Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I did a closing for the Harbison location earlier this month, and I suspect the Forest Acres location closed at the same time.

Unlike that one, the suite here in the Forest Park plaza (though that name seems to be de-emphasised since Lowes moved in..) has already been repurposed by what looks to be a New Age therapy salon: Integrative Roots Medicine.

When the Myrtle Beach Pavilion closed on 30 September 2006, it ripped the beating heart of out the city, and Myrtle Beach has never recovered. The site, once a people magnet, sat vacant for several years but was finally leased by Burroughs & Chapin to this zipline operation. I understand the difference between a property bringing in no money vs some money, but as a draw, from a civic standpoint it was not really a replacement.

In January of 2024, B & C declined to renew the lease, and the attraction shut down, with the pieces now being disassembled and the lot cleared. The story, as reported by The Sun News, doesn't make complete sense. The main mystery is why the zipline operator wanted to stay on when he claims the operation was never profitable. A subsidiary mystery is why B & C chose now:

He confirmed that the lease for Myrtle Beach Zipline Adventures contained language that allowed Burroughs & Chapin to remove the zip line if the company ever chose to build something else on the former Pavilion land.

That would imply that something new is in the works for the site, but aside from that bit of leading language, there are no details.

The only zip I have been on was The Canyons in Florida, which I quite enjoyed, so I thought I might get around to this one some year, but in the event I guess not.

Here is WPDE on the teardown, and here is WBTW.

Finally, here is a promotional video for the site:

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My memory is that this building was built to be a Redbone Alley, and after that it was a barbecue joint, and I believe briefly a jazz club before moving to mexican food as Pancho's. When the San Jose in the current Pasta Fresca building closed, Pancho's re-flagged as San Jose, and operated there for a number of years.

When commenter Larry mentioned that the San Jose had closed as was moving to the Sparkleberry location, I figured that another operation, perhaps an Asian buffet, would be in the space before long. I was quite surprised then that when I went by to get some pictures, the building was in the process of being knocked down. I guess I shouldn't be *too* surprised: It was an odd structure, with a mostly unused second floor which must have cost a lot to heat and cool. There are no signs indicating what, if anything, is to be built here once the lot is vacant.

There is apparently still electricity to the ornamental pool pump system, and it is beeping quite forlornly about the water level being low.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Those of you with long memories may recall that I did posts for Amelia Con in 2014 & 2016. After that, the organizers of that convention decided there was not really the support in the area to go up against other local events. They moved the second instantiation from September to February, got a bigger space, and applied a lot of lessons learned, and I found the second Amelia Con noticably better than the first. However it was apparently not viable enough to do again, and there was never a third.

Amelia Coastal Con is a new show, and as far as I know, has no connection to Amelia Con. However, it was held in the same venue, the town recreation center, where Amelia Con started. As you may know, I require very little urging to go to Florida in February.

I found the show to be smaller than even the initial Amelia Con, a bit less organized (not surprising for a first year), and focused much more on Anime than comics Comics were already not a large part of Amelia Con, but there was no comic content or merchandise at Amelia Coastal Con. That's fine, people are interested in different things. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, there was an old school Trek presence with Neutral Zone Studios, perhaps because they are basically local, having a fully fledged Star Trek filming venue in nearby Kingsland Georgia.

The main space of the Recreation Center was occupied by vendors and gaming tables while the Stage was curtained off and used for presentations. There were also vendors and exhibitions on the ball field behind the center, and food trucks in the parking lot.

New since my last visit (to the Recreation Center, not the town) was a marsh trail, a small bit of which I walked, and which was very nice in February. How it would be in July is yet to be seen.

I bought a few figurines, saw a presentation on cosplay and a Star Trek fan film from Neutral Zone Studios which was really quite good for a non-professional effort (see below), and watched the cosplay contest, which was largely kids this go-round.

Anway, it was a nice way to spend a winter weekend, and from their Facebook, it sounds like they are planning to do it again next year (though there are no details).

It appears that sadly, Mr. Coles, the owner of this old-school Sumter Street barber shop, passed away in late 2022 and the place is now for sale.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

Miyo's at Columbiana Station has moved to the old M Kitchen location at 340 Columbiana Drive.

M Kitchen was another in the Miyo's family of restaurants, and the building was never sold, so it's not clear to me if the new location is called M Kitchen again or not. According to the door sign, the Miyo's menu will be served, so if there was a difference before, that may be a clue.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

Soda City Pharmacy was the follow-on in this building to Insurance Masters. They opened around March of 2022, and lasted until around April of the following year. Judging from the media reports here & here, traffic was never good post-COVID, and the place was looking for community support.

As commenter Andrew reports, Rustic Roots Salon is now setting up in this space.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 15 October 2024 -- Now Rustic Roots Salon:

I was not aware of this restaurant, tucked away in McCauley Square until commenter Heath mentioned it. Looking at the menu, I think I would have liked some of the sandwiches, though I would not generally be in that area at lunchtime. I will say that when I stopped by to take these pictures, the the parking lot for the strip was entirely too busy and too crowded. The owners' Facebook page does mention the fact that having so many restaurants in there made it hard to stand out. You can read that page for the closing message as well.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

The Burger King on this site closed in 2011 and was razed to make way for this building. PDQ [People Dedicated to Quality] opened here in 2014, so they lasted about ten years. I'm not a chicken person, but I know my sister and nieces liked it well enough, but perhaps not enough other people did, because the chain has closed 8 restaurants in the Carolinas, which out of 61 total storefronts, is a major hit. I see they have also closed two locations in New Jersey, so they are definitely hurting all over.

Here is the Post & Courier on the Devine Street closing.

Commenter Dave reports rumors that a Whataburger will be coming to the site, but as far as I know, these have not been confirmed.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Commenter Ellen reported this Harbison salon to be closing on 11 November 2023, and it is definitely closed. I do see some google reviews from after that date, so I'm not sure if it ended up staying open longer, or people were just tardy in sharing their thoughts.

Looking at their Facebook, it appears that at least some of the staff are continuing on at other venues.

(Hat tip to commenter Ellen)