Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

When The State announced Good Wood's closing back in February, I have to admit that my immediate thought was to wonder what would become of the streetside rocking chair of which I have always been fond. The chair, the gull-wing lights and the cut-out lettering on the Harrison Road fence all give the place a distinctive and appealing look.

The State article is interesting in that it, once again, points to demographic problems for businesses in the Forest Acres area. I suppose I can understand it in the case of a furniture store, as the biggest market for furniture is young families setting up, but it still seems to me that the Richland Mall area ought to be able to tap into the generally financially comfortable suburban residents.

Apparently the store was to close its doors Saturday 2 June, but the closing sale has extended to "Make an offer Monday" on 4 June, so you still have a day left to buy the rocker.

Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

I was never entirely sure whether this store in a corner of Trenholm Plaza next to the old Radio Shack location was LA Bag Lady as in Los Angeles or La Bag Lady as in kind of French. Their site uses the "La" capitalization, but goes on to namecheck L.A., so I'm still not entirely sure. At any rate, it was never a matter of prime importance to me as handbags are way down on the list of things I pay attention to.

Interestingly, all the phonebooks I have access to at home list only the Sandhill location for the shop, but this one definitely existed until very recently, as you can see in the picture at the top of Eden's Trenholm Plaza site page.

(Hat tip to commenter mamarose)

UPDATE 9 May 2012 -- Here are some pictures I dug up from Trenholm Plaza's redevelopment back in 2008. They are from 2 July and 5 September of that year:

The follow-on business in the Jack's Shoes building, Leapin' Lizards,

Columbia’s only Parent-Friendly Inflatable Play Center

has closed down. Looking at the (archived) link above, it does appear to me that it would indeed be a lot of fun for those in the bouncy-castle demographic (and future Wipeout contestants have to come from somewhere :-).

This closing follows that of the somewhat more elaborate Monkey Business in Lexington by about two years, and, I believe follows the re-opening of the nearby Little Gym which was damaged during the D's Wings fire.

(Hat tip to commenter JohnBom)

UPDATE 22 April 2012 -- Here are some more and better pictures, including the still extant Forest Drive sign:

I noticed Saturday that the Dunkin' Donuts in the old Mister Donut location on Forest Drive is closed and some sort of remodeling work is going on. Offhand, I would say they are trying to make it look more like one of their new locations.

Given what seems to be happening, and the fact that the sign hasn't been taken down, I would expect this place to re-open fairly shortly.

UPDATE 5 April 2012 -- Work continues:

UPDATE 16 April 2012 -- Open again:

United Car Sales was a small used car lot on Forest Drive just east of Four J's Plaza, next to Ambassador Animal Hospital. As reported by commenters Andrew & Matt, the place was torn down last month, and has since been confirmed as the second location for Cookout hamburger restaurant in Columbia. At first it seemed sort of an odd location choice to me, but then I remembered that Forest Drive is an Interstate exit now. Cookout advertises their Orangeburg location with I-26 billboards, and will presumably advertise this spot with billboards on I-77.

I'm not sure what The Toy Box was, but it's the other google hit for 5311 Forest Drive. I don't think it was an actual "toy" store however as I probably would have heard of that.

(Hat tips to commenters Matt & Andrew)

UPDATE 4 April 2012 -- Changed post title to add "moved" as the status for United based on commenter R H Lancaster's info. Cook Out construction continues:

UPDATE 16 April 2012 -- Here is United's new home on Garners Ferry Road at I-77 (as far as I can tell, they have been listed in the past as both "United Auto" and "United Car"):

UPDATE 30 June 2012 -- As these pictures from 20 May and 21 June 2012 show, they are progressing and scheduled to be open on 1 July 2012:

UPDATE 3 July 2012 -- Cookout is open!

The Kitty's Hallmark location at Trenholm Plaza was in exactly the opposite situation of that of their Dutch Square location. In the Dutch Square case, the mall would have been glad for them to stay on, but given the current state of the mall, it didn't make business sense for Kitty's. In the case of the Trenholm Plaza store, Kitty's would have gladly stayed, but according to The State the mall owners think they can lease the slot out at a higher rate. That remains to be seen as I believe there is already a vacancy on that side, but in general they have been successful in "upscaling" Trenholm Plaza over the last several years. It's also an interesting issue with the plaza that it had two Hallmark franchaise stores almost next to each other as Books-A-Million also sells Hallmark items. Of course they have two grocery stores, two shipping operations, three banks and numerous restaurants, so duplication is not a *big* issue..

Anyway, this Kitty's was one of my go-to locations for birthday and christmas cards. While my all-time favorite line was the long discontinued Hallmark Lite brand ("One third less serious than regular greeting cards"), the Hallmark Shoebox line is almost as good, and I've certainly picked up a number there over the years. In the meantime, Kitty's maintains a number of other locations in the Midlands.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 24 August 2022: Updating tags and adding map icon.

This State story from 29 January 2012 says that Bath & Body Works

[I]s in the process of closing as its lease expires.

Which makes me fairly comfortable listing the closing date as 31 January 2012.

I've never stepped into a Bath & Body Works, as I don't have a lot of requirements for a bath other than soap, but I always had an impression that it was kind of a scrappy chain since the only two I was aware of were this one in Richland Mall and one in Inlet Square Mall in Murrells Inlet. Neither mall could be called prime real estate, but the stores hung in there for years.

The Richland Mall store was at the edge of the food court (which is down to one restaurant) and just past the old S & S Cafeteria.

Luckily, there are alternatives:

I first wrote about this building when it was NAPA Auto Parts. By September of 2010, Triumph had moved in, after repainting the place.

I'm not sure whether Triumph disbanded or simply moved elsewhere. Google suggests they were on Taylor Street before they were here on Millwood, but I'm not pulling up any hits that suggest a followup location. Their Facebook page (which I can't fully access without joining Facebook) seems to say that they were having events here at least until 17 October 2011.

I liked this San Jose pretty well though I did not go there too often.

I recall being very proud of myself one time here when a young lady of my acquaintance simply refused to put on her bib as requested by her mother. Nothing worked until I took it and put it around my neck, netting me a shocked Hey, that's mine! look coupled with the immediate indication that I should give her bib back at once. I did, and she immediately put it on and kept it on for the rest of the meal...

The food here was the standard Mexican-run Mexican restaurant fare you see all over South Carolina. I did like that they had pico de gallo available as a side item for spicing up the salsa, which Pancho's down the street does not (or did not last time I was there).

The closing sign is interesting in that it suggests they may come back at some point. That raises by implication the issue of why they are leaving in the first place. Could this site be destined for some new building and they couldn't get a lease renewal? And it is hard to think of another space in the general area that isn't either too close to Pancho's or too close to Casa Linda. Note also that the other address name-checked on the sign is the former Santorini Grill.

(Hat tip to commenter Mrs. SK)

UPDATE 3 November 2011: Added Pizza Inn to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 17 February 2012 -- Well, it's confirmed that Pasta Fresca will be moving here. Also, they have pulled the whole front addition off of the building:

UPDATE 6 March 2012 -- Construction continues:

UPDATE 5 April 2012 -- And still continues:

UPDATE 16 April 2012 -- It looks like they are adding a patio:

UPDATE 7 May 2012 -- Construction is basically done now for the Pasta Fresca move (and note the new Pasta Fresca logo). I talked briefly to the owner, and he indicated that the menu will have the same dishes they have at the current location but add some new appetizer and meat dishes. They are shooting for a mid-May opening:

UPDATE 25 January 2023: Update tags, add map icon.