Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

The last Google review I can find for this place suggests it was closed "7 months ago" (honestly Google, how hard would it be to put a real date on each review?) which would put the closing around July of 2022.

Commenter Gypsie suggests that something is going on there now, and I did see a vehicle parked there, so perhaps something is forthcoming for this building.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

The glory days of the Grand Motel sign are behind it now, even the animation above from 2011 was a bit past it. The next two pictures are from 2009, and the three after that are from 2011 again. The ones after the break were taken two weeks ago, and last week.

The Grand Motel was one of the many US-1 motels in the Columbia area dating back to before the Interstate system. Off the top of my head, there were Dreamland, Chat 'n Rest, Bestway Inn, Forest Motel, Throughbred Motel, and the still extant Star Motel. (There is also still at least one US-1 motel still open on the other side of town near I-26).

In recent years, the Grand had apparently been operating as much as efficiencies as a travel motel, and I believe that continued into this year. Most recently as commenter Robin points out, the place has been bought by a charity which will operate it as affordable housing with mentoring. WIS has the story here. The complex will be called Grand Village, and some of the existing motel rooms will be upfitted while there will be new construction as well.

As you can see in the shots after the jump, work has started on asbestos abatement on the existing rooms.

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This pet supply business in Landmark Square appears to have shut down late last year, and a new, also pet oriented, follow-on operation, The Pet Shop is about to open there, if it has not already.

(Hat tip to commenter Robin)

As mentioned by commenter James R, Chen's Chinese Restaurant in Lexington is now Friend's House Chinese & Seafood.

Here is a State story on the new place that deploys the word plethora.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

George I. Pair closed in 2012, and demolition started in December of 2022. It took me quite a while to get out there, and I expected to find just a flat patch of earth, but the excavators are still on site, and a few walls and porticoes are still in place. It was a nice afternoon for February, and I spent a good while walking around the grounds, so if you click-through for the full post, expect lots of pictures, which I haven't really organized or culled.

You can see a stories on the demolition here, here & here.

(Hat tip to commenter Db)

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I never realized until quite recently that the name of this place announced the specialty. Of course roast-beef is not a favorite of mine anyway, and I've never set foot inside one of these stores. This one is between Broad River Road on one side, and Diamond Lane on the other. For most of its existence, it was accessible from both streets, but in recent years, the church which bought Intersection Center has been closing off pass-through access from their side.

I believe all of the restaurants on this stretch have now either closed, or moved on from their original brands.

(Hat tip to commenter Homer)

This store closed as a Bi-Lo in January of 2020, and opened as a Pig not too long thereafter. Now that run, too, has come to an end. (You can actually see more pictures of it as a Pig in the linked post, as I did not get over there while the Bi-Lo was still open).

Given there are multiple groceries in the area (probably a big factor here), I doubt the next tenant will be one, but we'll have to see.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

The store at Shoppes at Woodhill is now part of the ongoing Bed Bath & Beyond collapse. I don't know exactly when this store will close, but the signs are already up, so I'll just mark it for this month in the post title.

I believe I have been in Bed Bath & Beyond about three times, and have never bought anything there. I guess there was a lot of that going 'round..

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

I got out here last year to take some pictures based on information from commenter Joe Shlabotnik, but couldn't get close enough to the actual building to see if it were in fact closed as the Verizon signage was still up at the road and it was a weekend. Unfortunately I no longer have those pictures, so the ones above just show the current sign for Southeastern Esthetics Institute (albeit clearly poster-ed over on top of the Verizon sign). I'm not sure what they do, but it seems to me they probably have more parking lot than they need.

(Hat tip to commenter Joe Shlabotnik)

I first wrote about this office complex way back in 2009 when I was reminiscing about how it was the only place (that I could find) in town to buy Mac floppies back when the Mac was introduced and I was in grad school.

Since then, the place has had its ups and downs. When it was kept up, and the lake was taken care of, it could be fairly attractive, as you can see in the first picture, and in the LoopNet listing. In recent years that has been more the exception than the rule however.

Currently the place is derelict and boarded up, the lake is a mess, and the whole lot is up for sale.