Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

After commenter MJ mentioned that this place, at the corner of Bush River Road & Morninghill Drive, might be closed, I went to check it out, but I could never be completely sure. The delivery notice post-its stuck to the door made me 99% sure, but there were no actual posted hours I could verify it not being open at, and looking in the windows, all the furnishings and glasses seemed to be in place. There was a sign on the door, but it was facing inwards, and illegible.

That was in June. Going back a few days ago, the situation is now clear, with a sheriff's notice and a real estate sign. However, the interior still looks largely untouched.

(Hat tip to commenter MJ)

UPDATE 9 October 2023 -- This place has been razed:

UPDATE 10 October 2023 -- Some night-time shots that show the demolition

UPDATE 24 October 2023 -- Beter demolition pix:

UPDATE 22 February 2024 -- There is some sort of small-ish concrete block building going up here:

UPDTE 16 May 2024 -- The new building on this site is in progress:

UPDATE 18 September 2024 -- The new Checkers building is coming along:

As far as I can tell, Accessible Mobility Center was a Concord NC based chain for selling wheelchair accessible vans, and lately as the sign notes, mobility scooters. They were bought out earlier this year by Akron based MobilityWorks and the storefront for the combined company is now at 3624 Fernandina Road.

It remains to be seen what is next for this Dutch Square area storefront.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 27 June 2022 -- Setting up to be Community Credit:

Old time hardware stores are a vanishing breed. As a kid, I remember visits to the old Forest Lake Hardware at Forest Lake Shopping Center, the old Hiller downtown, and Hiller in Five Points, and various stores at the beach and in Fernandina. They were mysterious places with big revolving bins of loose nails and odd brackets, and men behind well worn wooden counters who knew how to do stuff.

After Thanksgiving, there will be one less in Columbia, as Cedar Terrace Hardware is packing it in. The State has the story, and it's a case of the owner's well deserved retirement with nobody else willing to take the store on.

To the best of my memory, I have never been to this store. It's quite tucked away in the back of the plaza, and a case of out-of-sight-out-of-mind, but there's always something I need from a hardware store so perhaps I'll take a look before it's too late.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

This storefront in Garners Ferry Crossing was once Springleaf Financial Services, as you can see in the first picture (especially if you click through to the large version). At some point recently, Springleaf was acquired by One Main Financial, at which point it seems they consolidated offices leaving a vacancy here. (Actually there are two adjacent vacancies at this time; I'll do the other one at some point).

I took the first pictures above after commenter Badger mentioned that the place was for sale. I kept meaning to do a follow-up run so I could get some post closing pictures, but somehow could never remember exactly where it was (and had forgotten the name so I couldn't google it). Anyway, I did find it again, and it is definitely closed. I got out of the car and walked around for the post closing shots, and it is interesting that the place appears to be essentially a double-wide trailer, or two single-wides hooked together. I'm not sure exactly how the plumbing on the back wall worked, but from the shots on the unofficial Facebook page, I'm guessing there was an added on back deck where bands set up.

It looks like a quirky little place I would have liked to visit.

(Hat tip to commenter Badger)

Here is another Mattress Firm location already cleared out and debranded (you can barely see the label scar).

In keeping with the general Mattress Firm situation, this one was just 0.8 miles (per Google Maps) from the store at 4732 Devine Street.

So this year I had the theory that I would get to the Fair down Assembly Street. "It's a straight shot", I thought, "No left turns like Rosewood or Shop Road".

And three hours after leaving Forest Acres, I met my party at the Rocket.

If you've been following the blog for a while, you know the kinds of things I like, so the pictures won't be any surprise, but I still like 'em.

The handwriting computer and grey-market videos are still absent, otherwise the mix of exhibits and vendors is about the same as in recent years. I still miss the Steel Building, but the dinosaur park in its space seems popular with the kids.

Somehow, the baby duck slide made it through another year, and Fair Food still rules.

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I never actually ate at Rancho Grande, but I was aware of it as we would drive by on the way to visit relatives, and they mentioned eating there from time to time. I'm pretty sure the building started life as a national brand steakhouse, possibly a Western Sizzling.

Hartsville has urbanized to a surprising extent this millennium, but when this was built, the area was still quite rural and I'm sure the out-of-town location was chosen because it is at the intersection of US-15 Bypass and US-15 Business, something quite important before the Interstates.

The restaurant's Facebook page indicates that it closed around 17 May 2017, though I am unable to explain the wreath on the door which would otherwise indicate a post-Holiday-Season closing. The page also directs patrons to Neuva Villa which is apparently owned by the same family.

Given how many classic arcade games I played in college (Galaga, anyone?), it's a bit odd that I never got into PC or console games. Perhaps it's because I sit in front of a computer all day, perhaps it's just that reading is too much fun and takes too much time. However that all washes out, it means I never visited this Two Notch video game storefront, but I see that you have one more week to stop by and get 50% off.