Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I suspect that all three of these businesses were the same operation as the name still posted on the building Ca$h-N-Da$sh and went defunct at the same time.

Curiously, this nice old brick house is directly adjacent to another vanished quick cash operation: Title Doc at 2819 Broad River. It's interesting that both operations would see this as a good place to set up shop, and both of them be wrong (although, of course, conditions were a lot different before 2008).

UPDATE 13 March 2023 -- Well this place has been razed:

Also adding map icon and updating tags.

This little house on the west side of Broad River Road near the old George's Book Exchange really deserved better.

I can imagine that back in the day, before the road was widened, it would have been a nice place to settle down and start a family.

The construction permits are dated November 2009, and list First Community Bank as the owner, so Title Doc must have been gone by then. Curiously, the house next door, which I'll do at some point, was also a title-loan type place.

Given my disinclination to do anything before noon, buildings on the west side of the road are always a problem in pictures on this site, and these taken-against-the-sun shots of the location of the old Cycle Center and newer Rent-N-Roll are no exception.

There is a remedy in this case, so far at least: the LoopNet listing for this building has better lit pictures of both the cycle and auto incarnations of the spot and the still extant Rent-N-Roll site has a 100 picture slideshow of automotive candy sitting in front of the building.

The new tenant seems to be in now, and the place is a tobacco, beer and package store called Kings.

(Hat tip to commenter Jonathan)

Well, I have to say that the web site for this place is certainly an interesting attempt at persuading someone to make a major purchase! I'll bet anyone surfing for a car from work had a moment of boss fear..

I'll also note that in Computer Science, something is "virtual" if it appears to be there but actually is not, which I guess is a good metaphor for the current state of this car lot on the East side of Broad River Road not too far from Videos & Beyond.

This nail salon was in Boozer Shopping Center right next to the new location for Hook 'n Needle.

I'm not sure what "PC" stood for in this context as presumably their work was Mac compatible as well..

Sewing & crochet shop Hook 'n Needle was a long-time retail stalwart at Intersection Center. In fact, I'm pretty sure they were the last shop there to either go under or move. Happily, the latter applies here, and at some point this year, Hook 'n Needle moved to the North-West corner of Boozer Shopping Center.

The first three pictures of the old location are from 29 August 2008, the fourth is from 4 September 2010 and the last three are from 24 September 2011.

The church rebuilding Intersection Center continues to make good progress, and hopefully I'll have some pictures of the repurposed Service Merchandise and the new fountain up soon.

UPDATE 22 January 2020: Add map icon, update tags.

Tall Finery was a clothing store, presumably for tall women, in Boozer Shopping center, on the same side of the plaza a The Book Dispensary, Dems House of Diamonds and Ron Graham Allergy & Air Quality. Come to think of it, that side (the north one) has been hit pretty hard in recent years.

If all went as planned, the space should be a contract Post Office by now, which makes sense as I can't think of a Fed-Ex or UPS Store in the general area.

This porn emporium on Broad River Road next to the old Data Resources site and across the street from Ole Town Antiques recently gave up the ghost and is already boarded up. I like the odd fact that the advertising silhouettes are about as tame as anything involving a man and a woman together can be. There are racier beer billboards. Of course maybe that did them in!

More likely are two other factors. First, they were just down the street from This is It! at 2831 Broad River Road, and that seems to be a chain of sorts. And second, I heard somewhere that Al Gore invented something that lets you see people in their birthday suits for free...

(Hat tip to a commenter I can not locate now..)

UPDATE 8 October 2011: Added "TJ's" to the post title after finding it in google. It was a strip club.

UPDATE 11 November 2011: Added "The Ballistic Center to the post title. It was a shooting range. I've got a nice ad to scan in at some point.

UPDATE 23 November 2011 -- Here's the ad I mentiond above:

The Ballistic Center first listed in the January 1984 phonebook at "1022 Columbia College Drive". I forgot to make a note of when they first listed at this address, but the last listing was in the February 1991 phonebook.

UPDATE 17 April 2019 -- Now Michael's Cafe & Bistro:

I recently noticed this little strip on Broad River Road, a little north of Boozer Shopping Center and on the other side of the road. It is mostly offices and services rather than retail.

Palmetto Parent Magazine seems to have started here around 2007. They are still very much around and putting out magazines, with their current office being at 6027 Garners Ferry Road. I have to say I really like their covers.

Dems House of Diamonds goes back to 1969, and I recall hearing the radio commercials constantly on WIS probably as early as the early 1970s. Of course there is no spelling on the radio, so I always got a kick out of them because, well, Diamonds are sparkly, not dim!. And then there was that whole mental image of a house made out of diamonds.. I guess it helps to be 11 to find all that funny.

I'm kind of surprised to notice that the store was right next to the old Book Dispensary as I went to that store constantly, and have no memory of Dems being there. I guess my eyes kind of slid right over anything jewelry related.

In 2004, Dems moved to 1068 Lake Murray Boulevard, where they are still open as Dems Fine Jewelers.

UPDATE 30 September 2011 -- Commenter Andrew sends this picture of the new Dems location on Lake Murray Boulevard: