Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I believe the only Stein Mart I've ever been in is the Inlet Square store in Murrells Inlet where a desperate mall offered them the main west-side entrance corridor as store space. I can't recall much other than it was a clothes store that probably wouldn't be on my list when I make a reluctant clothes shopping expedition.

This store is at the corner of Two Notch & Polo Roads, and had pretty much totally escaped my notice until now. Polo Road has certainly developed massively since I was in high school, and there was, in fact, a polo field out there (which one of my classmates managed to set on fire with a model rocket), and development on Two Notch has definitely moved away from Dentsville and into this area, but with the current economy there are still plenty of vacant storefronts in the area, and soon there will be one more.

UPDATE 18 May 2010 -- It's now Roundabouts Consignments:

UPDATE 17 August 2020: Update tags, add map icon.

I already wrote about the S & K closing at the Two Notch Road store, so I don't have a lot to say about the Bush River Road closing. I'm still happy with the belt I got at the other store and didn't need to go inside this location, which is good as it was late Sunday and closed anyway.

I will say that if I were going too keep one Columbia store and close the other, I would keep Two Notch and close this one based solely on parking and ease of access. This little strip (which also contains a closed Sounds Familar location) is at the corner of Bush River Road and Colonial Life Boulevard. There is no parking on the Bush River side, and it's not great on the Colonial Life side. Of course, they are closing both stores so the point is moot.

UPDATE 4 June 2012 -- It's now Fashion's Unlimited:

Some of my google hits give the name of this place as Casual Male XL, but the majority seem to go with Casual Male Big & Tall. Anyway, this place was on Two Notch Road in Dentsville, between the Hess station and FedEx-Kinkos. As I hate to shop for clothes, it was never really on my radar, but I noticed sometime after New Years that the storefront was vacant. I kept meaning to get a picture, but somehow never made it to the area at an opportune time, so finally when I found myself driving by one night, I decided I might as well get a shot then or forget about it.

This section of Two Notch has been iffy for several years, with the Wendy's and Shoney's buildings still vacant, and the recent departure of Floor It Now. On the other hand, the old Quincy's just got a nice new tenant, and Lowe's and Best Buy do bring a good bit of traffic to the area.

UPDATE 3 March 2012: I happened to notice that I had a fairly decent daytime picture of this place still in operation in the background of a Wendy's shot I took, so I am putting that at the top, over the original nighttime-only pic.

I probably would not have noticed this small consignment shop coming and going except that it is in the same building as the final location of Forest Lake TV about which I had done an earlier post. Driving by from time to time, it seemed to have gone through several phases. In the first phase, it was open during "normal" hours. Then it was open "by appointment" and finally it was difficult to say from the store-front if it were still in business or not. I suppose even now, it could be, but it's been a long time since I saw a car there, so I'll say not.

UDPATE 3 March 2015: Added full street address to post title.

I already posted about the closing of the Two Notch Goody's, and the problems the whole chain was and is having, but I thought it was interesting that the building for the Bower Parkway Goody's, which apparently closed at the same time, has already been re-purposed. Granted these "giant book sale" things usually only last for a couple of weeks or months (though one at the old Waccamaw Pottery mall lasted for a few years), but it's something and it starts today, so you if you head out now, you can get 80% off some out of date computer manuals, and cookbooks by people you never heard of.

UPDATE 18 July 2009: Not its a "liquidation sale" for the next month or so. The sort of $5 entrance fee affair you used to see at Jamil Temple sometimes:

UPDATE 25 May 2010: Change post title to reflect full official name of the store and full street address.

UPDATE 22 Sep 2010 -- Now it's a Halloween store:

UPDATE 24 September 2011 -- It's to be a Stein Mart:

UPDATE 31 October 2011 -- Looks like Stein Mart is open:

UPDATE 10 May 2017 -- Actually I have been confusing 1120 & 1130 Bower Parkway. Goody's, the Haloween popup store and the Giant Book Sale store were all in 1130, most recently occupied by H H Gregg. 1120 where Stein Mart was is a different storefront.

Wow, this one comes as a surprise. If you've read many of these posts, you'll know I hate to shop for clothes, but Goody's was one of the places in Columbia I knew I could go and find the Arrow shirts I like (they look OK, and I know what size will actually fit and I can buy a bunch without the hassle of trying them on). In fact, as I took these pictures, I was wearing a shirt I had bought there.

The last time I was in there, last summer I believe, they seemed to be doing a brisk business, and with that and their mammoth building, I had thought them to be pretty solid. Now with it empty, it makes me wonder what the real-estate owners can find to fill it up. They may have to subdivide.

UPDATE 25 May 2010: Changed post title to reflect stores full offical name and full street address.

UPDATE 13 Sep 2010 -- Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts is now in this building: