Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I don't go down Plumbers Road(*) often. I've been to the travel plaza a few times, which is like stepping into the 70s again, and I've done a couple of closings there, but it has a few things you wouldn't expect to find, like a church and hotel along with the industrial building like this.

According to their site Speedy Pak was founded in Myrtle Beach in 1970 and and provides "expedited deliveries", "white glove service", and "in home deliveries". If google can be believed, they have moved from this I-20 frontage north a block to 201 Mcleod Road.

(*) Anyone know why it's called that?

Liberty Income Tax was the follow-on operation in this former Pizza Hut building near the top of Knox Abbott Drive. As reported by commenter Andrew, they are no longer in this building, having moved to 916 State Street.

The post-move pictures don't really show the whole building like the first one as it was raining hard enough that I was shooting through the passenger window so as not to get water all over my lens.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

Hot Sub Stop was the follow-on operation to Subway in this Eastover location way out on the Sumter Highway. The first picture above was taken on 15 December 2013, and I know the place was closed when we drove back from cutting a Christmas tree in December 2016, so the closing was in the rather generous range between those dates. I'm just going to say 2015.

It was the 70s I guess when I first heard of The Limited, as they had a very catchy radio commercial whose refrain was

Look to The Limited!

That aside, I thought the name a little odd. I guess they were going for an "upscale" Limited as in "Limited Edition", but to me the name always brought up associations like "No, we don't have that, we're limited". Not that it really impinged on me either way as it was all women's clothes and I don't believe I ever set foot in any location.

This shop, at Columbiana closed in early January as part of the chain's axing of all its stores. Forbes has the story:

And another bites the dust.

Women's apparel chain The Limited on Sunday [8 January 2017] began closing all 250 of its stores across the United States and is slashing 4,000 jobs, the latest casualty of shopping's move online and the growth of fast fashion chains.

Interestingly, the article does not specifically say the chain is actually in bankruptcy of any chapter..

I actually went to take some pictures of this place a couple of years ago after driving past it one day and seeing absolutely no cars in the lot. In the event, it turned out to actually still be open at that time, if apparently having a very slow week. I wondered when I saw comenter badger's heads-up if that would be the case this time or not, but they are actually closed this time.

The sign on the lobby door (which you cannot actually read in the picture here) says that they are temporarily closed for renovations. The general state of the lot suggests that it is yet early in that process, and that it was indeed needed.

(Hat tip to comment badger)

UPDATE 11 October 2017 -- Now reflagged as Gallus Stadium Park Inn:

I made the mistake of driving out to get some shots of former parts shop around 5pm on a Friday, and traffic was pretty bad then. However, the building which sits on the corner of South Lake & Industrial Drives does have stoplight access for the turn, and I imagine that the next tenant, a Vape shop which is outfitting now, will probably do more of an evening business.

Google Streetview has a good shot of the place in operation here

(Hat tip to commenter IrmoJeff)

Mr. D's was the followup operation in this location to Gilligan's and as of Mid August 2016 was bought by Steve MacDougall, the mayor of Lexington who had already been general manager.

The restaurant's Facebook page indicates that it was in operation as late as 17 December 2016, but commenter Brian noticed it closed on 16 January 2016. As you can see, a note on the front door indicates that they planned to re-open on 1 February 2017, but the real-estate sign outside suggests that plan has been overtaken by events.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

UPDATE 11 May 2019 -- Something is going on here, but there is no sign that says exactly what:

UPDATE 12 March 2020 -- Now Singh Leite Pediatric Dentistry:

The Lost Cajun was the follow-on operation to Yumilicious in this Lexington strip mall.

The State article on the closing mentions that there is another SC location in Greenville, and as far as I can tell, that location is still open, and the chain's site lists a number of restaurants in other states.

As you can see, the signage is already up for this storefront to become a Palmetto Subs location.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

UPDATE 19 February 2022: Adding map icon and updating tags.

When I heard about this closing, I did a google search for ABC troubles at the corporate level, and surprisingly to me did not turn up anything. Usually when a chain starts closing lots of locations, there will be a story in Forbes or Bloomberg or *somewhere* trying to explain the situation, and the prospects for turnaround.

Since I started this blog, Atlanta Bread Company has closed the locations at Sandhill, Lake Murray Boulevard, Socastee, Charleston and North Myrtle Beach. Now they seem to be leaving the Columbia market entirely with the closing of this store and upcoming closure of the Sunset location. Although there may be something in the Upstate, the Aiken Whiskey Road location is the only SC store left that I know of.

Absent any hard news of what's going on, I can only speculate that Panera took their formula and executed it just a little bit better, and indeed this store closed shortly after the Gervais Panera location opened just a few blocks away.