Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

As reported by commener MB, Sunset Tax Services in West Columbia has closed. They were the follow-on operation in this building to My Best Cleaners. According to commenter James, Sunset opened here in late 2013.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

The impending closing of this Lexington Publix plaza wing stop was noted a while ago by commenter Ed, and commenter Brian confirmed the actual closing a bit later. The first shot shows the place still in operation and the later shots are from afterwards.

Curiously, Hot 4 Wings was just a few suites down from Wing Nuts, which shuttered in March 2014.

(Hat tip to commenters ED & Brian)

As commenter Jason notes, this McDonald's on Sunset Boulevard near the I-26 interchange has closed for remodeling. This is something a number of the local McDonald's have done recently, including ones on Garners Ferry, Hardscrabble, Two Notch and Decker.

I don't expect this

but you never know.

(Hat tip to commenter Jason)

As the store on Saint Andrews Road did earlier, the new-ish Aldi in Lexington has closed for a complete remodel. The signs say that they are slated to be back on 29 June 2017. That may be pusing it: That's less than 15 days away, and the store appears completely gutted now.

Looking back, the old Bike To Nature building was still here in August of 2013, and construction of this store still had not started in February of 2014, so they are doing a complete upfit after being open less than three years..

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

I took these pictures a few weeks ago -- I'm working on the assumption that this place is now closed.

At any rate, this closing is part and parcel of the bankruptcy described in this post.

I wonder what "Acorn" is..

I noticed this vacant pool hall on Sunset near New Brookland Baptist a week or so ago. They list in this years phonebook, and I think it would have caught my eye if it had been closed earlier, so I'm going with "Early 2017" for the closing date.

That's one buff & veiny looking chicken...

UPDATE 12 April 2017: I had the closing as "Early 2017" since they are in the Feb 2017 phonebook, but based on the comments, I've put the date back to 2014, which is quite a difference!

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:

I was wondering what business this nice little old house next Triangle Lock & Safe on Sunset was. Looking at the pictures I took, I couldn't even get a street number (for some reason I didn't get out for a closer look at the time), but google maps came through and identified it as 1410 Sunset and the former site of yet another of the Midlands title loans operations. They listed in the Feb 2012 phonebook, but not the Feb 2013 one, so I am tagging the closing date as 2012.

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.