Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

There was a time, when I was living in Fayetteville, that I went to Ryans's serveral times a week for lunch. They had a good salad bar with the unusual topping option of roasted peanuts instead of sunflower seeds. They also had hoops of cheddar on the salad bar, and with those and the hot yeast rolls, you could make a decent impromptu semi-melted cheese sandwich to go with the salad.

As it happened, my work colleagues and I eventually discovered that the nearby pool-hall (go figure..) actually had a better lunch buffet and we kind of fell out of going to Ryan's, but I had generally good memories of the place until I had the occasion to drop by the Georgetown location a few years ago and be generally unimpressed, a condition which continued through my one visit to this Two Notch Road location in the Wal-Mart outparcel. I get the feeling from the company's recent travails that perhaps I was not alone in my unimpressed state, and the chain recently announced the closure of 74 restaurants of which this was apparently one:

(Hat tips to commenters James R & Sidney)

UPDATE 29 October 2018 -- Now open as Magnolia Buffet:

I have to admit I was not even aware this little Two Notch spot existed until I saw MizTerry's comment that it had closed. I have to admire the slogan, as whatever else you might want to say about it, it is undisputably true. As it happened, it was easier to get in and out of this lot than I expected as there were breaks in the traffic due to the lights up and down from this spot and because of the fairly wide suicide lane. I gues that doesn't matter now though, unless I want a tattoo..

(Hat tip to commenter MizTerry)

I've written about this little walkup in the Lil' Cricket outparcel at the corner of Two Notch & Covenant before here.

Since then, it has gone through two more incarnations, one as Wright's Eatery (first two pix) and most recently as K-Wayzz Corner Grill (last two pix). I don't really have an opinion about K-Wayzz, but I enjoy the use of Eatery for Wright's. It brings to mind old Fleischer Popeye cartoons, and the whole diner era.

Gold's Gym moved into the old Ashley Furniture Homestore location in 2010.

Now the local operation which had the Gold's franchaise has decided to rebrand their five Columbia locations as MUV Fitness (I won't attempt the heavy-metal umlaut):

I don't know why Gold's didn't want to expand, but they have apparently been having their own problems at the corporate level: Gold's Gym President and EVP Leave, New CEO Appointed.

(Hat tip to commenters James R and Andrew)

This Two Notch mattress store was once one of Columbia's many Blockbuster Video locations. After that closed in 2010, A Goodnight Sleepstore moved in for what turned out to be about a five year run. I noticed recently (on one of our long runs of sunless days) that they are now running a closing sale, and the lot has a real estate sign up.

UPDATE 7 June 2016 -- Well, we are now into the 6th month of this closing..

UPDATE 27 September 2017 -- As commenter Andrew notes, this store has now finished closing, about a year and a half after it started:

UPDATE 8 May 2019 -- The north side of this building is now occupied by Domino's Pizza which moved here from the adjoining Polo Plaza.

This is the only store I have ever been lost in.

It was probably about 1965 when my mother took me here to do some clothes shopping. Now of course the clothes displays are shorter than almost all adults, but taller than almost all four years olds, and at some point I lost track of her among the racks and panicked, racing around the floor trying to find her. Since I didn't spend the rest of my life in the clothes department, I must have located her at some point, but *that* part of the debacle I can't remember..

This store was a regular stop for us throughout the 60s and 70s. We preferred the store brand jarred roasted peanuts to Planters and in those days when Sears was still in Five Points and Dutch Square was the only mall this store was always the closest place to pick up whatever odds and ends we needed. I brought my first record album here, which I still have, the Beach Boys two record compilation set Endless Summer for which I paid $5.25. Here I also bought the Focal brand camera tripod which I still carry in my trunk today.

After I left town in 1985, I rarely visited this Kmart and I remember noting when I came back to town in the early 2000s how threadbare it looked. Since it was still close, I did visit it every now and then, but invariably noted that whatever I had gone in for, they didn't have it, and gradually stopped trying.

(Hat tip to commenter joelc)

UPDATE 30 January 2016 -- As noted by a number of people, the store is now closed:

UPDATE 7 October 2019: Add map icon.

Two Notch stalwart Westside Ice has now moved to 1001 Idlewild Boulevard off of Bluff Road.

This building has that classic "ice house" look, with the long open deck. Their web site says the business dates from the 1930s -- I wouldn't be surprised if horse drawn ice wagons once pulled up here..

(Hat tip to commenter Frank Mancuso)

UPDATE 23 August 2021 -- Commenter Frank Mancuso (who has apparently had an eye on the place) sends these pictures of the demolition of the building:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 2 September 2021 -- Some more pictures of the demolition a bit further along:

UPDATE 13 September 2021 -- Demolition is complete:

I was driving Two Notch this evening, and noticed that the Sansbury Eye Center by FedEx Office was closed. A closer look at the door revealed that this office has moved to 2313 Beltline, next to the Subway.

In fact, I had noticed the new sign for Sansbury on that building, but since I did not realize it was a move and not a new office, I didn't bother to take any pictures. I'll get a few next time I drive by. I was struck by how big this Two Notch space is -- I don't think the Beltline location is anywhere near as extensive.

Here is another Anna's Linens closing, part of the continuing fallout of the chain's bankruptcy. This storefront is in the Wal Mart plaza on Two Notch, and is the former site of Ya Food.

These pictures were taken in mid July 2015, and I expect the store is actually closed by now, though I have not driven by there since.