Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I believe this is the last Midland's Ryan's I didn't have a post for. Like the others, it closed as part of the chain's current troubles, regardless of whether this particular store was doing OK or not. In point of fact, I think this store did out last the others by a few weeks.

Commenter Heath posted some photos from 7 May and I finally got around there last weekend to get some of my own (though the light was mostly wrong). It's a shame to say that this store, unlike the others I've seen, has already been fairly extensively tagged just in the short time it's been closed.

UPDATE 22 May 2016: Added Fire Mountain to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 6 February 2019 -- As reported in the comments, this place is gearing up to be The Juicy Crab:

UPDATE 15 June 2020 -- The Juicy Crab is now open here:

The first time I encountered Macaroni Grill was in Overland Park Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City). I used to get sent there often for contract work we were doing for US Sprint, which had a headquarters just a few blocks from the restaurant. It was a lively place, always crowded and with vigorous service: The servers would write their name in bold strokes on your table, and there were usually a few who would burst into Opera arias several times during a meal. The food was good too; they had an excellent Margherita pizza along with standard Italian dishes, and the bread was top-notch: large flavorful loaves served with cracked pepper and olive oil from bottles on the tables.

(The only negative about this particular place is that it has the distinction of being the only restaurant I've ever gone where the hostess implied that a bribe would get us seated..)

Anyway, after I stopped being sent to Kansas, I was glad to find that a Macaroni had opened in Columbia and I went a number of times, but it was never quite the same. There were definitely no singing servers, the Margherita pizza was off the menu and the bread loaves seemed smaller, and not as flavorful. I took a several year break after concluding that I had gotten mild food posioning after one visit, and the next time I went back, the place was almost empty, the menu was odd, the olive oil bottles were gone and I had the feeling that I was imposing on the staff by ordering food. When they brought the bill while I was still eating, and without offering me dessert (it was well before offical closing) I decided I was in no hurry to come back, and in fact did not.

Still, those were some good times back in the day..

(Hat tip to commenter Steve)

UPDATE 17 May 2017 -- I see that the Overland Park location I mention above has closed.

UPDATE 30 August 2017 -- The upfit to BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse is done, and they will be open on 4 September 2017:

It's heeere..

5 Brand Ink Tattoo was in the old Godfather's Pizza location in this Parklane strip mall abuting Columbia Mall. I can't find them in any of my phonebooks, so that may not have been the official name for the place, but flipping the reversed marquee around shows that's definitely what was on the storefront.

This suite is now a church, which is a contrast to the devil-heads on the old marquee.

It's curious since I drive this stretch of road several times a week that I have no memory of ever seeing this building in operation as Gandy Auto Sales, but Google Street View has the image, and the phonebook confirms they were there at least since 2008.

There appears to be some sort of land clearing going on in the lot just adajacent to this one on the east.

As I believe I've said before, I think the name of this Two Notch couples' store is about a syllable short..

This place was for many years a risque book, magazine and video store, which rebranded in 2012 and was open at least through Cinco de Mayo 2016 (NSFW).

Considering the place was open from 1981 and considering how much I like pizza and Italian food in general, I'm not sure how I was totally unaware of Tony's. Perhaps because of the location, if ever I saw it, I thought "no parking", or perhaps it's because they closed at 2:30 and it would always be later when I would drive by -- I don't really know. At any rate, this Washington Plaza storefront is vacant now.

(Hat tip to commenter Julie)

I remember once finding a whole joke book of "Ford" (ie: Model-T) jokes at my aunt's house once. At this remove, I can only recall two of them:

Q: Why do all new Fords now have to be painted red?

A: Because the law says any tin can filled with gasoline must be red.

Q: Why is the Ford the only car to be mentioned in The Bible?

A: Because no other car can ascend to Heaven "on high".

I'm not sure new cars are better than the Model-T, but jokes have come a long way.

Anyway, as of early May 2016, Dick Smith Ford has relocated from their Two Notch home out to 7201 on the Sumter Highway, the old Marion Burnside and Jim Hudson location:

Read the rest of this entry »

This is another place I had meant to go by in the daytime, but I was there when I was..

The Ape Hanger was the leftmost of the three very similar buildings in this little hardluck plaza on Two Notch a bit east of Fontaine. It was the followup operation to The Bargain Warehouse.

From what I can tell, they were a moped, motorcycle and ATV store. The Bargain Warehouse signage was still up late in 2011, so apparently they opened in 2012, and their last Facebook posting is 20 November 2012, so I'm going to say they closed early in 2013.

This kid's activity center moved into this old NAPA Auto Parts building some time late in 2012. I'm not sure exactly when they closed -- I just noticed the empty building and the real estate sign a few weeks ago, but I see that the LoopNet listing for the property was created on 17 October 2014, so I'm just saying "2014".

The building has been sold, so we should have something else here soon.