Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I came across these pictures recently while I was looking for old Barnes & Noble shots and thought I might as well just post them all now.

This is a walk around & inside Richland Mall (still in the "Midtown" phase at that time) from 13 July 2008. I have left in all the shots, even the blurry and under exposed ones because it's not like I can go back and take better ones now...

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This building at the corner of Sparkleberry & Graces Way was built as a McAlister's Deli. After they moved down the road, it was a Famous Toastery, and Alleana's was the follow-on to that.

I don't have a definite date for the closing, but the Google reviews have dates like "A year ago", so I am going with 2023. I will note that a consistent feature of those reviews is a note that the place was not open when it was supposed to be. This is a subcase of Rule #1, and is never a good sign.

Currently a Mexican restaurant is setting up in the space.

The chain filed for Chapter 11 in August, but couldn't find a buyer, and is now winding down all stores. Looking at the linked article it appears they should all be gone by the end of the year, taking them down from 400 stores to 0.

This particular store is fairly new, being the follow-on operation in this storefront to HobbyTown USA which moved in 2018.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

This place was the follow-on in this original Carrabba's building to Fiery Crab, whose signage was never taken down (granted, that would be an unpleasant & dangerous task).

When it started, it was billed as Vegan & Ghanian Fusion, but apparently they tried to go more mainstream later. I'm also not sure how the "Jazz Lounge" part comes into play as none of the reviews mention music.

Chalk this one up to the ongoing Carolina Crossroads / Malfunction Junction project, but at this point the Jarret & Hart building has not only been torn down, but scooped out.

According to WLTX the owners were not at all happy about the situation, and SCDOT made them a rather IMHO insulting offer (if the reported number is accurate) on the property which doubled as their home. I don't see any follow-up story on how things finally turned out, but certainly the building is gone.

It seems to me that if this property got the excavator treatment, IHOP will have to go at some point as well although I still have problems visualizing the project final result.

(Hat tip to commenter Arthur P)

I think I've written that Borders Books was my touchstone for quality bookstores. They had a certain mistique as I first encountered them in exotic locales like Washington DC & Overland Park KS and often ended up coming home with a suitcase full of books I'd never find locally.

Although I never got my wish of Borders coming to Columbia, Barnes & Noble was a good second choice, and I spent many evenings at the Harbison location hanging out in the cafe with prospective purchases on the table. This one, at Richland Mall never seemed quite as nice to me, but was servicable enough and I certainly bought my share of books (and gifts) there.

You could kind of see it go down with the mall over the years though. At some point a few years before the end, they gave up on the mall and closed of the exit leading to the mall interior. You could notice a lot of maintainence that wasn't being done as well, partly I suppose because of the mall's troubles and partly because of the chain's. The mens' room especially got quite shoddy over the years, and nobody was taking care of the wobbly tables in the cafe. Finally they started dropping the hours. When I was younger and could drink coffee at 10pm, the store was open until 11pm, and I would often be on the last call out. In the end, I think, the hours had dropped to 8pm, and less on some days.

The last time I was there was on Christmas-Eve Eve of 2023, during the final closing sale, where I found some quite good bargains. Shortly after that, the store closed until the Woodhill location was ready, and earlier this year the building was finally razed during the Richland Mall demolition.

I have been to the new location once, and it looked quite nice.

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RAW (Rent A Wheel) was in the old Huddle House location on Two Notch (though there is a discrepency in the address I have for Huddle House), and was the follow-up to Auto Image.

I'm not exactly sure when it closed, and I think there is still an AI robot on Google Reviews posting responses for the owner, but it appears to be sometime in the Spring. The embedded StreetView photo is from October of 2023). There is a nice aerial view of the property on LoopNet.

I found these pictures from April & May of 2012 -- Pretty much no change since then...

Whit-Ash has been in this location since 1974, making them a Vista stalwart before there was a Vista.

According to WIS this location was once the Murray Drug Company, and you should look at their article as it has a very nice historical picture and ad for that establishment.

Before moving to this spot, several articles mention a (non-specific) site on Saint Andrews Road as the original location for the store, and commenter Midnight Rambler found a 1973 State article listing it as at Boardwalk Plaza, which, of course was Bush River Road.

The owners are retiring, and don't have a definite end date for the closing sale, with the current plan being to sell down to the last piece of furniture.

You can read about Whit-Ash on ColaDaily, WLTX and The Post & Courier as well as the WIS link above.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

I hesitate to post a closing this far out, but The Free Times has already weighed in, so why not?

Steve's Classic Burgers opened in this little Saint Andrews Road strip mall back in 2015, and I admit I have never gotten around to trying it, though I have noticed the billboards from time to time. Ashland Park is just not really on my radar, and I don't think I have been back there since Sandy's closed. The place sounds as though they do a bit of outreach as well as cooking, with Bibles on the tables, something that puts me a bit in the mind of Edna's #2 on Pinehurst, which unfortunately I never got any pictures of before it closed and was torn down.

At any rate, with retirement and other issues to deal with, the owners have decided to close next Spring, so if you want to check it out, you still have time to make several visits.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)