Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Go pursue happiness!

When commenter Brad mentioned

Circle K/BP at the corner of Old Cherokee and 378 in Lexington is permanently closed.

I had a hard time finding it because as far as I could tell from Google Maps, Old Cherokee Road didn't intersect with 378. I resolved to just keep my eyes open the next time I was out in Lexington, and did see the store as shown in the pictures above (not very good as I was going the wrong way and was too late to turn in).

Anyway, for whatever reason, unless you zoom way in, Google identifies this stretch of Old Cherokee only as State Rd S32-485, though it has no problem with correctly labeling stretches of the road to the west.

As for Circle K, they have been razing and updating a lot of their stores recently. We'll see if this one gets the same treatment.

(Hat tip to commenter Brad)

I was rather surprised by this closing, although East Forest Plaza has certainly had its share of turnover lately. The chain is pitching this as a relocation as noted in this press release, with the new location being at 2209 West Dekalb Street in Camden. I guess the management team could have relocated intact, but surely for the rank and file, those jobs are gone -- nobody is going to commute from Columbia to Camden.

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)

The Woody is legendary Columbia DJ Woody Windham's nightclub in The Vista. Although I was a WIS AM fan back in the day, I can't recall a time when Windham hasn't had something going on in the area.

The sign on the door confirms commenter Lone Wolf's note that this place is closing/moving, but I can't find out any further details. Curiously, the club doesn't seem to have a web site or an official Facebook page, and there don't seem to be any stories in the local media. Hopefully they will find another space somewhere.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)

UPDATE 4 February 2021 -- Here is the new location of The Woody at 1649 Main Street, the former location of Hennessy's Restaurant & Lounge:

Also adding "Moved" to the post title.

UPDATE 18 April 2024 -- Sadly Woody Windham has passed away.

As The Daily Gamecock reports, Yoghut at the corner of Main & Blossom streets is now The Corner Blend with a new menu, including Acai Bowls (something I had never heard of) and Bubble Tea. The place remains under the same management, but the new name reflects the broader focus.

UPDATE 28 June 2019 -- Forgot to put some pictures with the Yoghut branding up. Here they are:

20!20 Vision has moved to 1600 St Julian Place, leaving this Blossom Street building in Five Points vacant. This building has always had a slightly odd look to me, and the LoopNet listing says that's because it was "the first bank in 5 Points". Not sure what the bank affiliation was, but that does explain the boarded up spot that was a teller window I guess (though Blossom would have had to have been less wide then).

I'm not really a Domino's fan, but it's acceptable pizza, and when you're in college, that's probably the best you can hope for. This particular location is on the sharply sloped section of Devine that leads down from Main to Assembly, requiring that the lot be terraced. You can see a shot of it in operation, with the Domino's signage at the LoopNet listing.

They moved from this building to the old Sandy's location, after completely redoing the looks of that property. I'm a little curious about all this as Sandy's had apparently sold their store to something called The USC Development Foundation, which did not lead me to expect another retail food operation there.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 25 January 2022 -- Now The Smokeshop Guys:

The Horseshoe replaced Kildare's Irish Pub in the summer of 2014, and is the most recent of a long line of bars and restaurants in this spot (going back, at least, to Kester's Bamboo House). The building is now for sale, so we will have to see what happens.

According to The State, this place is a casualty of a work to rule enforcement of SC's liquor laws, which has hit a number of college bars in Five Points. It strikes me that it may be a case of killing the golden goose, but the scene had been getting out of hand, sometimes fatally, in recent years.

I believe at one time this hole in the wall rib joint in an old house on Decker may have updated its slogan to Slap Yo Mama Good! but I can't verify it (and I suppose they were lucky Mick Jagger never drove by..). This was apparently a one man operation, and got pretty good reviews on Yelp, though apparently there was no indoor seating.

I was going through some old pictures and noticed that I never did a closing for Carolina Window & Millwork on Laurel Street. I don't actually know anything about the place other than Google suggests it was an auto glass place (although, just from the name that sounds wrong..), and that the storefront is now Distinctive Surfaces kitchen and bath store.

They listed in the February 2014 phonebook, but not the February 2015 one, so I'm putting the closing date as 2014.