Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This ladies' shoe store in Boozer Shopping Center apparently set up shop in July of 2011. I'm not sure exactly when it closed, but the storefront was papered over by the time of this 31 May 2012 shot.

This small Indian market was the follow-on operation to Groucho's Deli in this Broad River Road storefront. It started sometime before November 2011 and I'm pretty sure I saw it still open in early September 2012.

As I mentioned a week or so ago in an update to the Intersection Center Pizza Hut post, that building at 1929 Broad River Road has been taken over by Carolina Title Loans (last picture above). This is the building they moved from.

It was obviously a gas station at one time, though I don't remember of what brand, and sits at the corner of Broad River Road and Garner Lane (which is also the Eastbound on-ramp for I-20). I would say the Pizza Hut location definitely has easier access than this lot, which is difficult to get to if you are heading towards Dutch Square on Broad River Road.

UPDATE 25 March 2022 -- This place has now been razed:

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie for the notice that this place has been razed).

Also adding map icon.

Sammi's Deli still has a Broad River Road location in Irmo near the Publix plaza, but this one in front of the old Intersection Center has changed hands and will become a Nick's.

Nick's seems to be using the Lizard's Thicket "hermit crab" strategy of moving into buildings which were already set up as restaurants. This will be the third new location they have opened or will open over the past year. They have already opened in the old Taco Bell location on Decker and appear close to opening in the old Tony O's Pizza on Saint Andrews.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 17 September 2012 -- The comments have reminded me this used to be a Taco Cid so I have added that to the post title. I have also copied commenter Melanie's matchbook scans here:

UPDATE 30 August 2022: Updating tags and adding map icon.

This 24 hour gym was in Boozer Shopping Center on the Bush River Road side just a few slots down from Dunkin' Robbins. This is not too far away from the former Curves gym on Colonial Life Boulevard.

Continuing yesterday's Mexican theme -- I have often noted this El Monterrey on Broad River Road, just North of I-20, and thought to myself that it was in an awful location: very close to the I-20 interchange (which is busy, and backs up) but without access to a traffic light.

That turns out not to be exactly true, as I found out when I stopped to take these pictures. In fact, the back of the parking lot has a cut-through into the Economy Inn parking lot, and thence to Briargate Circle, which does have a stop-light. It even looks as though they got enought business from the hotel side (or expected to get enough business from the hotel side) to set up the back of the restaurant with a second facade.

Apart from the access situation, I was never tempted to stop here because in my experience the local Monterrey chain comes in behind the Casa Linda, San Jose and La Fogota chains -- nothing drastic, just not one of my preferred marquees. (And if I was in the general area, I would probably hit El Chico anyway).

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

UPDATE 8 April 2014 -- Well, this place tried to open as La Reyna Del Sur, which I take to be a nightclub concept. Literally it means "Queen of the South", and is also the title of a famous Telemundo telenovela (and the novel it is based on). Just from the picture of the lady in question, it appears she was from *very* far south. At any rate, the sign went up, but the club never opened, and now the building is for sale:

UPDATE 21 July 2016 -- As commenter Andrew mentions, work is going on here. Judging from the interior, it will not be a restaurant, but some sort of office with a front reception counter:

Also, I'm taking the El off the original post title of El Monterrey Restaurante Mexicano Bar & Grill to make it match the sign and fall in the Alphabetical Closings with the other Monterrey locations.

Or has the Broad River Road / River Drive construction been ongoing since the late 1800s?

UPDATE 9 April 2014 -- And two years later, *still* not done!

UPDATE 19 January 2018 -- I should update here to note that the work is indeed finished, and has been for a while:

Commenter ED points out that the Bel-Air Barber Shop, a Boozer Shopping Center institution, has closed after 40 years. The old style places certainly seem to be closing faster than new ones are springing up. And of course it's depressing to note as well that if this place was 40 years old -- it is a lot *newer* than the places I started getting my hair cut..

(Hat tip to commenter ED)

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)

This storefront on the Dunkin' Donut side of Boozer Shopping Center apparently came and went pretty quickly. It is listed in the February 2012 phonebook, but not the February 2011 one.

I like the (improbably long necked) logo.