Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This little storefront on Saint Andrews Road more or less across from the big industrial plant was in the used software business, presumably mostly games as the text of the (now painted over) marquee is: Software Seconds New & Used Video Games.

Like Labrasca's it has been reported closed before, but this time is definitely the real thing. They are listed in the February 2012 phonebook, so for lack of any better information, I'm just giving the date as 2012.

I don't know about console games, but pretty much anything that runs on a PC platform is pirated out the wazoo on the Internet now, and that puts stores like this one in the same fix as CD stores (and, increasingly, video stores).

UPDATE 27 August 2012 -- The store has moved to 6903 Saint Andrews Road on the other side of Harbison and is still in business.

I confess I had not known about Happy Frog Gelato Cafe until commenter Eddie mentioned that it had closed. I'm guessing that that probably happened at the end of May, but the place has already been comprehensively stripped. In fact, I couldn't make out which unit in the strip mall had been Happy Frog without walking from one end to the other and looking at the interior setups. In the event it turned out to be the leftmost unit on the main row of storefronts.

The walk was rather instructive as it appears that most of the units in this strip have never been occupied by anything, and are awaiting interior finishing touches specific to whoever finally moves in. Given that the Food Lion anchoring the development has been open since 2008, this seems a bit disappointing (though the Food Lion itself is very nice and seems busy).

(Hat tip to commenter Eddie)

Carolina MoneySaver (or Carolina Money$aver) if I'm recalling right was one of those little "only classifieds" papers you would find around town in various lobbies and foyers. I think I saw it most often at Constan Carwash on Gervais.

The Internet has not been kind to such publications (or to the classified section of "regular" newspapers). In fact it has basically wiped them out. Why would you pay to place an ad in such a paper when you know that few people would see the paper itself, much less leaf through all the ads when you could instead list on Craigslist for free knowing that people could use online-search to beeline to your listing?

The URL on the roadside sign still works, but now redirects to a Charlotte area MoneySaver niche on the PennySaver USA site. I believe that PennySaver was once sort of an umbrella for all those little regional ad papers, but now it seems to have more of a pure online focus.

Maybe someone should put this real estate listing on Craigslist..

UPDATE 7 January 2012: Added several new tenants to the post title. I believe Fresh Encounters LLC to be the oldest of those. The Secretary of State's office indicates that it organized in 1998 and dissolved in 2001. There's no actual indication of what it was. With that name, it could be anthing from an escort agency to a produce stand.

The other names are more clear, and Beds Plus is undoubtedly the mattress store referenced in the comments.

Here's another vacancy at The Shops At Columbiana Crossing. This one seems to have happened in 2009, and as far as I can tell, Sosi did not move elsewhere.

I find it a little curious that this strip does not seem to update either the storefront marquees or their road-side sign...

Today's closing comes from commenter IrmoJeff who says:

Hey Ted…Junior Apprentice Closing Spotter, 2nd Class IrmoJeff checking in :D

I thought i’d toss this out there, in case you are ever out towards Irmo/Balentine again. 8027 Broad River Road is the address of a little triangular piece of land that sits at the intersection of Broad River Road and Woodrow Street, sort of just behind where Tez’ used to be. I drove by there the other day, and it looks like whatever business was in there most recently is closed up. I became aware of the building when i was just out of high school in the early 90’s when a friend of a friend opened Smokey Joe’s BBQ. Im not sure what was there previously, but i dont think Smokey Joes was the original occupant. The owner used to joke that he couldnt afford to charge me a flat rate for the all you could eat buffet, that he would have to weigh me going in and coming out :). Anyway after Smokey Joes closed, it was a catering business (or possibly a restaurant) for a while, run by the Catering By Dupre guy i’m pretty sure. I’m also pretty sure Dupre was somehow involved in Smokey Joes, possibly a silent moneyman or something. After that i lost track, but a quick Googling found all these businesses associated with 8027 BRR:

Bill Hinson Auto Sales
Clayton’s Cars
Irmo Properties
Palmetto Glass
Columbia Credit Corp (listed as 8025 BRR)

Im also pretty sure i remember a flower shop, or maybe a gift shop there at one point. I also thought i remembered a car title place there at one point, but i could possibly be confusing it with the Columbia Credit Corp.

I added this pic to clarify which building i was talking about

http://i54.tinypic.com/23izbyu.jpg

I actually did take some pictures of this place in April of 2009 (I know from the date of some other pix from the same day) but appear to have deleted them somehow. As I had no idea what the place had been, I didn't keep good track of them.. I'm pretty sure however that the roof of the building was intact at the time or it would have stayed in my mind. Likewise, the picture that IrmoJeff links above shows the roof intact (but has no EXIF date tag). Given that the roof is currently not intact, I suspect that the incoming Hickory Point convenience store will knock the building down, or at least it doesn't make sense to me to leave a building you hope to salvage open to the rain.

As to the two addresses: The lefthand door is labelled "8025" while the righthand door is labelled "8027". I don't have a guess which address goes with the existing outbuildings.

(Hat tip to IrmoJeff, obviously)

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Commenter Heath noted this closing, saying:

An obscure one for you… a take-out place in Irmo in Friarsgate Plaza (7949 Broad River Road) called Joe’s to Goes (not a type-o) closed in the fall of 2010. They had great burgers, fries, and BBQ sandwiches. We loved to get burgers on Sunday night during football season between the end of the 4:15 game and start of SNF at 8:15.

When I went out to Friarsgate Plaza a while ago, it wasn't absolutely clear to me which space was Joe's, but given that Mudbone's seems to be still in grand-opening phase, and that there's a vacancy next to it, I figure odds are pretty good it was one of these slots.

Personally, I'm not big on take-out because part of the whole "restaurant" idea, for me at least, is to get out of the house for a while..

(Hat tip to commenter Heath).

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I did a closing for the Two Notch Road Floor It Now back in early 2009. Now the other local location, in or near Irmo, is closing as well. This one is on Broad River Road just past exit 101B on I-26 and not far from Friarsgate Plaza and the former Tez's / Monterrey.

I suspect that the housing market and the economy in general played a big part in both of these closings. If you're buying a house, you may want to redo the flooring or carpet, or if you're flush, you may decide one morning that that old carpet just has to go. If nobody is buying houses, or decides that old rug can stay down a few more years, then flooring stores are going to take a hit.

Or it could be the shag.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 16 July 2013: This is now Main Street Home whose owners provide this picture of the new store in the comments:

http://static.squarespace.com/static/51131961e4b064b9ab645b18/t/51d0dfdce4b08819bd7f5b9a/1372643294026/storefront_rightangle.jpg?format=750w

UPDATE 8 May 2017 -- And finally took a shot of my own:

UPDATE 22 September 2021: Adding map icon.

I first wrote about this building when it was LulaBelle's:

and before that, it was a Roadhouse.

Since it became a Hudson's, I had reports of its closing a couple of times, apparently because it does not open on Mondays or Tuesdays, and people would drive by and see no cars there.

As WIS reports a fire broke out on 6 April, closing the place for real, if presumably only on a temporary basis, though interestingly when I went by, there was no signage estimating a re-opening date, or indeed noting anything -- even the chalkboard noted only normal hours.

UPDATE 17 May 2011 -- Well, they have a sign up now with a little more information:

UPDATE 24 October 2013: As commenter Andrew points out, the property has been sold and the closing is clearly no longer "temporary", so I have taken that tag off the post title.

UPDATE 13 December 2013 -- Well, this place has been demolished:

The closing for The Devine Street Al-Amir was the first one I ever posted on this blog. I also did one for the Sparkleberry Crossing location, and this one makes three.

It's a shame because I really like the food at Al-Amir -- the Damascus bread, tabouli, hummus and falafel are all very good. Luckily, they still have locations on Main Street by Moe's and at Sandhill in the old Shane's Rib Shack location.

This closing had a very fast turn-around. I know I ate at this Al-Amir sometime in February, and now it is not only closed, but re-opened as a burger and pizza place called Stinger's.

(Hat tip to commenter E.J.)