Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed the other day that Dick Dyer Body Shop on Two Notch (which is also the former location of Dick Dyer Toyota) was for sale. Checking the web site reveals that it is already closed, and that they are referring customers to Caliber Collision on Newland Road.

I guess this is the final end of an era for Dick Dyer on Two Notch. I and my parents bought cars from the dealership, and I had my car in the body shop after taking out Bambi on I-26. I liked when the dealership was here, as I could take my car in and walk home. I can't do that from Blythewood, which has cut way down on my usage of their repair operation.

As mentioned by commenter ED a while back, this Bi-Lo in Spring Valley Commons is the only one in Columbia currently slated to close and re-open as a Food Lion.

The process has now started, and while the shelves are getting rather bare, there are definitely some good deals to be had, as everything seems to be at least 40% off. I do find it rather curious that they have eschewed the normal Closing signs here. I was not in fact sure the clearance had begun because there is no indication in any of the windows. The closest thing is a small paper sign posting reduced hours, but not saying why.

It will be interesting to see how much work Food Lion does on the interior here.

(Hat tip to commener ED)

As we discussed earlier those Rite Aid locations which have been purchased by Walgreens and are close to an existing Walgreens location will be closing. The process has started now, and this store, at the west corner of Two Notch & Rabon Roads will be closing on 13 June. I didn't have a chance to go in, and these pictures through the rain aren't that great, but you can see that signs are up.

How close is this store to a Walgreens?

Directly across the road:

(Hat tip to commenter Megan)

UPDATE 10 July 2019 -- As mentioned in the comments, this is now a Dollar Tree:

I have noticed for the past few months that Tire Kings on Two Notch near Fontaine is preparing to move.

Their new location will be 2230 Two Notch Road, which is by the AARO Rental Center. I hope they keep the crown logo sign which is nice.

UPDATE 13 June 2018 -- The move is complete:

UPDATE 29 August 2018 -- The new location:

UPDATE 14 August 2024 -- The original building has been razed as part of the ongoing work on the railroad bridge at Two Notch & Fontaine:

Also adding map icon.

I noticed last weekend that this old-school used appliance store at the corner of Two Notch and McFadden was closed. Kind of a shame because the old stuff was better made than the new stuff in many cases.

As you can see from the sign, this Church's Chicken at the foot of Gonzales Gardens and in the location of the old Drake's is now closed, or colsed, if you prefer.

I would guess this means a little more business for the KFC on the next block up, but *this* bird has flown the coop.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 19 December 2018 -- As mentioned in the comments, some sort of construction is going on here, though there is no signage indicating what might be coming next:

UPDATE 21 February 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, to be an Asian Express:

Havertys recently moved their Colonial Life Boulevard store to Harbison. I think the move added a bit of size to that store, and perhaps they think one larger store is enough, but whatever the reason, the Two Notch Road store near the I-20 interchange in Dentsville is now closing.

As a side note, the old Ramada Inn property almost directly across the street remains vacant after almost eight years..

(Hat tip to commenter Mike)

As mentioned in the comments by several people, Burlington Coat Factory is closing their Columbia Mall store to relocate to a newly built building at Village At Sandhill. The final sale has now started.

Burlington occupied the first floor of the former Columbia Mall J C Penny location after Penny's itself moved to Sandhill (I don't appear to have done a closing for that for some reason). The second floor was never repurposed and remains vacant. This move will leave that side of the mall without any semblance of an anchor store. In fact, all of the former anchors, save for Macy's are now gone, and Macy's as a chain is having its problems as well. The idea has recently been mooted for Richland County to buy the whole property for offices. I don't know -- I think at this point, razing the buildings, plowing the parking lot and planting trees might be the way to go. Charlton Heston could ride through on a horse..

UPDATE 7 February 2018 -- Here is the new Sandhill building (not yet occupied):

UPDATE 18 June 2024 -- There is some kind of construction happening at the old Burlington. I suppose it's related to the county buying the mall, but I haven't heard anything specific about it:

Also added map icon, and updated post title from "Moving" to "Moved", and gave the mall street address instead of just "Columbia Mall".

How have the mighty fallen..

This Dentsville Best Buy across from Columbia Mall used to be my go-to place for quick buys of computer and networking equipment when I had my previous job. It was also a good place for DVDs & CDs, back when those were a thing. Lately I have had much less need to test various networking configurations or throw together new linux & Windows installs, so my visits had become much more rare. I did feel that the merchandise was starting to rattle around in this huge building a bit as they kind of thinned out the inventory. I also felt it was becoming much more common to find unstocked gaps on the shelves where tags indicated your item *should* be, and for finding items which seemed to be completely untagged or priced..

Of course the root cause of all of those symptoms is the ongoing "creative destruction" of retailing as we have known it. It's simply the case now that I will only hit a Best Buy if I need something *today*; otherwise it's Amazon. That said, I'm still surprised they didn't stay open through the holiday shopping season.

Here's The State story announcing the closing.

UPDATE 22 March 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, this place is being converted into a church:

(Also adding a map icon).

Here's another abandoned branch bank, this one at Midlands Shopping Center which, as far as I know, is still for sale.

The real estate listing says it's a 2240 square foot building on a 1.46 acre lot, which is bigger than I would have guessed. They also say:

The site has high visibility as 18,400 vehicles per day pass the site.

which is undoubtedly true, but leaves out the fact that *stopping* at the site is another matter entirely.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 20 October 2022: Updating tags & adding map icon.