Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I've always admired this interesting building on upper Knox Abbott. I'm not sure if it was originally built as a Red Wing store, or something else started here, but it certainly catches the eye as you drive by.

Recently the owners have disaffiliated from Red Wing, saying:

Formerly Red Wing Shoes, we have changed our name to CB Forrest Workwear, and will have a larger variety of safety shoes!

and

We have been serving the Cayce area for over 30 years. (Formerly Red wing shoes) We have changed our name to CB Forrest Workwear, but will be managed by the same staff. Same service and custom fit as always, but now with more brands to choose from.

This pebbly building on Knox Abbott was a Sprint cellphone store until apparently late last year (judging by online review dates). If you look closely in the window you can see a sign that says, I think, that they have moved, and to check Garners Ferry or another location that I can't make out. Anyway, since they give two locations, I think it's more of a consolidation than this operation actually having moved.

I have it in the back of my mind that the building reminds me of a chain style I have seen, but I can't quite place it.

Wristwatch Doc used to be in Forest Acres where Marco's Pizza is now, but moved to Knox Abbott in April of 2014.

When the old Oscar de la Renta watch my father gave me in the 1980s started losing time, I took it here and they fixed it pretty quickly. (Well, I think they just replaced the guts, but that's fine with me, I'm a George Washington's Hatchet kind of guy.)

Unfortunately, I dropped it again a few months ago, and it's losing time again. Not sure where I'll take it this time.

Several folks in Have Your Say talking about watch batteries. If I'm in town, I take mine to Roof's on Forest Drive, and have never had a problem.

The wierdest time I ever had replacing a battery was when my watch stopped while I was spending a week working in DC. There's a big mall on the, um, blue, I think, line, Pentagon City or Crystal City, something like that. I metro-ed down to that and found a jeweler who told me: No problem! We'll send it off and have it back to you in two weeks. I asked if anyone had, in fact, ever taken them up on that, and apparently the answer was no.

Looking further there, I found something like the Watch & Sunglasses Hut, which did not inspire confidence, but I was there and didn't have any better options. The guy took the back off easily, and replaced the battery fine. Then he was having a dickens of a time getting the back on again, and I started to worry that he was going to bend it, or break the crystal with all the pounding he was doing. Finally he turns around to his counter and says, I guess I'm going to have to use this thingamajig that puts the puts the backs back on. He puts the watch in it, works a screw and presto: the back is on. I'm like, well, I dunno, but if I had a device for putting the backs of watches on, that might have been my first option..

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

Well, the situation for Jewelry Warehouse and its associated sports memoribilia stores seems rather confusing. Here is a State story on the situation, and here is one from Columbia Business Report.

I think the upshot is that while there are statements from the business that they will be back, those have probably been overtaken by events (and by the Department of Revenue). The sums owed seem quite large, and I suspect they were optimistically thinking they could turn the situation around, and overextended their resources without being able in the end to make that happen.

(Hat tip to commenter Jimmy)

UPDATE 17 May 2021 -- To be an East Bay Deli:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 8 October 2024 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this is to be a Five Below:

Looks like the Lizard's Thicket remodeling effort that has revamped several of their stores is continuing. This one is at the corner of Knox Abbott Drive & State Street, and was some sort of restaurant before, though not a Shoney's like the Forest Drive and Beltline locations. I've eaten there before, and don't recall any particular building issues, but I guess everything has its time.

UPDATE 8 April 2019 -- I don't have a picture, but this location is open again, and has been for a while.

East Point Academy is a Chinese language (Mandarin) immersion charter school that set up shop here in what I still think of as the Sandy's plaza in 2012.

This location is now their K4/K5 campus, with their elementary campus being on Leaphart road. Apparently they are doing quite well, and are opening a new campus on Chris Road this fall (2018) which will replace this one. You can see the WLTX story on the new campus here.

Mostly I knew Silver City from their old location at 906 Knox Abbott Drive. When I was a graduate assistant every Wednesday (I think it was Wednesday..) when the new comics came out, I would drive from campus to there and peruse the weekly haul.

They moved to this old Hardee's building closer to the river while I was living out of town. I did stop by several times, but by that point, I was getting my fix through a mail-order subscription service, so it wasn't quite the same, though the staff was quite pleasant and I did pick up some stuff.

According to their Facebook page the store's last day was 2 December 2017. When I took these pictures, I had a brief chat with the building owner who said that they were looking for a new tenant in the building as is rather than taking it down and starting over. I was glad to hear that, as these old Hardee's buildings are pretty thin on the ground now. After the razing of the one at Eggroll Station, this is the last in the Columbia area, and I believe the owner said there were only one or two elsewhere.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas S)

UPDATE 12 October 2021 -- Now The Modern Locksmith.com:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 13 August 2022 -- Here is a picture from commenter Jimmy Freeman of the roadside sign for this building when it was a Hardee's:

I first knew this storefront as Silver City Comics back when I was in college in the 80s. I know they were there as late as 1997, so I'm not sure when $2.49 moved in, but it's been a good number of years. I noticed the other week that they are gone and the place is now a Latin (but apparently not Mexican) restaurant.

UPDATE 6 April 2017 -- Hmm apparently I did this post and it was one of the ones that vanished in the database crash. I see it in the wayback machine, and will try to bring in those pictures later. I also see there that they moved from "$2.49" to "$2.79" before moving, so I'm updaing the post title with the higher price and "moved".

Read the rest of this entry »

This new-ish but odd little building is on Knox Abbott in between Taco Bell and Wendy's.

For the life of me I can't remember what it was right now, and am unable to come up with a street number to google it.

UPDATE 16 September 2016 -- This is one of the posts lost in a database crash. Originally it was just titled "Building", but based on the comments as I bring it back, I'm changing the post title to Kleen Kare Dry Cleaner as that what it was to be, though it never opened due to the big crash of the late 2000s.

UPDATE 11 June 2019 -- This is now Carstar auto repair. Not sure if they do the actual work at this location:

UPDATE 15 Novemeber 2023: Update tags.