Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

As we discussed a few days ago the Badcock chain is going out of business after a bad merger and bankruptcy. This is the Lexington location in Town Square.

I'm not sure of the actual closing date, but I don't see it outlasting the month, at least by much.

I'm not sure when Kyle closed, but the last google reviews are from "a year ago", and obviously the building itself has been vacant long enough to go downhill, so I will put the date as Summer 2023.

I don't smoke or vape, so I don't know a lot about the place, but interestingly, it is apparently a chain with other locations largely, though not entirely, in Florida.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

Commenter Tom mentioned that this hotel on Bush River Road at I-26 behind Cracker Barrel had a blank nameplate on the Market Pointe marquee. He thought it had been a Travelodge, and that looks correct, but that was some years ago. Most recently it was a Quality Inn & Suites. I can see from Google Streetview that that lasted at least into June 2023, so I'm guessing the latest reflagging was this year, and the place is now operating as Suburban Studios.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

This was apparently also known as Best Western Plus Columbia Northeast and the rather generic Columbia Northeast Hotel, so perhaps it lost the Best Western branding in the last months of its life. Google streetview shows the place looking open, and with Best Western signage into May of 2024, but as of the end of June, when these pictures were taken, the place was closed with indications of some sort of work going on. (The Google reviews suggest it really needed some.)

I have not driven past since then, so perhaps it is open again or at least has some indication as to what is to come now -- I will have to check it out again soon.

Bennigan's never came to Columbia, but were pretty big elsewhere in the 1980s. I remember that when I was living in Fayetteville, it was a standard place to unwind when the out-of-town crew was visiting to help us set up for field exercises. After that the chain kind of lost its way, and ended up going bankrupt in 2008 which drastically reduced the number of locations.

Nonetheless, things survive & thrive in Florida when they don't elsewhere, and this Melbourne location, on US-192 just East of I-95 opened on 28 January 2016. I always meant to drop in and see if it was as I remembered, but always had some place I would rather eat with my limited time in the area. However this guy did and was a bit underwhelmed.

At any rate the place gave up the ghost in February of 2023, and is now a Mexican eatery, Agave D'Oro. I'm pretty sure I have a picture of it in operation somewhere, and if I find it I'll add it up top.

Greedy Rascals hot-dogs was the follow-on operation in this spot to Tripp's Fine Cleaners. There was also a location on Rosewood which closed before this one did. I'm not sure about the exact closing date, but the google reviews suggest it was around March of 2024.

I'm also not sure of the exact status of the chain. This Facebook page suggests they are opening a location on Airport Boulevard, but I can't quite make out the details from the information there.

UPDATE 12 August 2024: Changed the closing date from "Spring 2024" to "Early 2024" based on commenter Gypsie's input.

During my most recent trip to Fernandina, I noticed that this eclectic antique, book & decor shop on 8th Street had closed.

Over the past seveal years, I got a number of Christmas and other gifts there, in particular some interesting cookbooks, neat umbrellas and blown glass decorations. It was a fascinating place to walk through, though it was a bit out of the way in relation to the main shopping areas of the town. That may have had something to do with the closing, as I never found that many people inside while I made my visits. That's just speculation, the closing could be a retirement or any other reason, I can't seem to find anything about it in the local media. The google reviews point to a closing date sometime around early June.

In the meantime, the shop's Instagram remains up, with some nice pictures, and this is their archived web page from February 2023.

I always thought Badcock had a Smucker's kind of thing going on: With a name like that, it had to be good.

I first became aware of the chain in Fernandina growing up, but I never got around to going into the store on my trips up and down Centre Street. Likewise, I don't believe I ever stepped into one anywhere else either.

Commenter Andrew sends this article which says that the chain was purchased seven months ago by Conn's Home Plus which promptly went bankrupt taking Badcock with it. Seems like some poor decision-making on both sides of that sale!

This store is in Fashion Place on Decker, a venue which has seen its share of closings over they years to the point that I would say Badcock was the last anchor type store in the place. We will have to see what follows.