Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This building, overlooking I-77 predates that road, and was originally Galaxy World video arcade.

I did a closing for Harbison Edwin Watts a few weeks ago, leading me to think the chain itself is in trouble. A bit of googling finds that this is, in fact, the case:

Edwin Watts filed for bankruptcy protection in November and later sold its assets to Hilco Merchant Resources and an affiliate of Worldwide Golf Shops for $40.8 million. Worldwide Golf Shops also owns Van's Golf Shops, Roger Dunn Golf Shops, the Golf Mart and other golf retailers.

Under terms of the sale, the new owners said they planned to close 42 underperforming stores. The other 48 locations, including the Tampa Bay area's other stores in Brandon and Palm Harbor, will continue to operate under the Edwin Watts name.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

Wow!

When commenter badger mentioned that the Columbia Mall outparcel Bakers Sports Pub & Grill appeared to be closed, I thought I might run over there after work to take a look. I certainly did not expect what I found.

On the east side of the building, things looked almost normal, but I noticed as I walked over from my car to the front door that part of the entrance was boarded over. Then I just figured that this was not a business related closing, but that probably they had had a fire. Looking in through the door though, there were no burned sections, just a lot of devastation.

Then I got off the porch and noticed the crime scene tape around the front and west side of the building. Then, walking around (outside the tape boundry..) I saw this:

Once home, a bit of googling established that it was exactly what it looked like -- someone had driven a pickup truck into the west side of the building. And furthermore, it was part of a police chase that saw the truck drive through *another* building, run over one suspect and leave the other suspect (the driver) shot dead by police. It's a pretty incredible story, and in fact I had glanced through it last week without making the connection with Bakers.

The State has a dramatic picture of the pickup truck after it hit the wall.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

I'm not seeing them in any of my phonebooks, but from what I can tell online, the I. A. P. Company is the Irene A. Palmer Company and is involved in real estate. According to the Secretary Of State, the company was founded in 2003, and is still active.

At any rate, this Two Notch vacancy is in Tillman's Plaza just to the left of the old Book Dispensary / Books Revisited location.

Moving across the street from yesterday's Bingo Parlor, we have a vacancy in the back of The Shops Of O'Neil Court as the former Americal Speedy Printing Centers location has closed with the merger of that company into Allegra (which still sounds like it should be an allergy remedy to me..) with the merged office on Broad River Road.

I believe this building on O'Neil Court next to the old Todd & Moore and just across the street from The Shops Of O'Neil Court started life as a Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, then it was Roadhouse Grill.

It's been a bingo parlor for a number of years now, but it appears that business wasn't that good, and the building is now up for sale on taxes.

UPDATE 28 August 2013 -- Here are some shots from an overcast day, so shooting against the sun wasn't as big a problem as with the shots above:

UPDATE 25 January 2018 -- This is now MoBay’s Legacy Caribbean Bar and Grill which according to The State moved here from Parklane:

lunch and dinner choices include jerk chicken, pork and ribs; curry shrimp, chicken or goat; oxtails, wings and burgers, and some fish dishes.

Well, it took me quite a long time to get the interior shot here, largely because every time I would come in the door of the food court, a sample tray holder from the Asian restaurant would make a beeline on me. I really appreciate that kind of hustle, but it makes it difficult to inconspicuously take a picture when you are the sole focus of someone's attention! I finally recently got a bit of a zoom from the back end of the court. You can see the boarded up section where Chick-Fil-A used to be just to the right of China Max.

I was actually in the place to look at lawnmowers at Sears, and I note that they seem to be giving up on the mall. The mall stays open until 9PM, but Sears turns out the lights at 8PM, at least during the week. It certainly surprised me.

UPDATE 13 August 2013: Forgot the hat tip to commenter Trina.

UPDATE 28 January 2021: Adding full address, tags and map icon.

Somehow I never made it to this Monterrey in all the years that it was there (and they were considerable) despite the fact that I often visited the adjacent Sounds Familiar and comic store.

I believe with this closing, the chain is down to the one in the Vista and the one on Knox Abbott.

(Hat tip to commenter J.P.)

UPDATE 12 February 2020 -- Now El Paraiso:

Here's another "rainy day, don't get out of the car" posting -- it's been that kind of month!

I don't really know anything about this little storefront on Decker. From the sign and spelling, I'm guessing it was an urban fashion store. Also obviously (again from the sign) they had a telephone, but I'm unable to find them in any recent phonebook, to make a good guess as to when they closed.