Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Chalk this one up to the ongoing Carolina Crossroads / Malfunction Junction project, but at this point the Jarret & Hart building has not only been torn down, but scooped out.

According to WLTX the owners were not at all happy about the situation, and SCDOT made them a rather IMHO insulting offer (if the reported number is accurate) on the property which doubled as their home. I don't see any follow-up story on how things finally turned out, but certainly the building is gone.

It seems to me that if this property got the excavator treatment, IHOP will have to go at some point as well although I still have problems visualizing the project final result.

(Hat tip to commenter Arthur P)

I think I've written that Borders Books was my touchstone for quality bookstores. They had a certain mistique as I first encountered them in exotic locales like Washington DC & Overland Park KS and often ended up coming home with a suitcase full of books I'd never find locally.

Although I never got my wish of Borders coming to Columbia, Barnes & Noble was a good second choice, and I spent many evenings at the Harbison location hanging out in the cafe with prospective purchases on the table. This one, at Richland Mall never seemed quite as nice to me, but was servicable enough and I certainly bought my share of books (and gifts) there.

You could kind of see it go down with the mall over the years though. At some point a few years before the end, they gave up on the mall and closed of the exit leading to the mall interior. You could notice a lot of maintainence that wasn't being done as well, partly I suppose because of the mall's troubles and partly because of the chain's. The mens' room especially got quite shoddy over the years, and nobody was taking care of the wobbly tables in the cafe. Finally they started dropping the hours. When I was younger and could drink coffee at 10pm, the store was open until 11pm, and I would often be on the last call out. In the end, I think, the hours had dropped to 8pm, and less on some days.

The last time I was there was on Christmas-Eve Eve of 2023, during the final closing sale, where I found some quite good bargains. Shortly after that, the store closed until the Woodhill location was ready, and earlier this year the building was finally razed during the Richland Mall demolition.

I have been to the new location once, and it looked quite nice.

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RAW (Rent A Wheel) was in the old Huddle House location on Two Notch (though there is a discrepency in the address I have for Huddle House), and was the follow-up to Auto Image.

I'm not exactly sure when it closed, and I think there is still an AI robot on Google Reviews posting responses for the owner, but it appears to be sometime in the Spring. The embedded StreetView photo is from October of 2023). There is a nice aerial view of the property on LoopNet.

UPDATE 23 September 2024 -- More pictures:

I found these pictures from April & May of 2012 -- Pretty much no change since then...

Whit-Ash has been in this location since 1974, making them a Vista stalwart before there was a Vista.

According to WIS this location was once the Murray Drug Company, and you should look at their article as it has a very nice historical picture and ad for that establishment.

Before moving to this spot, several articles mention a (non-specific) site on Saint Andrews Road as the original location for the store, and commenter Midnight Rambler found a 1973 State article listing it as at Boardwalk Plaza, which, of course was Bush River Road.

The owners are retiring, and don't have a definite end date for the closing sale, with the current plan being to sell down to the last piece of furniture.

You can read about Whit-Ash on ColaDaily, WLTX and The Post & Courier as well as the WIS link above.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

I hesitate to post a closing this far out, but The Free Times has already weighed in, so why not?

Steve's Classic Burgers opened in this little Saint Andrews Road strip mall back in 2015, and I admit I have never gotten around to trying it, though I have noticed the billboards from time to time. Ashland Park is just not really on my radar, and I don't think I have been back there since Sandy's closed. The place sounds as though they do a bit of outreach as well as cooking, with Bibles on the tables, something that puts me a bit in the mind of Edna's #2 on Pinehurst, which unfortunately I never got any pictures of before it closed and was torn down.

At any rate, with retirement and other issues to deal with, the owners have decided to close next Spring, so if you want to check it out, you still have time to make several visits.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

I believe I got a battery at NTB once and it was fine. I was not really aware of this particular location, but it seems a bit hard to get in and out of to me. Hopefully the staff were able to go to the Harbison location called out on the closing sign.

We'll see what comes in next here, probably something else car related.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

As reported by commenter Matt, Carolina Fine Jewelry has left Forest Acres for the old Dem's location on Lake Murray Boulevard.

As ColaDaily reports, the store has been open in one location or another since 1974. (I'm not sure when they moved into the Forest Drive location, but it's a fairly new building).

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 15 November 2024 -- Here they are in their new location:

This was probably inevitable given the chain's ongoing bankruptcy, but still it's sad to see a decades long area staple go. The ax came down rather quickly here, as CNN reported the latest closing list today, and by the time they had published, this location was already shuttered.

The State has a bit more.

(Hat tips to commenters Tom & Larry)

I think this is closed. There is never any sign of activity when I drive by and the Facebook has not been updated for quite a while, but yet google reviews always has a couple of reactions from the last few months...

Anyway I'm calling it closed, and if anyone knows differently, let me know.

If this plaza has a name, it is not apparent. There have been a number of fairly high-profile stores in there over the years including Winn-Dixie, and Lionel Playworld, but none recently and the main building, which now houses a plasma center and a comedy club, is pretty beat up and decrepit on the Trenholm end.

Perhaps the current owners have given up on bringing the place back up as I noticed a For Sale sign on the property last month. Of course that doesn't mean much as I think Midlands Shopping Center has been on the block for years with no takers.