Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

The Devine Street Piggly Wiggly recently changed ownership as noted in a story in The Columbia Star, which you may or may not be able to read here. With all the churn engulfing The Pig recently, it's good to see one store hang on.

In this case, the managers of the former Garners Ferry store have bought Devine Street outright:

The 35,000-squarefoot store closed late last Sunday for an inventory, reopening Monday under the new owners. Miller says customers are unlikely to notice many changes early on. He said the store has been well maintained, but he expects some refurbishing and painting ahead.

“Piggly Wiggly has gone back to its roots as a group of independently owned Piggly Wiggly stores joined by a common brand, collaborative marketing, and the flexibility of individual ownership,” said David Schools, president and CEO of Greenbax Enterprises, Piggly Wiggly Carolina’s parent.

Put that way, it sounds a bit like IGA.

Hook 'n Needle was one of the last shops to move out of Intersection Center, leaving its original location for Boozer Shopping Center in 2011.

Commenter Andrew reports that the place closed in that location late in 2013 or early in 2014 and that the owner sadly passed away shortly thereafter.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I was at Panera on Garners Ferry this evening and I noticed that the Marble Slab Creamery has moved across the parking lot from the Cici's wing of the shopping center to the Panera wing. The new location is actually the old Starbucks location which became vacant when Starbucks moved into the old Qdoba location.

I got to Brookgreen a bit later than I had planned this year, and so did not hit all the spots I usually hit, but it was still a very nice evening out in the cold and lights. Actually, the weather was relatively moderate compared to some prior years -- I was able to hold my camera and adjust the controls without my fingers going numb. There is still an official ban on tripods, and I decided this year I wouldn't go for much in the way of "set the camera on something and do a time exposure" shots, so I cranked the ISO way up and took what I got, so I have to admit I've gotten better shots in previous years. I did play around with the in-camera HDR setting, and that's where some of the freaky green-lit exposures come from. Sometimes it did quite a good job of capturing both the lights and normal objects, and sometimes it didn't (I haven't used those spoiled shots here, obviously).

Getting in was a little quicker this year as they did not bring back the suboptimal secondary dirt road route they tried last year, although there was still quite a jam on US-17 (where I witnessed a fender-bender just as I finally got waved through). You still have three more chances to catch the lights this year on 18 December, 19 December and 20 December, and you really should if you are anywhere near the area.

UPDATE 5 December 2023: Update tags and add map icon.

I got to Brookgreen a bit later than I had planned this year, and so did not hit all the spots I usually hit, but it was still a very nice evening out in the cold and lights. Actually, the weather was relatively moderate compared to some prior years -- I was able to hold my camera and adjust the controls without my fingers going numb. There is still an official ban on tripods, and I decided this year I wouldn't go for much in the way of "set the camera on something and do a time exposure" shots, so I cranked the ISO way up and took what I got, so I have to admit I've gotten better shots in previous years. I did play around with the in-camera HDR setting, and that's where some of the freaky green-lit exposures come from. Sometimes it did quite a good job of capturing both the lights and normal objects, and sometimes it didn't (I haven't used those spoiled shots here, obviously).

Getting in was a little quicker this year as they did not bring back the suboptimal secondary dirt road route they tried last year, although there was still quite a jam on US-17 (where I witnessed a fender-bender just as I finally got waved through). You still have three more chances to catch the lights this year on 18 December, 19 December and 20 December, and you really should if you are anywhere near the area.

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You can look at the corner view in the LoopNet listing for this building at North Main & Confederate and see a portrait format marquee on the side.

Somewhere I have a picture of that marquee up close with the name of the place visible, but as is often the case, knowing I have a picture and being able to put my hands on it in a timely fashion are two sadly different things. Commenter Justin believes this was a window tinting business, and that sounds plausible to me. What google pulls up, however, are references to two different used car operations. If that's accurate, I think they both would have to be from some years ago, as I cannot recall the lot being anything but empty in recent years.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

Kwagga is apparently the Afrikaans name for the Quagga, an extinct South African Zebra, and the place itself is now extinct as well.

This was the followup operation to The Puddlin' Duck, and commenter Joelc who notes that it was a nice place, but suffered the same problems as The Duck with the location.

It wouldn't hurt Fortune Square to buy some light bulbs.

(Hat tip to commenter Joelc)

ConCOCKtions was the followup operation to Rum Runners in the little 724 Harden Street back lot building attached to the Kester's building.

There is already a followup in place, Back Alley. This building rotates so often that the parking lot signs have trouble keeping up (and spelling, though that's a separate issue).

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

UPDATE 24 June 2019: Add map icon.

I confess I have no memory of this storefront on Shandon Street at Rosewood and the reversed marquee sign is not readable, but google suggests it was Shandon Day Span & Salon.