Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Commenter James reports the closing of Marpie's Antiques & Collectibles on Augusta Road.

This is an interesting location in a building which is shared with Avon and has nice little family plot outside. The peeling marquee sign reveals part of the name of a previous business underneath, but I am unable to make it out. It appears to be

EDS
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UPDATE 24 June 2014 -- Here's some pictures of the previous location at 910 Meeting Street:

Bicycle shop Summit Cycles was in this nice old house near the top of the hill on Meeting Street, just down from WECO. There's not much more I can say about it, other than if you got your bike there, I'll bet you could coast all the way to the State Museum, lights permitting..

(Hat tip to commenter jonathan)

It was pouring down rain today when I noticed that Modern Lighting Center on Meeting Street was closed. I have always liked the big carraige light they had by the street (the link shows a nice picture of it). According to their sign, lights out was on 30 November of 2012.

UPDATE 3 December 2014 -- This place is now Columbia Flag & Sign Company, though vestiges of Modern Lighting remain:

I already did a closing on this building on Meeting Street in West Columbia near Triangle City for when it was Bell's Hamburger Drive-In, but I noticed a while ago that the follow on operation (which was not the immediate follow-on!) Chiva Auto Sales is now gone as well.

That gave me a chance to get some more shots of this place, without all the cars parked outside, and the guy wondering what the heck I was doing sitting inside. However, the place is tightly fenced off now, so I still can't get any close shots through the building windows. It will be a shame if the next owners tear down the building and marquee which absolutely scream of a certain era, but I can't imagine it being suited to much other than used-car office these days..

UPDATE 3 December 2014 -- This building has now been razed. See the pictures at the Bell's Hamburger Drive-In closing.

I really like the sign here at the former WECO Billiards. It has a similar aesthetic to Varsity Billiards and Red Wing Rollerway.

This site for the current owners of the building (note the clever URL) says it was built originally as a grocery. It was still operating as a billiard hall in the February 1997 phonebook, but by the time of the next one I have here at home (February 2007), the listing was gone. Since then it appears to have been a thrift store, and now houses a number of operations as detailed at the previous link.

When I did the closing for Rudy's Upper Deck, commenter Bobby P. wondered how much longer the adjacent Subway would be able to make it. Unfortunately, the answer turns out to be "not long". I don't go to Subway too often as the booths and atmosphere don't really suit me, but they do make a decent sandwich.

This makes it three vacant storefronts in a row (Subway, Rudy's and Fast Cash Advance) at The Shoppes At Meeting Place, and at least one more non-contiguous one.

(Hat tip to commenter Peter)

UPDATE 18 January 2012 -- Some sort of work is going on here:

UPDATE 5 April 2012 -- Open again, yet still closed the day I drove by:

UPDATE 17 June 2022 -- This place is closed again, this time apparently for good. Also updating tags and adding map icon.

Here, next to Rudy's Upper Deck in The Shoppes At Meeting Place is another of Columbia's many defunct personal finance storefronts. Of course, in these times, it helps to be too big to fail..

I never really got into baseball trading cards and memorabilia (though they intersect somewhat with the comics book world). I just remember how Charley Brown always wanted, and never got a Joe Shlabotnik trading card (though Lucy could find them at will).

Rudy's was in The Shoppes At Meeting Place, a little strip not too far west of Sunset, which has had a number of comings and goings over the years, most notably for me, Ye Olde Comic Shoppe.

(Hat tip to commenter steve)

The humble tee-shirt is an American institution, and while I have never bought one myself (though, come to think of it, I do sell them), I have heard the name Eat More Tees off and on for years locally. It's one of those names that sticks in your mind because it sort of makes sense and sort of doesn't make sense.

At any rate if you want to eat more now, you'll have to go to Rosewood, as this West Columbia location (right across from the vintage WECO sign) has moved.

Here's another of the Columbia area's many car title loan businesses that have gone defunct over the past couple of years. The sign says simply Car Title Loans but online I've seen both of America and of South Carolina tacked onto the end. Whatever the name, I don't believe it was was there all that long -- I have noticed this building off and on over the years, and I think that for a long time it was some sort of mobile-home & camping service center with propane and repair parts.