Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

You can see why this office might want to move: being co-located with a departed convenience store of some kind is not ideal. Looking up the phone number, it appears they are now at 2700 Broad River Road, which is the plaza across the street from Rush's.

UPDATE 13 March 2023 -- Still no new tenant here, but the Liberty signage is down:

This H. Rubin Vision Center at Sandhill appears to be closed and For Lease, though as with the Bush River Road location, there is no notice on the door, and there is still stock inside. I believe this means that all the Columbia stores are closed, and the main website is down.

Commenter Lone Wolf called this back in August:

Might want to keep and eye on Flying Saucer. They've just implemented some "changes", allegedly at the mandate of the Home Office in TX. From the "Signs Your Favorite Restaurant is About to Close", one will note several bad signs.

Saucer just hacked their menu from 1 page (front and back) to five items. Monday thru Thursday, they're no longer open for lunch. If you sit on the deck, all food and beverage orders must be placed inside, at the bar. As no one will be waiting on you on the deck, waitstaff has been reduced, or quit because their hours were cut.

I *do* hope they can right their ship. But, I don't agree with these changes.

Unfortunately, even with that warning, I didn't manage to get pictures before the closing, a combination of being both busy and absent minded. I finally did get by the other day, but the signage is already down and the place is listed for rent. The building seems to be thriving otherwise, so I expect something will move in before too long.

The State has the story here.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)

You *could be* if you had a new calendar!

When I became aware of Firefly Toys & Games, it was because they had moved from their Sunset Boulevard location to this spot beside the Chef Store on Saint Andrews Road.

When I was diving that stretch of road recently, I noticed their storefront is now on the other side of the street in the old Fred's location. Looking at their Facebook page I was unable to determine exactly when they moved, but was able to determine that they have a lot going on! If you're into gaming at all, it looks like they have a meet-up for you.

UPDATE 17 December 2019 -- I had the date in the post title as '2019' for lack on anything better. Commenter Erick supplies the date "September 2018" and I have updated the title to reflect that.

I had this store confused with Michael's on the corner of Saint Andrews & Piney Grove, which is still open. This spot is a bit further up the street.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 6 April 2022 -- I'm not sure what happened in the intervening period -- I guess it must have opened again, but this place is going out of business once more:

I don't really get over to this side of Sandhill very often, and I didn't actually remember that there was a Kitty's here. My favorite's were always Hallmark Lite: 1/3 Less Serious Than Regular Cards, and I was disappointed when they discontinued them years ago. I still do like the Shoebox label, albeit not quite as much.

This closure leaves Kitty's without a store in Columbia, though they are still in the Midlands with Irmo & Lexington locations.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 24 August 2022: Updating tags.