Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Discount Cars & Trucks was the follow-on operation to Go Used Tires in this old Esso building in Dentsville.

I have to say I can't actually recall seeing any cars or trucks there, though I know there must have been some.

This small building in Capitol Shopping Center at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Meeting Street in West Columbia ha
s been a number of things over the years.

Judging from the look of the place, it started as some sort of fast food chain outlet, but I am unable to recall which. Somet
ime after that, I believe I recall a Greek restaurant setting up there. Most recently it was Dish & Desing Catering u
ntil sadly the owner passed away and they had to close.

These pictures were taken not too long after Halloween, as you might infer from the deflated Jack O'Lantern somebody left in t
he parking lot.

I'm not exactly sure when head shop Alibaba's Pipe Emporium on Sunset closed. Commenter Brian noted the storefront as empty in December 2014. When I took the first pictures on 17 August 2014, the Sunset location already seemed to be closed during what would be normal hours though the store looked fully stocked. At that time, a sign directed customers to the Irmo store on Woodrow Street. I know they has some legal trouble in May 2014 though I am unsure if that was what finally caused the closing or not.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

The Devine Street Piggly Wiggly recently changed ownership as noted in a story in The Columbia Star, which you may or may not be able to read here. With all the churn engulfing The Pig recently, it's good to see one store hang on.

In this case, the managers of the former Garners Ferry store have bought Devine Street outright:

The 35,000-squarefoot store closed late last Sunday for an inventory, reopening Monday under the new owners. Miller says customers are unlikely to notice many changes early on. He said the store has been well maintained, but he expects some refurbishing and painting ahead.

“Piggly Wiggly has gone back to its roots as a group of independently owned Piggly Wiggly stores joined by a common brand, collaborative marketing, and the flexibility of individual ownership,” said David Schools, president and CEO of Greenbax Enterprises, Piggly Wiggly Carolina’s parent.

Put that way, it sounds a bit like IGA.

Hook 'n Needle was one of the last shops to move out of Intersection Center, leaving its original location for Boozer Shopping Center in 2011.

Commenter Andrew reports that the place closed in that location late in 2013 or early in 2014 and that the owner sadly passed away shortly thereafter.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I was at Panera on Garners Ferry this evening and I noticed that the Marble Slab Creamery has moved across the parking lot from the Cici's wing of the shopping center to the Panera wing. The new location is actually the old Starbucks location which became vacant when Starbucks moved into the old Qdoba location.

I got to Brookgreen a bit later than I had planned this year, and so did not hit all the spots I usually hit, but it was still a very nice evening out in the cold and lights. Actually, the weather was relatively moderate compared to some prior years -- I was able to hold my camera and adjust the controls without my fingers going numb. There is still an official ban on tripods, and I decided this year I wouldn't go for much in the way of "set the camera on something and do a time exposure" shots, so I cranked the ISO way up and took what I got, so I have to admit I've gotten better shots in previous years. I did play around with the in-camera HDR setting, and that's where some of the freaky green-lit exposures come from. Sometimes it did quite a good job of capturing both the lights and normal objects, and sometimes it didn't (I haven't used those spoiled shots here, obviously).

Getting in was a little quicker this year as they did not bring back the suboptimal secondary dirt road route they tried last year, although there was still quite a jam on US-17 (where I witnessed a fender-bender just as I finally got waved through). You still have three more chances to catch the lights this year on 18 December, 19 December and 20 December, and you really should if you are anywhere near the area.

UPDATE 5 December 2023: Update tags and add map icon.

I got to Brookgreen a bit later than I had planned this year, and so did not hit all the spots I usually hit, but it was still a very nice evening out in the cold and lights. Actually, the weather was relatively moderate compared to some prior years -- I was able to hold my camera and adjust the controls without my fingers going numb. There is still an official ban on tripods, and I decided this year I wouldn't go for much in the way of "set the camera on something and do a time exposure" shots, so I cranked the ISO way up and took what I got, so I have to admit I've gotten better shots in previous years. I did play around with the in-camera HDR setting, and that's where some of the freaky green-lit exposures come from. Sometimes it did quite a good job of capturing both the lights and normal objects, and sometimes it didn't (I haven't used those spoiled shots here, obviously).

Getting in was a little quicker this year as they did not bring back the suboptimal secondary dirt road route they tried last year, although there was still quite a jam on US-17 (where I witnessed a fender-bender just as I finally got waved through). You still have three more chances to catch the lights this year on 18 December, 19 December and 20 December, and you really should if you are anywhere near the area.

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You can look at the corner view in the LoopNet listing for this building at North Main & Confederate and see a portrait format marquee on the side.

Somewhere I have a picture of that marquee up close with the name of the place visible, but as is often the case, knowing I have a picture and being able to put my hands on it in a timely fashion are two sadly different things. Commenter Justin believes this was a window tinting business, and that sounds plausible to me. What google pulls up, however, are references to two different used car operations. If that's accurate, I think they both would have to be from some years ago, as I cannot recall the lot being anything but empty in recent years.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)