Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Well, this has already been discussed extensively on Have Your Say, but Eric's San Jose on Garners Ferry closed on Thursday 22 December 2016.

I believe I may have eaten in the building a few times when it was a steakhouse, but can only recall eating at Eric's once, when I found it of a piece with the Columbia Mexican restaurant scene: perfectly acceptable, but nothing special.

According to The Free Times:

Owner Eric Leon has sold the property to some developers who plan to build a cellular store and other retail shops...

UPDATE 8 February 2017 -- As mentioned in the comments, this building has been razed:

UPDATE 6 June 2017 -- The new building is going up (pic from 19 May 2017):

UPDATE 13 September 2017 -- The new building is almost done:

UPDATE 25 October 2017 -- Now open as a Verizon location (relocated from here):

UPDATE 21 May 2018 -- The new Eric's San Jose location at 4478 Rosewood Drive (the old Rooftop Pizza Pub location) is now open:

Commenter Jason reports the closing of this locally owned bedroom store at the I-20/US-378 interchange. Assuming they are connected with the Augusta Road location, it appears this was a retirement.

Cola Daily implies in passing, that this location opened around November 2015, so that's about a year. I don't think the little strip mall has been open much longer than that itself.

UPDATE 21 January 2017 -- As mentioned in the comments, this space is fitting out to be a Sub Station II:

I've been meaning to get some pictures of this former JT's location for a while now, but always seemed to be over there at night. For some reason, over the last few years, there seem to have been a *lot* of Columbia metro area car dealerships moving around and JT's moved to their new home at 4838 Sunset Boulevard in July.

JT's Fiat at 5223 Sunset also made the move.

(Hat tip to commmentor James R)

UPDATE 21 February 2017 -- This site has now been sold:

UPDATE 23 August 2017 -- Work has started here:

UPDATE 15 March 2018 -- Almost ready to open as Lidl:

I remember driving past this building some years ago and being pleased that such a classic design was still in service. I'm a sucker for anything with gull wings, and whatever this related type of design is called. The aerodynamics make it look like with a good headwind, it would hover like Sally Field.

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.

There's not much to say about the closing of the Lexington Ryan's that hasn't been said elsewhere. I will note that I am a little surprised that this store, and the Two Notch Store both still have all the branding and signage up. Usually when a company that is still active closes a store, they like to get that down quickly to avoid associating the chain with failure. In my mind that means things are perhaps even worse than they seem, if that's possible.

(Hat tip to commenter ED)

UPDATE 7 June 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, this place has been razed before becoming a gas station:

Also adding map icon.

I'm not sure when this little takeout storefront co-located with the garage on Fairlane closed, but it's in the February 2015-2016 phonebook, and I think I would have noticed it previously if it had been closed longer than a few months, so I'm tagging it as winter 2015. Reviews are rather mixed, but they'd been there for a good while, so they must have been doing something right.

UPDATE 25 May 2016 -- Now Saffron, an Indian/Chinese/Mexican takeout storefront:

This Shoney's on Garners Ferry Road is closed for remodeling. I used to eat there now and again when I worked out on Bluff Road. It was a typical Shoney's with a decent salad bar and burgers. I'm not sure exactly what the remodel will entail. Newer Shoney's stores are bigger and boxier, but it doesn't look yet like they plan to tear down the existing building.

(Hat tip to commenter Kenneth)

UPDATE 2 May 2016 -- As reported in the comments, this place is open again:

UPDATE 10 September 2020: As reported by commenter Thomas, this place is closed again:

The chain has been in trouble for years now, and we have lost a number of locations in the Columbia area. Apprently the stress of COVID-19 combined with marginal sales anyway were enough to close this branch down, at least until people head back to restaurants in greater numbers.

UPDATE 19 August 2025: This restaurant has had its ups & downs, being closed several times on a temporary basis over the years, but now the last Shoney's in the Midlands is finally closed for good. The State has the story here. The adjacent Captain D's, which once shared corporate ownership with Shoney's and often co-located, remains open.

As shown in the first picture, the main suite for Bike Street USA was what is now Jackie's Uniforms, but the Bicycles signage remains on the second suite they had to the right of that. As you can also see from the firt shot, the store started as Bike To Nature, which moved here from across the street when its original building was slated for demolition.

After moving, the store was bought by the Bike Street USA chain, which went bankrupt in November 2014 as described here.

This Subway was way out on Garners Ferry in Eastover, next to the Hot Spot. Restaurants are pretty thin on the ground in this area, especially national chains, so I was a bit surprised to hear they had closed, yet not too surprised because customers are pretty spread out as well.

(Hat tip to commenter Gary)

UPDATE 19 February 2016 -- It's now Hot Sub Stop:

UPDATE 17 June 2022 -- Updating tags, and adding a possible closing date and map icon.