:

UPDATE 8 November 2016 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this is now a Molly Maid facility:

UPDATE 5 January 2022: Adding map icon and updating tags.

(The pictures aren't that great -- I was shooting ISO 3200, when I could have gotten by with 1600 or even 800).

The State says that this Abercrombie & Fitch in Columbiana Mall shuttered on 14 January 2012 as part of a bad-economy driven process that has already closed the King Street store in Charleston, and will close the Greenville store this weekend (28 January 2012). [The Myrtle Beach store in Coastal Grand Mall will remain open for now].

A&F is not a store I've ever entered, though I was pretty sure they sell clothes, and a glance at their web site confirms that. The only association I have with the name is an old joke/shaggy-dog-story that I heard parts of in the 70s that ended with

You can call me X, you can call me Y, but you doesn't has to call me Abercrombie!

Apparently the mall will make good this loss when a store called Love Culture opens this summer. This is another clothing store, but apparently for women only. The current tagline on their site

On the hunt for cute clothes!

and the two somewhat campy, retro graphics suggest a fairly young demo.

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Here's a nice little Main Street storefront that was a jewelers at one time -- notice the "display case" window on the right front side.

Colonial Finance was the last operation there, and apparently decamped to the Bi-Lo strip mall on Devine Street at the end of August 2011. I got the name Reyner's Jewelers from a 1948 Columbia Bible College yearbook which is on line for keywords, but which I can't really see without joining a yearbook site. However, notice that you can still see part of the name in the flooring in one of the pictures.

The building as a whole (not just this storefront) is apparently the "Berry Building", the site of the old Berry's On Main.

UPDATE 2 February 2012 -- Here is Colonial Finance's Devine Street location:

Well, this little Harden Street storefront has had more activity over the years than I was really aware of.

I vaguely recall Leon's Bookstore and think I went in there once or twice, though I can't recall actually buying anything. It seems that Leon was a last name, not a first name and technically has an acute accent over the 'o'. This record from the Secretary of State's office indicates that the store set up shop (or filed papers at any rate) in December of 1989, and dissolved through forfeiture in November of 1994.

I know nothing about Moxie Gift Gallery other than it comes up in google searches for "631-C Harden"

The Oops Company is a catalog clothing store which apparently moved to 601 Harden Street, and is still there. I figured from the name that it was a factory-seconds store, but that appears not to be the case.

Finally, the current vacancy is due to the closing of Five Points Nails and Spa. According to The Columbia Star they filed for a zoning variance on 8 September 2009, giving them a run of a bit over two years in this spot.

(Hat tip to commenter Mike D)

Hardcore Tennis was a tennis stringing and apparel store in the old Ben & Jerry's location on Devine Street. The building as a whole (2901 Devine Street) has had quite a few turnovers in recent years, including the aforementioned ice cream shop, Birds On A Wire, and Simply Savory.

Judging by their web site (which has lots of good pictures), Hardcore was the Columbia branch of a still existing Atlanta operation. This 20 December 2011 blog post mentions the closing of the Columbia store, but says local stringing will still be available into April.

Of course, I still think if you want fun game with racquets and a net, badminton is the way to go.

(Hat tip to commenter south mauldin)