Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

It's not entirely clear to me if Farm Bureau occupied two suites in this building and remained for part of the time that the west side of the building was being outfitted for a restaurant, or if they left when that started, but at any rate they are gone entirely now, and their signage is off the building. (They are of course still in business and have other locations in the midlands).

I pulled a real estate flyer from a box at the location, and it seems that the restaurant (First Class Bar & Grill) which never opened was very far along, as the flyer mentions that all the hood work and venting is complete and that even televisions and a sound system are installed.

Other offices in this building remain in operation.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 14 May 2020 -- The Farm Bureau and doctor's office spaces are now Smart Laundry. The space that was setting up to be First Class ended up being the new location for Pho Viet:

Sara's Produce was the follow-on operation in this spot to Wood Produce. It seems to have had a fairly short run, opening in May or June, and closing probably in August.

The main shed is now empty, but there is a new ice depot.

UPDATE 15 May 2018 -- Well it appears that commenter Carl is correct, and that this business is seasonal. They are now open again:

JP's 4 Corners was the followup operation to Arizona's and kept some of the same menu after the switchover. Since you could get a burger there, I would have been happy enough to try it out, but in the event never got around to it, especially as both Five Guys and Red Robin are also located at Sandhill.

I have to say that the reviews at Open Table are interesting to say the least, and almost prompt me to add a Sign #7 to the Signs Your Favorite Restaurant Is About to Close list:

7) Your restaurant is in Columbia South Carolina, and has no air conditioning during the month from Mid July to Mid August.

As far as I can tell, the Greenville location is still open, or at least no reviewers have noted it as closed yet. I believe that one also was once an Arizona's. The Web Site does appear to be down however as at least one review does note.

(Hat tip to commenter Steve)

UPDATE 4 May 2019 -- This place is refitting as Yummi Crab:

UPDATE 18 December 2019 -- Yummi Crab is now open:

As commenter Sidney noted, the Food Court at Columbia Mall is getting rather sparse, though I suppose you could consider Auntie Ann's Pretzels right around the corner to be part of it, which would bring the count up a little bit.

To the best of my memory I have never eaten at any of the restaurants now in the Food Court proper. If I had had to guess just by the name, I would have expected Maleo's to be Italian, but unless there is pizza in the & More, I guess not.

I threw in the current Mall directory, and a few random shots just for "FUN".

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

I noticed that this Wells Fargo branch at Spring Valley Commons was for sale when I drove by the other week. I went back to get some pictures, and I see the ATM is still online, and looking through the drive-through window the place appears to be not yet stripped, so I guessing this is a very recent closing. The sign directs people to Sparkleberry, but there is also another Two Notch Branch at the old Dentsville Kmart.

I know Wells Fargo has had some trouble lately, which they brought on themselves, but it's also the fact that the Internet has branch banking in a general decline.

UPDATE 29 October 2018 -- This building has been bought and is being gutted, though it is not yet clear for what:

UPDATE 1 May 2019: Update tags.

UPDATE 5 November 2019 -- Now a Starbucks:

As I remarked to my sister, they have been closing this store for years. You could say it started when they did away with the roasted nuts counter, part of the classic heritage that had followed them from Harden Street, but that half-joking aside, it was really apparent in recent years that the store was being hollowed out: there was less and less stock, and more and more empty space. It never got as bad as Belk at Dutch Square with a whole floor abandoned, but it was impossible not to notice. Then, several years ago, they decided it wasn't worth keeping the store open for all the hours that the mall was, and you'd find the mall doors drawn during normal business hours. This year, Sears as a whole finally put Going Concern language in their financial report, and when the latest list of store closings came out, I can't imagine anyone was surprised to see this store on it.

The closing of Sears will leave Columbia Mall with only one anchor store, and Macy's isn't looking that robust either lately.

UPDATE 13 September 2017 -- The place is now emptied out, though there seemed to still be a good number of trucks and other hauling type vehicles in the parking lot on 9 September 2017 when these pictures were taken:

UPDATE 29 February 2020: Add tags, address, map icon.

I've always thought it odd that there were two Bank of America locations on Two Notch so close to each other. This one is on the west side of O'Neil Court, and the other is at 7405 on the east side of O'Neil Court (and in the Lowe's parking lot).

Apparently they have recently regularized the situation by closing this one down, with the exception of ATM service. It's not clear to me if two ATMs will remain on the lot. The day I noticed that the drive-through lanes were closed and took these pictures, something was going on at the "back" ATM and access to its drive-up lane was blocked though the machine appeared to be running.

The lot itself is fairly big, and opens on both Two Notch and O'Neil Court -- I can't imagine that they plan to leave it vacant with just ATM(s) for long. I expect they will put it on the market at some point.

UPDATE 13 March 2022 -- Apparently this building has now been sold. I'm not sure if that includes the ATM on the O'Neil Court side:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 12 June 2023 -- As mentioned in the comments, this building has now been razed.

30 March 2023:

12 June 2023:

UPDATE 13 June 2024 -- Now (almost) open a a Checkers:

Commenter Bart Laber reports that this whole company is gone as of February, and indeed their website is now just a "parked" page, though the old page can still be found on the Wayback Machine. Judging from that, it appears to have been an SC company as the initials would imply.

The address given on the door sign is the old Shoney's etc building in Dentsville.

(Hat tip to commenter Bart Laber)

Ultimately I can't go regularly to any place that does not have fresh brewed ice tea. Somehow or other I ended up going to this Which Wich twice however. I forget what brought me back the second time -- perhaps I was thinking my subpar first experience was a fluke. In the event, they managed to get my order wrong both times, despite having a system based on minutely specifying orders in writing. That, along with the tea and the odd decor means this chain is just not a concept that's up my alley.

(Hat tip to commenter cheryl)

Update 4 May 2022: Now Mimsy's a Vegan & West African Fusion restaurant:

Also adding map icon.

These are admittedly not great pictures, but you get the picture. I noticed some time ago that this longtime Two Notch Road staple had closed, but somehow just got around to getting some shots a few weeks ago.

There used to be a numbe rof little open air markets in the Two Notch and Dentsville area, but I think this was the last of them. As you can see from the little placard behind the fence, they were part of the Certified SC Grown branding for roadside markets, and in fact you can still see their page on the SCDA website, which doesn't seem to notice that they are gone and helpfully explains:

Primary Products Sold: Tomatoes, corn, string beans, bell pepper, okra, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, squash, Kentucky Wonders, green peanuts, strawberries, peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, plums, blueberries, and honey.

I don't have any phonebooks to hand to pin a closing date here, so I'm going to guess 2015.

UPDATE 22 April 2017: Changed closing date from "2015" to "Fall 2016" based on the comments.

UPDATE 7 June 2017 -- Now open as Sara's Produce: