Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Well, this one surprises me!

I have been to this Bruegger's location a good many times during the past year or so. On weekends, I like to start my day (way after you start yours..) sitting with a cup of coffee and a good bagel while I surf the net on my laptop. During the initial stages of recovery from the great 2015 October flood, the Forest Acres Bruegger's was without potable water due to the Columbia waterworks imbroglio so I could not get coffee there (though they did drive in bagels from this and the Lake Murray store), and I spent a number of weekend mornings here. Last October or so when Forest Drive started having wifi problems, I would come back to this store or Lake Murray for my weekend routine if I had the time (or go to Panera if I did not, although their bagels are not very good at all -- I don't think they boil them).

Anyway, whenever I was here, it seemed to be doing a good business, and since I come later than the morning crowd, I always assumed they did even better earlier in the day. Commenter Brian, who reported the closing, heard second hand that it was an issue with the unexpectedly high price for renewing the lease. I don't know anything about that, but I will say that while the strip mall is perfectly fine, it is certainly not upscale, at least to my eyes.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

UPDATE 9 August 2017 -- the follow-on Poke Bros. is now open:

When I was taking the pictures of Dooley's, I happened to notice this empty building on the other side of the street. After doing a little googling, I found that it was a former Aaron's, and that, um, I had already done a closing for it, something I honestly have no memory of!

However, I find I can legitimately feature the building again as it has more recently been a Halloween Express holiday store. These tend to pop up in exactly these sorts of buildings: Large, and apparently un-rentable, under the theory that a few months of money coming in is better than zilch. For now at least, you can see the building kitted out for Halloween here.

This old-time fisherman's stop is apparently a Lexington institution, having been there according to The State for 67 years.

The development of the area, and the many changes in retail have persuaded the owning family that it's time to close:

“You just can’t make it on bait and tackle alone any more,” the elder Dooley said.

His son, 51, decided taking over the store isn’t worthwhile. “The only way it would is if I work seven days a week, be the only employee and probably live here,” he said.

And so goes another little piece of Americana...

UPDATE 26 March 2018 -- Now closed:

UPDATE 6 March 2021 -- Now open as Twisted Roots Bar & Grill:

Also adding map icon.

I wasn't really aware of this little women's apparel store on Corley Mill Road, though I have driven past it at least twice that I can think of. The area seems to be rapidly building up, but this place was still an older house on a good sized lot. Their Facebook page has a nice little shout-out to their local suppliers.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

I never stopped in this place, which was apparently a Lexington fixture, but I might well have liked it, as it apparently had Greek fare along with standard bar food.

Given the fact that they listed in last year's phonebook, but not this years, and that the last Yelp review is from 19 July 2016, I'm dating the closing as Summer 2016.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

I made the mistake of driving out to get some shots of former parts shop around 5pm on a Friday, and traffic was pretty bad then. However, the building which sits on the corner of South Lake & Industrial Drives does have stoplight access for the turn, and I imagine that the next tenant, a Vape shop which is outfitting now, will probably do more of an evening business.

Google Streetview has a good shot of the place in operation here

(Hat tip to commenter IrmoJeff)

Mr. D's was the followup operation in this location to Gilligan's and as of Mid August 2016 was bought by Steve MacDougall, the mayor of Lexington who had already been general manager.

The restaurant's Facebook page indicates that it was in operation as late as 17 December 2016, but commenter Brian noticed it closed on 16 January 2016. As you can see, a note on the front door indicates that they planned to re-open on 1 February 2017, but the real-estate sign outside suggests that plan has been overtaken by events.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

UPDATE 11 May 2019 -- Something is going on here, but there is no sign that says exactly what:

UPDATE 12 March 2020 -- Now Singh Leite Pediatric Dentistry:

The Lost Cajun was the follow-on operation to Yumilicious in this Lexington strip mall.

The State article on the closing mentions that there is another SC location in Greenville, and as far as I can tell, that location is still open, and the chain's site lists a number of restaurants in other states.

As you can see, the signage is already up for this storefront to become a Palmetto Subs location.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

UPDATE 19 February 2022: Adding map icon and updating tags.

Commenter Jason reports the closing of this locally owned bedroom store at the I-20/US-378 interchange. Assuming they are connected with the Augusta Road location, it appears this was a retirement.

Cola Daily implies in passing, that this location opened around November 2015, so that's about a year. I don't think the little strip mall has been open much longer than that itself.

UPDATE 21 January 2017 -- As mentioned in the comments, this space is fitting out to be a Sub Station II:

I've been meaning to get some pictures of this former JT's location for a while now, but always seemed to be over there at night. For some reason, over the last few years, there seem to have been a *lot* of Columbia metro area car dealerships moving around and JT's moved to their new home at 4838 Sunset Boulevard in July.

JT's Fiat at 5223 Sunset also made the move.

(Hat tip to commmentor James R)

UPDATE 21 February 2017 -- This site has now been sold:

UPDATE 23 August 2017 -- Work has started here:

UPDATE 15 March 2018 -- Almost ready to open as Lidl: