Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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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:

There is something going in the corner of Trenholm Plaza by Chico's. One of the waitresses at Rosso thought it might be a small garden courtyard, but nobody really seemed to know. That might be nice, but losing several more prime parking spaces in the often full lot will hurt.

UPDATE 19 August 2016 -- More pix:

Should also mention that Michael's has moved over as you can see above and that the old Hooligan's space has been gutted and is also under construction:

I noted last August that this restaurant and bar had replaced Fish & More Seafood Market. The place had a fairly extensive Caribbean menu but it seems that it too has now fallen by the wayside.

Not too long after noting the move of the Boozer location, I had occasion to mail something and dropped by the forest drive location of Nutrition Warehouse. Unfortunately, I found it closed and vacant. This is a shame, since while I never perused the vitamins and supplements the store offered, the contract Post Office was more convenient than the Trenholm Plaza USPS and generally had much faster service.

The Picture Place was for many years in the old Forest Lake TV storefront in Forest Lake Shopping Center. I know I had at least one photo framed there, and I think my mother had some art framed there as well.

As with everything else in that shopping center, the 4 October 2015 flood which roared through Nine Mile Branch and Gills Creek devastated their building as you can see in the first pictures above.

Fortunately, since since 19 November 2015 the store has been operating from their new home in Forest Park in the former Oreck / All Vacuums suite.

Well, this has been talked about, and dreaded, for ages, but Cardinal Newman High School has finally left Forest Acres for Alpine Road. The kids went home from this campus for Christmas vacation, and "returned" to the new one. I know that Brueggers, Groucho's and other area restaurants will miss the afternoon influx of the diverse, chatty but very polite mass of students, as will I, and evenings will be somewhat less interesting without the muted roar from the football field. And then, of course, there's the question of "What Next?" The property is apparently already under contract, and to be re-zoned, and it's hard to imagine that whatever replaces the school will be an improvement in the eyes of local residents.

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Was apparently going on by Doctor's Care on Forest Drive about 2:30pm on the 24th. There were K-9 units and a Sheriff's Department chopper overhead. I checked The State, WIS and WLTX, but didn't see anything about it..

I was out driving on yesterday and noticed a For Lease sign in the window of Corma's, which shared a building with Ed Robinson (just re-opened) near Gills Creek on Forest Drive.

A look at their website confirms that unfortunately they will not be coming back after being caught in the Great Flood. They had moved to this building in 2008 after leaving nearby Trenholm Plaza. Interestingly, their old location, though actually nearer to the creek is somewhat higher and did not flood.