Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

J. Crew apparently has the distinction of being the first major retailer to file for bankruptcy due to the COVID-19 infestation, and this store at Trenholm Plaza, which was the only Midlands location, closed as a result of that.

ColaDaily has the story, as does WLTX which also points out that this leaves the shopping center with four vacancies.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

I believe this building was built for the office supply chain OfficeMax, or at least that's what was in the storefront when I first became aware of it. Remington College moved in sometime around 2009, when the first picture above was taken.

I noticed about a week ago that the signage at the road and on the building had come down, but I'm unable to find any thing in the local media about it. The Facebook page for this location has entries up through Thanksgiving 2020, but no note about closing the campus. The main website for the school doesn't mention Columbia as a campus, though Wikipedia still does.

UPDATE 28 January 2021: Add Big Star to the post title based on the comments.

I stopped at this Bi-Lo on Sunday, and while it was rapidly emptying out, there was still a good bit there, and they hadn't started randomly consolidating the shelves. I picked up some long lasting sundries like shampoo, hot sauce & spices at a 15% discount.

According to The Post & Courier, this store is not going to be converted into a Food Lion and there are no current plans for a new tenant in the building.

(Hat tip to commenter Alan, and possibly others -- there has been a lot of talk about Bi-Lo).

UPDATE 13 December 2021: Now a Food Lion:

It's been a while since I've mentioned Inlet Square, the hard-luck south strand mall where US-17 splits in Murrells Inlet.

I noticed during an October visit that almost the last remaining major store in the mall, Books A Million had closed. That's a shame as over the pre-kindle years I certainly had my share of lattes there while browsing the aisles. In recent times it has been somewhat as Barnes & Noble is to Richland Mall, a rare national store hanging on in a nearly empty space. (Curiously both malls still have a Belk as well).

This WBTW article from 13 May notes in passing that the store "recently closed" while describing what sounds rather like a "flea mall" concept of local stores, with varying hours moving in to the mall's vacant spaces. I have yet to go inside to see how that is working out. This particular space is now a church.

I used to wonder about this Walmart on Bush River Road in the old Bush River Mall location. I would be eating late at Fuddruckers or El Chico and decide I would stop by Walmart on the way home to pick up a few things when it was less crowded. The first few times I found it closed, I figured they were ramping up staffing and hours at a new store, but eventually I figured out it was never going to be a 24-hour store, as most were at that time.

The State has the story, attributing the closing to "low sales", though I suspect shrinkage and other factors played into things as well. The pharmacy will be closing this week, on 22 January.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

UPDATE 1 April 2021 -- All the signage is down, though the place still looks pretty good:

UPDATE 9 November 2023 -- Here's a Youtube video about the store:

If you look in the left corner of the second picture (which was taken for Tripps Fine Cleaners), you can barely see St. Francis Catholic Shop still in operation. As commenter Tom mentions, their website shows them as having closed on 19 September 2020 (with a nice little message of hope and faith).

Looking at the sign for St. Andrews Square, I can't help but notice they don't update it very often. The St. Andrews Newsstand has been gone for many years, Tripp's has been gone nearly a year, and now Catholic Shop. I haven't done an inventory on the rest of the marquees, but it wouldn't surprise me if more are out of date.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

This chocolate & pecan gift shop was on Sumter north of Elmwood, not too far from the former Citta del Coton pizzeria. I was not really aware of it, but looking at their web site there is some tasty looking stuff there.

Neither their facebook nor twitter has a post explaining why they closed the physical store, but given the 'conditions what prevail', I certainly suspect COVID-19 played a part.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

This one has been mooted about in Have Your Say for a couple of days now, but Circle K on Bethel Church Road closed today.

This store was once a Kangaroo Express and went to Circle K a few years ago when Kangaroo was bought out. The building is smaller than the new Circle K concept you see in recent construction like Forest Drive & Harbison, plus another convenience store recently opened across the street in the old Ravenwood Pharmacy, neither of which can have helped.

The gas prices were not particularly low here, but I enjoyed the fact that if I filled up here, I didn't have to go out on Forest Drive or elsewhere out of the neighboorhood. I also generally found the ladies at the counter here to be very friendly, and the new coffee machines (as at all CKs) made a quite decent cup.

(Hat tip to commenter Matthew)

UPDATE 12 November 2020: Adding The Pantry & Kangaroo Express to the post title.

UPDATE 18 November 2020 -- As mentioned in the comments, the gas tanks have been excavated as seen in these 17 November pix:

UPDATE 29 March 2023: Updating tags.

UPDATE 6 February 2026 -- Setting up to be a Mini Mart, with the traditional detour of dealing with Forest Acres permits:

No pumps, unfortunately.

UPDATE 23 February 2026 -- Well, they've got the signage up, and the ice-machine installed, but looks like more Forest Acres permitting issues have cropped up:

This little storefront across from the former Yesterday's on Santee Avenue has been a number of things over the years. Most recently, it was Sunrise Artisan Bath and Body, until they moved into the old Portfolio Art Gallery space on Saluda back in early 2019.

Here is The State story on that move.

I noticed the other evening that this florist, on Two Notch near Spring Valley Antique Mall was gone. I go to florists probably less than once a decade, and never went to this one, so there's not much I can say. I do find the name a bit curious, as it sounds more like a nursery than a flower shop.