Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This Burger King, between Roper Pond and the defunct bank on Trenholm Road, is the latest Columbia BK to close down for remodeling. They seem to be cranking through these upfits pretty expeditiously, so I wouldn't expect it to be closed for more than a month or so.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 11 June 2013 -- Open again!

UDATE 22 April 2014: Changed the post title to add "open again".

This is the follow-on operation to Carolina Famous Hotdogs & Wings (though curiously, Ihave that one at 6303 Shakeespeare), and was one of a number of Chicken & Waffle restaurants opening in Columbia last year. That's certainly a trend that seemed to come out of nowhere for me. I'd gone my whole life without hearing about that particular food combination, and suddenly I seemed to hear about it a couple of times a week. It almost sounds like a punchline. "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get a waffle.."

About all I can say about AAMCO is that growing up, they had a very memorable radio commercial. Well, perhaps that overstates it, as the commercial per se wasn't all that memorable, but the tagline made up for it. The announcer would advise the listener to bring his car to AAMCO with the hook:

That's Double-Ay-*beep*-*beep*-Em-See-Oh!

That little car horn beep in the middle of the business name would get my attention every time.

When commenter John mentioned that this place might be closed, I went to take some pictures and wasn't sure myself. The lot was certainly for sale, but all the signage and fixtures were still in place, and I thought they might be carrying the business on until they actually had a buyer. In the event that was not the case, and they closed shop sometime in 2012, early on enough that they are not listed in the February 2013 phonebook.

(Hat tip to commenter John)

UPDATE 5 March 2014 --It's now D's Automotive:

(click-through rated PG-13..)

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it's back today to the trailer strip-mall on Two Notch across from the K-Mart.

I'm pretty sure this trailer was a number of things over the years, but the one sure hit I'm currently pulling up is for All American Title Loans, Inc..

According to these public notices from 2005 it was definitely still in business then, and I think it lasted a number of years after that, but I'm away from my old phonebooks right now, so I'll just put the closing date as "late 2000s".

There is an interesting little strip mall on Two Notch Road in Dentsville just east of the intersection with Decker Boulevard.

Somewhat like the old Boardwalk Plaza on Bush River Road, this strip is made up of trailers and prefab utility buildings rather than permanent structures. In the case of Boardwalk it was because they always thought new I-26 construction would interfere with the space. In this case, I don't know the reason, but I've always assumed that building codes (and perhaps good construction methods in themselves) don't allow permanent buildings to be built so close to the elevated railbed which carries trains up to the trestle over Decker Boulevard.

At any rate, for whatever the reason, this trailer housed a barber shop for many years. I actually went there three or four times over the years when I would really need a cut, and missed the hours at my regular barbers'.

Although the sign doesn't mention it, the old phonebook listings make clear that you could learn your trade there as well as getting your hair cut.

This Dentsville mattress store is listed in the February 2011 phonebook (along with one on Augusta Road), but neither is in the February 2012 phonebook.

Meanwhile, there are lots of spare mattresses at the Ramada Inn.

I almost forgot to get pictures of this McDonalds at High Point On Decker which has been closed the last month or so for a complete remodel/rebuild. In fact, I did forget until it is already open again for drive-through traffic. The dining room should be re-opened in the next few weeks.

I notice that the Chick-Fil-A down the street by Decker Mall is being remodeled as well.

I kind of screwed up the pre-closing pictures of Continental Bar & Grill by splitting them between the closings for Zorba's and Patrones (largely because I forgot about Patrones, I think..). Anyway, most of them are duplicated above, along with shots from 11 July 2012 confirming that the place is definitely now defunct (something that apparently happened quickly enough to keep the patio umbrellas from being bussed..)

I don't know anything about this incarnation of the old Captain's Kitchen building other than it was a Mexican restaurant and lounge apparently run by and for Mexican expats, and that it didn't last too long.

UPDATE 26 September 2013 -- Well, *something* is happening here: