Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

It's been a while since I've mentioned Inlet Square, the hard-luck south strand mall where US-17 splits in Murrells Inlet.

I noticed during an October visit that almost the last remaining major store in the mall, Books A Million had closed. That's a shame as over the pre-kindle years I certainly had my share of lattes there while browsing the aisles. In recent times it has been somewhat as Barnes & Noble is to Richland Mall, a rare national store hanging on in a nearly empty space. (Curiously both malls still have a Belk as well).

This WBTW article from 13 May notes in passing that the store "recently closed" while describing what sounds rather like a "flea mall" concept of local stores, with varying hours moving in to the mall's vacant spaces. I have yet to go inside to see how that is working out. This particular space is now a church.

I have noticed Nuttall Tire on Millwood over the years mainly for their Kilroy Was Here logo, and the odd warehouse-y building they were in (Anyone know what it was?). In December, they left their home of over 20 years to relocate into the old Dick Dyer Toyota dealership location on Two Notch.

ColaDaily has the story:

"We’ve outgrown the building and the parking lot," said owner, Stephen Nuttall. "We like to joke that the walls are expanding and contracting here. But it’s good to fight good problems."

Here are a few shots of the new location:

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

I used to wonder about this Walmart on Bush River Road in the old Bush River Mall location. I would be eating late at Fuddruckers or El Chico and decide I would stop by Walmart on the way home to pick up a few things when it was less crowded. The first few times I found it closed, I figured they were ramping up staffing and hours at a new store, but eventually I figured out it was never going to be a 24-hour store, as most were at that time.

The State has the story, attributing the closing to "low sales", though I suspect shrinkage and other factors played into things as well. The pharmacy will be closing this week, on 22 January.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Welp, here's another Bi-Lo closing to become a Food Lion. Google calls out the name of this strip mall as Crossroads Commons, which I don't believe I had ever heard. I meant to get inside over the weekend and didn't, but perhaps I will before the end.

(Hat tip to commenter DB)

The B.L.D. Diner is the follow-on operation in this Trenholm Plaza space to Hooligans (which was a follow-on to Edisto Dairy). The name is an acronym for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, but the one time I went there, they were still ramping up, and started closing during my late lunch.

I presume this closing (which is "until further notice") is due to our old friend COVID-19. I hope they do come back, but Trenholm Plaza has certainly taken some unexpected hits this year, and this is one more.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

I was somewhat suprised when I ate at Abuelo's at Coastal Grand Mall over the holidays to see that Sears was closing. Well, not that it was closing, but that it had still been open. In more halcyon days, I visited this branch many times before it moved from the demolished Myrtle Square for various Kenmore parts and other items that were light on the ground in the south strand in the days before Wal-Mart and big boxes.

Since it moved to the new Coastal Grand mall, I think I was only in once or twice, and never since the big drop-off started for the chain.

The Sun News has the story, along with an update that is even more dire than I had expected:

There are now less than 100 Kmart and Sears stores in the U.S., Forbes said earlier this year.

Wow!

I'm not sure what the final date is, but according to their Facebook page they were still open as of 8 January.

Save A Lot was the follow on in this building to Food Lion, and opened in 2011. I'm not exactly sure when it closed (especially since the phone company seems to have stopped leaving me phonebooks), but I'm guessing 2019 is about right given we had several others close within a year or so of that.

At any rate, it has been gone long enough for another follow-on to start up: Ahora Abierto which is a panaderia pasteleria which google translate suggests is a bakery & cake shop.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

This is one of the Bi-Lo locations slated to become a Food Lion, and the closing was announced so long ago that I have kind of lost track of who pointed it out to give a hat tip. Perhaps commenter ED, certainly it has been mentioned many times by many people. In fact, I took some pictures a good while ago, and then nothing ever happened, leading me to think I had read something wrong. Of course, as is usual, I have misplaced those pictures, so above are some from 10 January, just a few hours after the final closing.

(Thanks to all!)

Here's another COVID-19 closing in the Vista.

I only went to the Carolina Ale House once, for a class reunion, and thought it was pretty good. It's certainly a nice building and a good location. Of course part of that is that it's quite large, so for someone else to move in is going to take a considerable investment.

The Post & Courier has the story.

(Hat tip to commenter Gary, etc)

The State puts this upcoming closing down to cost cutting:

Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest bank in the U.S., has been on a cost-cutting spree after reporting billions of dollars in losses this year for the first time since 2008, The Charlotte Observer reported. Over the summer, the bank said it would close 65 branch locations across the country, on its way to eventually downsizing to 4,000 locations from its current 5,400, according to The Observer.

I'm sure large parts of that are due to changes in the banking industry, but I think Wells Fargo is still dealing with self-inflicted wounds from the 2016 scandal as well.

According to The State there are no definite plans for the property, but, of course, there is once again talk of a parking garage.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)