Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Dems on Lake Murray Boulevard is closing on the retirement of the owners.

According to ColaDaily, they have been in business for 54 years, and that's certainly a very good run. The owners also state they are open to the building continuing as a jewelers with another name and owners, but apparently there is nothing definite on tap.

I remember the place as Dems House Of Diamonds from radio ads growing up, and they were still operating under that name in their Boozer Shopping Center storefront. They moved from that location to the current one in 2004.

There is no definite closing date as it all depends on the inventory, but the ColaDaily piece suggests the closing sale could last into April.

(Hat tip to commenter JohnR)

UPDATE 15 November 2024 -- Now Carolina Fine Jewelry:

I noticed another closed Tripp's location the other day, this one in a nice end-cap at Murray Landing. Streetview says it was open as recently as September of 2022, so I'm going with 2023 for the closing date.

I'm not sure I understand Splurge, which is apparently a vinyl crafts store as that is a hobby I know nothing about and can't really visualize.

What I do know is that in October, they moved from this storefront in Seven Oaks Shopping Center to 1709 Sunset Boulevard, so visit them there and see what it's all about.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

A Fuego was the follow-on operation in this spot to Pizzeria Opa, and opened sometime in the fall of 2021. I never visited, and know nothing about Peurto Rican food, but the place got good reviews.

As far as I know, nothing new has been announced for the spot, but given the setup, I would expect another restaurant at some point.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath for the heads-up and the last three pictures above)

Commenter Andrew mentioned back in 2016 that this Kleen Kare location had closing signage up, but I totally spaced on checking it out, and completely forgot about it until commenter Gypsie mentioned that the building was actually For Sale.

Kleen Kare is on an outparcel of Seven Oaks Shopping Center, not far from two other outparcels (here & here) which have also seen business shut semi-recently.

(Belated hat-tip to commenter Andrew, recent tip to commenter Gypsie)

Aside from the Hungry Howie's in Myrtle Beach, this is the only other location for the chain that I was aware of. I'm not much for take-out, and of course it's all the way out in Irmo, so I never tried a Hungry Howe's pizza. Just from the web-site, it sounds like it could be pretty good: several of those crust flavors sound promising.

I am a little fuzzy on the details, and can't find anything online right now, but this location first came to my attention several years ago when the news broke that it had been sold to a rival chain. I don't know what happened, but obviously that deal never came to fruition, and operations continued for many years after that, until mid-September of this year, when it closed for repairs, a state which officially morphed into a permanent closure recently as reported on their Facebook page.

I notice that the store is not listed on the Quail Valley marquee. That seems pretty quick -- I wonder if it were ever there.

(Hat tips to commenters Heath, Andrew & Tom)

I saw a real-estate sign driving by here in mid-2021, but as there were cars down there, I wasn't sure the place was actually closed. When I ran across the pictures again today, a google search confirmed that Hill's is gone, probably sometime in 2021.

The LoopNet page has a better picture than these.

I'm not sure why the sign says "Transmission" when all the online sources say "Transmissions", but I went with the plural.

Here's a self-service car wash adjacent to Seven Oaks Shopping Center which appears to be defunct. The name may be Seven Oaks Car Wash, Inc., or it may not.

I don't know much about Mikino's -- I believe the only place I've eaten at Seven Oaks Shopping Center is Zorba's, but it seems to have gotten good reviews.

Commenter Heath noted it was closed, and commenter Gypsie found a Facebook page to the effect that it was permanent.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

Irmo's Blue Flour Bakery will be closing this Friday after 17 years so that the owner can retire and spend time with family. Although I rarely drive this stretch of Saint Andrews Road and was unaware of them, the story in The State makes me sad I missed out on some very good looking cookies.

Here is the announcement on Instagram, and the bakery's Facebook and web site are here and here.

The last days are this Thursday & Friday, 11 & 12 May from 11am through 1pm.

The closing for the former Main Street location is here.

(Hat tip to commener Mitchh)