Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Well, there has been speculation for a while, what with Gymboree's Chapter 11 filing, but the other shoe dropped today:

SAN FRANCISCO – Children's clothing seller Gymboree Corp. is closing 350 stores as its works to restructure in bankruptcy.

The San Francisco-based company said Tuesday that it's mostly closing Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores. It also operates Janie and Jack stores. The company will have more than 900 locations after the stores are shut down.

The full closing list is here, and includes, unsurprisingly, this Richland Mall store, as well as the one at Sandhill. The closing sales are supposed to start on 18 July.

I took these pictures back in early June and even then, the whole store was 50% off -- I don't think this is a big surprise to them.

I have to admit I had never heard of Janie and Jack or Crazy 8.

UPDATE 3 February 2021 -- Here's another picture I just came across apparently from 26 April 2013:

Also adding a map icon.

I noticed this vacant building on Trenholm a few doors down from the Forest Acres town hall a few weeks ago, but based on the unclaimed phonebook at the door step, it was at least before February 2017 that this Coldwell Banker moved to 1711 Gervais Street.

It probably says something about my general powers of observation that I grew up a mile from here and have driven by the building literally thousands of times over the years, but I had no idea it was a Coldwell Banker (and whatever else it has been over the years) in the first place.

UPDATE 21 June 2017: Added Russell & Jeffcoat to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 16 June 2022: Updating tags, adding map icon. I should also note that the building has been razed.

I think I have actually had service at this Jiffy Lube twice over the years, and I did stop there last summer when I needed the AC recharged in one of my cars and they were having an AC special but in the event they couldn't help me as the car was too old.

As commenter Matt mentions, the lot is definitely tight, and I too had trouble turning around and getting out that last time.

Somewhat, if not tremendously, interesting is that this building and the adjacent Kangaroo Express seem to share the same street address without any "suite" differentation.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

Today's closing comes from commenter Mr. BO, who says:

A strange eclectic shop right across where I enter the office in the Richland Fashion mall. Wine & Design apparently was a place where you can tip a few glasses and do some painting. (odd combo). Some of my fellow workers noted that there were times when the paint would be tracked outside of the door. (Guess things got messy there) I was suspicious about a month ago when I mall maintenance taking out a sink.

Now I see this in pic # 2.

At least it's a move and not a closing.

I admit I was entirely unaware of this place though I have walked the whole Mall at least once or twice in the last year.

What wine goes best with abstract expressionism?

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO, obviously)

Since S & S moved out of this Richland Mall slot, nothing has stuck, with both Sadie's and now Jackson's moving on.

In this case we have a move instead of a closing, and JackSon's should now be open at 1213 Sunset Boulevard, which is, of course, the former location of Ms. B's Southern Kitchen and The Southern Skillet.

Man, this wing of the Mall is creepy empty now!

And

I think they want you to go left.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO)

UPDATE 23 January 2017 -- I got by the new location on Sunset last weekend. Apparently they are still not quite open:

Read the rest of this entry »

As above, this BI-LO opened on 15 November 2013, giving them about a three year run after taking over from The Pig.

I don't understand the rationale for closing this particular store, as it seems to have some pretty big plus factors to me. The groceries in this area are Kroger on Forest at Beltline, Trader Joe's at 4516 Forest, Fresh Market and Publix at Trenholm Plaza, and arguably Wal-Mart at Forest & I-77. Of those, Fresh Market and Trader Joe's are upscale specialty stores that are a different market than a general grocery, Publix is cramped and has bad parking, Kroger has bad parking and so-so location, and Wal-Mart .. is Wal-Mart. Against that, this spot has good parking, a large layout, and lots of built-in customers as soon as the re-purposing of Cardinal Newman is complete.

On the other hand, BI-LO is not in the most robost shape, and has presumably thought about all these issues.

At any rate, the sell-off was almost complete when I went in on Saturday 24 September. Remaining were only two endcaps of odd frozen goods, and one shelf of deeply discounted (and not particularly popular) items near the registers. The rest of the store was already a hollow shell.

UPDATE 9 August 2017 -- The teaser sign for Lowes is up on the plaza sign board and the store itself has now been designated a construction area (though I have seen no activity as yet):

UPDATE 31 October 2017 -- As mentioned in the comments, construction for Lowe's has begun, and the building is basically ripped open:

UPDATE 17 February 2018 -- Starting to look like a Lowes:

UPDATE 19 March 2018 -- Shaping up:

UPDATE 25 June 2018 -- Nearly there:

The Seafood Academy was the follow-on operation to the much lamented (by me, anyway) TGI Friday's in Richland Mall.

Since I'm not a fan of seafood, I never partook of this new incarnation, which, according to their sign, is now relocating to East Point Plaza at 7535 Garners Ferry.

Getting inside the mall for some of these pictures was kind of sad. More than half the doors to the interior were marked as out-of-order-use-next-door. If they can't afford to fix the doors already, losing a front facing store is just adding insult to injury.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby)

UPDATE 9 August 2017 -- Looks like the new location is finally about ready to open:

I mentioned a while back that this place was a convenience store while I was growing up. Since then, it has been a number of things but most recently a garage of some sort. It's kind of amusing that the building at the top of the hill went exactly the opposite way: from garage to convenience store.

Well, after mailing out the flyers in May, the Richland Mall Bank Of America is finally closed. As you'll recall, they closed the drive-through in March 2015 at which point the writing was probably on the wall.

I don't know why, but I had it in my mind that the ATM would remain, though in the event that turns out not to be the case. At any rate, I believe that Trenholm Plaza is now the only Forest Acres BOA location.

UPDATE 8 May 2018 -- This building has now been sold, though there is no indication of what is planned there:

UPDATE 30 August 2018 -- As commenter Dennis Craighead notes in Have Your Say, this building is being razed. I guess building something there demonstrates some belief that the whole Richland Mall property will not just be plowed under at some point..