Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed driving by the other day that the old Howard Johnson's on Zimalcrest Drive at Bush River has closed for remodeling. I believe it has most been under a number of flags since the Hojo days, but most recently, it was a Budget Inn.

This place is a bit unusual in that it has a strip club Thee Whiskey Tavern operating out of a suite of rooms. I have never heard of such an arrangement elsewhere (and don't know if the club is closed during the remodel). You will also remember that the attached restaurant Punjabi Dhaba suffered a fire in early 2014, and has since been torn down.

UPDATE 28 June 2016 -- Renovations continue:

UPDATE 30 August 2016 -- Well this place is open again, now as Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham which at least sounds a bit more upscale this time. I will have to check to see if Thee Whiskey Tavern is still co-located or not:

UPDATE 11 September 2016 -- Well Thee Whiskey Tavern is still there, something of an anomaly in a property that's trying to go a little bit more upmarket than Budget Inn:

It's curious since I drive this stretch of road several times a week that I have no memory of ever seeing this building in operation as Gandy Auto Sales, but Google Street View has the image, and the phonebook confirms they were there at least since 2008.

There appears to be some sort of land clearing going on in the lot just adajacent to this one on the east.

This kid's activity center moved into this old NAPA Auto Parts building some time late in 2012. I'm not sure exactly when they closed -- I just noticed the empty building and the real estate sign a few weeks ago, but I see that the LoopNet listing for the property was created on 17 October 2014, so I'm just saying "2014".

The building has been sold, so we should have something else here soon.

I remember at one time having to figure out whether this little Latin Dance club behind the D's on Beltline was in fact a Mexican Restaurant or a nightclub. In the event, it proved to be the later, which was a little disappointing to me. As far as I know they were not affected by the 2011 fire at D's or the October 2015 flood, but I could be wrong.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 13 February 2017 -- Here's an instructional video from the club:

It seems a number of toner refill stores have closed recently. This one, at the corner of Two Notch Road and O'Neil Court closed, I believe, late in 2015. I am pretty sure it was not flood related as this side of Two Notch was relatively unscathed.

The last time I needed toner for my LaserJet 1300, I had the cartridge refilled at Forest Park, but when I needed it again last week, I found a new cartridge on Amazon for under $30, so perhaps the business model works less well than it used to.

I noticed a real estate sign in front of this Two Notch building the other week and in checking further found an old Administrative Law Court decision that established this building was once The Locker Room, a name that sounds somewhat familiar to me, though I could not have placed it in this area.

The decision is somewhat interesting in that it is a denial of an ABC permit, mostly for the reason that the club's only idea for parking was a cockamayme scheme for valet parking to a lot two miles away.

I'm not sure if this The Locker Room was associated with the one in Eastover.

I'm pretty sure this event venue has been mentioned in Have Your Say at some point, but I can't find the reference now. It may be another piece of information lost in this summer's crash.

At any rate, this place is on Saint Andrews Road just North of Seven Oaks Shopping Center and apparently closed in 2014. The real estate writeup says it's still turnkey ready and parks 50. This small image from an old Lake Murray Country promo shows that it lights up well at night too.

UPDATE 18 March 2016: Commenter Andrew notes that Kendall's Catering was co-located here, so I have added it to the post title.

I've been misplacing and finding these pictures ever since commenter Rick sent them, but here they finally are. Commenter Rick says:

Ted,

Attached are a few photos of my store at 2941 Two Notch Road when our new sign was going up. It does not show the building very well but in the back ground just past the McDonald's sign, you can see the old Chappy's Fish and Chips sign that you mentioned in your Carzzz 2941 post. You can also see my old 1976 blue corvette that was in the middle bay of the picture I sent from my Five Points location.

I would also note that in the background of the first picture, you can see the old AMC dealership, where I bought the worst piece of junk ever assembled: the 1983 Renault Alliance. Man, was I ever glad to see the last of that marvel of Franco-American technology.

The building on this lot is now a dental office.

Oddly, this is the second location of Tripp's Fine Cleaners to be affected by fire in recent years. You will recall that they were also caught in the Spring Valley Commons fire of 14 October 2013. Hopefully, this location will be able to rebuild more quickly than the Two Notch location.

UPDATE 30 August 2016 -- Grand re-opening is now scheduled for 12 September 2016:

UPDATE 23 September 2016 -- Open again:

UPDATE 1 February 2024: Updating tags and adding map icon.

I have noticed this little strip on Decker driving by over the years, mostly because of Piper's Hair Care uwhich I never could quite figure out if it were closed or not. (It was). Now the whole place is empty and for let.

It's certainly not the worst looking real estate on the corridor.

UPDATE 17 June 2021 -- This place has now been gutted:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 15 September 2021 -- remodeling continues:

UPDATE 30 September 2022 -- Apparently after the rebuild, this will be newly branded as Plaza Del Sol, and and insurance agency is already slated to feature: