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Burlington Coat Factory, Columbia Mall: January 2018 (moving)   30 comments

Posted at 11:46 pm in closing

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As mentioned in the comments by several people, Burlington Coat Factory is closing their Columbia Mall store to relocate to a newly built building at Village At Sandhill. The final sale has now started.

Burlington occupied the first floor of the former Columbia Mall J C Penny location after Penny's itself moved to Sandhill (I don't appear to have done a closing for that for some reason). The second floor was never repurposed and remains vacant. This move will leave that side of the mall without any semblance of an anchor store. In fact, all of the former anchors, save for Macy's are now gone, and Macy's as a chain is having its problems as well. The idea has recently been mooted for Richland County to buy the whole property for offices. I don't know -- I think at this point, razing the buildings, plowing the parking lot and planting trees might be the way to go. Charlton Heston could ride through on a horse..

UPDATE 7 February 2018 -- Here is the new Sandhill building (not yet occupied):

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Written by ted on January 25th, 2018

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30 Responses to 'Burlington Coat Factory, Columbia Mall: January 2018 (moving)'

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  1. The upstairs of this had Steve & Barry's after JC Penney moved out but Steve & Barry's underwent a companywide liquidation and the space has remained vacant since.

    Andrew

    26 Jan 18 at 1:02 am

  2. I've found an article from The State indicating that Richland County has plans to buy 3 of the anchor spaces (to include the one Burlington is vacating)...

    Andrew

    26 Jan 18 at 10:39 am

  3. I worked at Penny's from 1985-1990. It was a pain in the ass actually. I worked the Electronics Dept along with 3 other people. I wish they would tear down the entire Mall actually. It's outlived it's purpose by 20 years or more and has gotten more and more urban, and there's really nothing in there any more. It wont be missed.

    Del Bazemore

    27 Jan 18 at 11:03 am

  4. Columbia Mall though in it's "hey day" had Britton's, Record Bar, Tiffany's Bakery, Annabell's, The BK Lounge (Burger King), Morrisons, Belk's, Rich's, Spencer Gifts, MusicLand and some other good stores for its time..but they all left I heard due to the high end rent. I think Sears originally had its own Gas Station outside the perimeter of the Mall to for a few years.

    Del Bazemore

    27 Jan 18 at 11:07 am

  5. OH, Does anyone remember the name of the Restaurant that was on the first floor of JC Penny's the first year or so it was opened? I dont remember the name of it now, but it didnt last long at all.

    Del Bazemore

    27 Jan 18 at 11:10 am

  6. One of the concerns raised with the proposed Richland County acquisition of Columbia Place Mall was would it displace close to 60 tenants that are still there...I remember when they were redoing Decker Mall there were several that had similar concerns but idk what ultimately became of them...

    Andrew

    27 Jan 18 at 11:42 am

  7. I should also clarify that my recollection on Steve & Barry's is that Steve & Barry's moved into Columbia Place Mall at/around the same time as Burlington Coat Factory (again, Steve & Barry's was upstairs, Burlington Coat Factory being downstairs) but then Steve & Barry's wound up liquidating companywide and their former space has been vacant since...

    Andrew

    27 Jan 18 at 5:36 pm

  8. According to an article in The State today, the three anchor stores will be purchased by Richland county. The fate of the rest of the still in limbo....

    Homer

    28 Jan 18 at 8:21 am

  9. The article Homer mentioned is the same one I linked in an earlier comment on this thread (second comment down)...

    Andrew

    28 Jan 18 at 2:24 pm

  10. Leave it to The State to be two days behind before getting the article to print!!!

    Homer

    28 Jan 18 at 2:45 pm

  11. @Del - Why was it a pain in the ass to work at Penny's? High schoolers like me at the time coming in there?

    palmettoconnection

    29 Jan 18 at 10:45 am

  12. I can't wait to see how the Burlington at Sandhills is going to look like. I also wonder what's going to happen to our only Macy's location in Columbia.

    Toby

    29 Jan 18 at 11:21 pm

  13. No..Penny's was the pine cone in my rear because of the harassment of the woman that was in charge of electronics where I worked who gave me grief from the day I started working there, plus I had 3 others to compete for sales to try and get commission for those sales. I got tired of it after 3 years and went to work for Belks in the Mall..and I lasted there from 1988 -1990 and went to work at MusicLand inside the Mall. Back in the 80's and 90's, you couldnt complain about job harassment because they wouldnt do anything about it back then. So I dont miss it at all..I hope they tear down that entire Mall actually.

    Del Bazemore

    2 Feb 18 at 3:35 pm

  14. Columbia Mall over a period of time became a problem with trouble makers, thieves, and store closings. It started out ok, but I always heard that the rent was super high, and over a short period of time, all the good stores left.. Annabell's, Morrison's, Burger King was there until I think it caught on fire, Orange Julius was upstairs near Penny's, then there was Tiffany's Bakery, Record Bar and a few other good stores, but it's just a shell of its former self now..so I think they should bulldoze the entire structure to the ground as soon as they can.

    Del Bazemore

    2 Feb 18 at 3:41 pm

  15. @ Palmettoconection - I have my reasons for saying what I do about Penny's and Columbia Mall, but this site isnt the place to discuss problems with what went on there. I'm sure there are others on here that worked at Columbia Mall in the 70's and 80's that had problems too.. But I have a feeling that Columbia Mall Place Thing (or whatever it's called now) will eventually be torn down and be non existent in the near future.

    Del Bazemore

    2 Feb 18 at 3:53 pm

  16. What I wonder if why do people refer to it as Penny's as it has been known as JC Penney for at least 25 years...truth be known I want to cringe inside when that happens...

    The offical name for thie mall is Columbia Place and has been since 2002 but many still want to call it Columbia Mall but outlets like The State call it Columbia Place Mall so that's what I know it by...

    Andrew

    2 Feb 18 at 4:18 pm

  17. We call it Penney's just like we still say Belk's instead of Belk, White's instead of J.B. White, Columbia Mall instead of Columbia Place. It's what we grew up with and it's what we say.....

    Homer

    2 Feb 18 at 6:44 pm

  18. I believe the busses that stop here still have "Columbia Mall" in the front text..

    ted

    3 Feb 18 at 12:17 am

  19. And my Grandmother always said Sears & Roebuck....

    Homer

    3 Feb 18 at 12:31 am

  20. @homer.....you are spot on.

    palmettoconnection

    5 Feb 18 at 10:37 am

  21. The latest on the Richland Renaissance project according to this morning's State newspaper. The county is moving forward with the purchase of the old Sears', Dillard's and Burlington anchors with the option to buy Macy's if they decide to close. The rest of the mall will 'not be affected' by the purchase and that it may prove to be another 'renaissance' for it as well.

    The Dutch Square talks on buying to old Belk's has fallen through because the county could not purchase the whole building. I guess the relocation of Planet Fitness put the kabosh on that. They are searching for other St. Andrew's Rd. area properties.

    I think a perfect selection would be the old GEX/Phar-Mor, etc. building at I-20 and Broad River Rd.....

    http://columbiaclosings.com/wordpress/?p=3415

    Homer

    17 Feb 18 at 10:41 am

  22. Homer that building you speak of has a functioning office and best I can tell at least the portion that hosted HQ (and prior to that GEX)...idk the details but I've been by it during a working weekday and see plenty of cars parked telling me that the office is functioning. There are several abandoned buildings between I-20 and St. Andrews Road that I think they should explore:

    - AMF Bowling Center, 2601 Broad River Road (this one the property has recently sold)
    - The Ballistic Center / TJ's / Videos & Beyond, 3001 Broad River Road
    - Ole Town Antique Mall, 2956 Broad River Road

    I have a gut feeling that these buildings are going to wind up due for a date with the excavator

    This is the article Homer spoke about. Planet Fitness moving into a portion of the former Belk obviously put the brakes on that. There is plenty of other space but idk what could be done to it. At one point I saw proposals to make things like medical/professional offices out of it. They have 3 new eating places in the Food court that I started to feel better about Dutch Square (Chef T Takeout, The Crab Shak and Mano's Express) and I started feeling better about Dutch Square but then Phillips Edison divested themselves of Dutch Square. I know since the Walmart opened up at least 40 places have come and gone (some of which have featured here) and it's a very difficult thing to turn around but I have to believe it can't stay vacant forever...

    Andrew

    17 Feb 18 at 1:07 pm

  23. Ads for the grand opening of the Sandhill store have been running...

    Andrew

    8 Mar 18 at 5:42 pm

  24. WIS ran an article indicating that Richland County tabled plans related to the Richland Renaissance that was mentioend earlier in this page and today's The State had printed an article talking about it as well...

    Andrew

    25 May 18 at 5:21 pm

  25. From the WIS article Andrew mentions:

    The issue was a strip mall property off Broad River Road that the council is looking to purchase as part of the Renaissance plan.

    "Off Broad River Road". Honestly, it seems sometimes like news articles exist to avoid giving information. Would it have strained a finger to give us the address?

    Same with this "story" in The State today that seems to positively resist telling us anything about the headline.

    ted

    25 May 18 at 7:56 pm

  26. The article in The State Ted linked mentioned appres to link to an article on property tranfers but I did find their article on this...

    Andrew

    25 May 18 at 9:58 pm

  27. @Andrew Yeah, didn't mean to imply that it was related, just that it had a very interesting headline and then basically no supporting details.

    Interesting the State article you link *still* doesn't spell out the property on Broad River other than throwing around 'Dutch Square'.

    ted

    25 May 18 at 10:44 pm

  28. So today WIS has an update oin the Richland Renaissance plans mentioned in previous comments on this post...

    Andrew

    25 Feb 19 at 10:04 pm

  29. Folks WIS has a story about how RCSD plans to move forensic labs into this building...

    Andrew

    28 Jul 21 at 8:55 am

  30. Richland County's plan to have some operations in this building is moving forwrad per this WIS article.

    Andrew

    3 Oct 23 at 11:08 pm

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