Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This spot on Main has had trouble keeping a tenant the last few years. It was Mac's On Main for a long time, but the next incarnation CW's didn't last too long, and neither did Savalis, which I think was there about a year.

The signs indicate that a tenant is still needed, but apparently ceiling work has already started in advance of anyone moving in.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

UPDATE 1 October 2014: Added the first picture of Savalis in operation.

Commenter Midnight Rambler asks

And the answer seems to be: Yes.

Sharky's web site is gone, and we have this note on instagram.

As I recall, I only went into Sharky's once, during that period in the 90s when I was trying to sample every credible pizza in Columiba. At that time, Sharky's was trying to brand as a restaurant as much as a bar, but my father and I still left rather unimpressed.

Note that Sharky's Too is a seperate business (apparently the former Rafter's club) and is still open.

(Hat tip to Midnight Rambler)

Well, learn something new every day. Googling this western and urban wear outlet on Decker yields the information that El Rey Leon, means The Lion King, something that make total sense once you stop to look at it closely.

Of course that just raises the further question as to how that phrase is supposed to suggest western wear, and the secondary question as to whether I should alphabetize this one under El or Rey. (Hmm, I see the phonebook uses 'El', so that's good enough for me..).

It wouldn't be September without the Greek Festival, and this weekend was one more chance to load up on baklava and Greek arts and crafts. The fest has really grown over the years, and this year saw bright sunshine and warm temps for a nice outing before the State Fair finally brings in the nippy weather next month.

Read the rest of this entry »

O-23..

This former bingo hall is in the strip on Two notch which backs up againgst the original Best Buy and has stoplight access at the Columbia Mall perimeter road. Interestingly, Best Buy itself has no access to this stoplight. It always surprised me a little that they didn't negotiate some sort of cut through for that..

Apparently Bingo is, or at least was, pretty popular in Dentsville, as this place is only a few blocks from this former parlor on O'Neil Court.

Note the phone number -- It's not PENNsylvania Sixty-Five Oh Oh Oh, but it's close.

For some reason I was convinced I had already done this closing and some time ago at that, so when commenter jonathan mentioned recently that it was closed, I searched my list and found out that in fact I had done the location before when it was Quizno's, and had *that* stuck in my mind.

J. Gumbos is apparently a Cajun chain with locations in a number of states with this one being the only South Carolina location. It was about 6pm when I took these pictures, and I was still unable to find a place to park without walking farther than I had time to do. I suspect this is a challenge for the spot, though there are certainly a good number of workers withing walking distance during the daytime.

Personally though I like spicy foods, I never really got into Cajun cuisine, though curiously, I did find a great Italian place in New Orleans once.

(Hat tip to commenter jonathan)

Commenter Mr. BO notes the passing of ANDeli's in Richland Mall sending in the last two pictures and noting that:

They were exhibiting several of the Signs
that they were about to close

1) Not maintaining regular business hours
2) Regular employees not there
3) Running out of routine things.

ANDeli's was actually one of the few recent stalwarts to move into Richland Mall. As you can see from their closing sign, they opened circa 2012, while the first shot above, taken on 13 July 2008, shows the storefront was vacant on that date with the original tenant being already long gone. The second shot is from 26 April 2013 and shows the place in operation.

(Hat tip to Mr. BO, obviously)

UPDATE 19 September 2014: Added 26 April 2013 shot.

UPDATE 22 September 2014: Added Great American Cookie Company to the post title based on the comments.

One more empty storefront in Columbia's volatile payday lending market, this little cash advance outlet was in the same (Family Dollar) plaza as this Coin Laundry -- I'm not sure why the street address here is 1807 instead of 1735, but that seems to be the case.

UPDATE 17 Sept 2014 -- Oops, I misplaced where I took this -- it is *not* in the Family Dollar plaza, but a little further up towards Two Notch.

Well, this developed rather suddenly today. Commenter skysguy reported this early in the morning, and commenter Mr. Bo supplied this official link this evening: Belk's in Dutch Square is closing.

The chain is pitching it as doubling down on their Columbiana location, especially after getting extra space in the former Sears. However, they have had extra space in the Dutch Square store for *years*, and I believe if they had thought that store was viable, they could have re-opened the closed off spooky third floor (empty now except the hair salon and mens' room):

This closing pretty much puts the fork in the "mall" part of Dutch Square, and I would not be at all surprised to see the theater and Burlington closing their doors to the interior. (Office Depot already lacks interior access).

(Hat tip to commenter skysguy)

UPDATE 24 December 2014 -- All of the closing signage is up, and the store is half empty. If you want to buy some racks, step ladders, office chairs or nude mannequins, now's your chance. I'm not surprised fixtures aren't returnable, but I did find it a bit curious that regular merchandise is not returnable either, given we still have two local Belk's.

19 December 2014:

UPDATE 4 February 2015 -- The closure is complete:

UPDATE 10 September 2015 -- Interestingly, the building still isn't quite cleaned out:

UPDATE 7 November 2015 -- Here's a closing ad in The State:

UPDATE 10 April 2019 -- As mentioned in the comments, this is now a Planet Fitness:

Also adding map icon,updating tags and changing Belks to Belk in the post title.

I noticed this summer that the self-service car wash more or less across from the old Blockbuster is up for sale. I have not been by for a month or so, but at the time it appeared the place would stay in operation until sold.

I don't find much information about the place online, but back in 2003, the USC football team did a charity event there.

UPDATE 23 April 2019 -- Well, this place apparently did not sell for a long time, and stayed open for years after this post. Commenter Andrew reports it has now been torn down, which does not surprise me, as the last time I drove by it was cordoned off with tape barricades and something was apparently about to happen. I took some drive-by shots, which aren't great, but so it goes:

UPDATE 15 March 2022 -- The place has now been razed:

UPDATE 23 March 2023 -- Something is being built on the lot:

UPDATE 29 January 2024 -- Now Cars & Beyond:

(Also took the "for sale" note out of post title).