Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Today's closing takes us back to Garden Place Plaza in Dentsville, to the storefront just east of PC Corner.

First American Cash Advance (or First American Ca$h Advance as the signs have it) was one of Columbia's many payday cash advance operations which feature here pretty frequently. Also a pretty regular feture here is the store marquee, turned around so the store name is not legible, but retained so as to not leave holes (which are both unsightly and let in the weather) in the sign fixtures.

Here is the plaza marquee:

And here is the vacant First American space, photoshopped to turn it rightside up again and enhance it a bit:

Here's the same thing done to the storefront sign:

The address of this place is a bit hard to understand. The adjacent PC Corner spot is 7384 Two Notch. I can see how this slot is 7386, but the "Suite A" doesn't seem to make sense.

Garden Place Plaza is the strip mall at the south west corner of Two Notch Road and O'Neil Court, and has featured here at least twice before as both end anchors (Floor It Now & Beds Plus) closed.

Now computer store PC Corner (which was *not* in a corner spot.. ) has joined them, and fairly recently I think, as it was listed in this year's (February 2012) phonebook.

UPDATE 13 May 2012 -- Commenter Terry sends in this 1994 receipt for a top-of-the-line PC Corner system. Hey Terry, I think you can let that receipt go now -- I'm pretty sure the warranty has expired!

Sportings goods store Todd & Moore has been a fixture on O'Neil Court for seemingly as long as I can remember. It's not a place I've ever been in because, well, to say I'm not sports oriented is perhaps to understate the matter, but believe my mother got the one tennis racket I ever owned (wooden, with a wooden press) from here, or from some Todd & Moore location at any rate.

Here is the original State article announcing the protracted closing of the O'Neil Court store, which started in January, as seen in the first couple of pictures below (taken on a rainy night) and finished up in late March.

Yes, there are too many pictures -- I'm a sucker for clouds. Also notice that the New Balance marquee got taken down at some point.

Read the rest of this entry »

This building on the South side of Shakespeare Road near Columbia Mall has been a number of things over the years, none of which really made an impression on me.

Judging from google, the last two seem to have been a hair salon, which closed sometime before 2009, and a church, which seems to have moved last year.

As far as I can tell, at least going by the lack of signage, the building is currently vacant, but also as far as I can tell, it does not seem to be for sale.

I don't know if this was the same Awesome Mattress business that was on on Two Notch in the old Zesto building that is now Hola Mexico, or a different one. If it was the same one, it didn't last too long in its new location, wihch is not one that catches my eye often. In fact, I don't ever recall going to this little Columbia Mall outparcel strip-mall for anything, and would be hard pressed to name any store that has ever been there..

UPDATE 1 June 2012 -- It's now a Richland County Sherriff's station:

Whoa! What the heck happened here? I've certainly seen abandoned and decrepit trailers before, but these look to have been attacked by those piranhas that can "skeletonize a cow in thirty seconds"!

This hard luck trailer park is on Shakespeare Road, just past the former Carolina Famous Hotdogs & Wings (which may be a former something else now..) on the way to Columbia Mall, as the name indicates. Googling turns up a number of crime reports, and this LoopNet listing. The property is now off the market, but the writeup

ZONED AS A 37 SPACE MOBILE HOME PARK.INCLUDES 24 MOBILE HOMES.Most in disrepair.PUBLIC WATER AND SEWER AND NATURAL GAS.PARK NEEDS A NEW OWNER.PRICED TO SELL QUICKLY.NO OWNER FINANCING.

somewhat drily understates the situation with "Most in disrepair".

I noticed the other day that the eastern-most storefront in Tillman's Plaza was empty. I've written about this building before, as it was the last location of The Byte Shop, one of Columbia's first computer stores. The first picture above comes from that closing.

There is a Play It Again Sports on Bower Parkway, but I don't know if it moved from here.

UPDATE 19 July 2012 -- It's now 5 Star Rental Purchase (with a rather "Patrick" looking mascot):

I first wrote about this storefront in The Shops At O'Neil Court in the closing for the O'Neil Court location of Capitol Newsstand, and after that more or less forgot about it.

I noticed today that the follow-on operation to Capitol, Fitness Solutions has gone as well.

The first picture above is from that Capitol closing, taken pretty much exactly three years ago. I don't know why I didn't try for a closer shot other than there were probably people inside, but you can vaguely make out that some equipment is on display. At the time, I thought the place was a gym, but a little googling today reveals that it actually sold exercise equipment.

You can also notice that everything else in the first picture is now gone as well..

UPDATE 24 March 2012: As noted in the comments, the store moved to Bower Parkway and renamed to Carolina Specialty Fitness. I've updated the title to say "moved".

I have written about this building on Two Notch near O'Neil Court before, as an old Esso station.

When I did that closing, I noted that the building was for sale despite being occupied by Go Used Tires. I don't know if they just got tired of living with that Sword of Damocles over their heads or if there is an actual prospective buyer for the property, but Go moved last month to another place I've done a closing on, the old Vintage Motors a mile or so up Two Notch and next to the old Lizard's Thicket / Perkins that's now Hero Korean / Japanese.

This building was built as a Taco Cid and I ate there from time to time in the 1980s. I believe that Bright Animal Clinic was the first, and so far only, operation to use the building since Taco Cid left.

The clinic's closing sign mentions that they were established in 1971, so a) This is obviously not their first location and b) That's a 40 year run, and sounds like a well deserved retirement.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the building. There still have been no takers for the nearby Olive Garden and Red Lobster buildings, but the nearby laundry does OK, and there should be a fair number of ofice workers in the area after the county finishes the takeover of Decker Mall.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 18 April 2013 -- It's to be an Atlantic Seafood:

UPDATE 25 April 2013 -- The building sign is up:

UPDATE 17 February 2014 -- Atlantic Seafood is finally open: