Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Auto Selection was the follow-up operation to K & C Radiator Center in this old gas station building on Two Notch at Covenant, and I believe it lasted about a year.

I have to say I liked the building better in white. I do like the curved facade on the roof, and would like to see the building restored as the sister building on Devine has been.

I think a chocolate Nirvana would definitely be my favorite kind, and Columbia's is moving from Richland Street near Bull to the much tenanted former Jesudi's location on Fort Jackson Boulevard, most recently home to Sammiches.

It hasn't been a hospitable spot for regular restaurants recently, perhaps a bakery concept will do better.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

Here's a bit more bad news from Richland Mall, and this in one of the most high visibility areas, just across the corridor from Barnes & Noble.

UPDATE 18 September 2014 -- Added the first shot above, taken on 13 July 2008, showing the gallery in operation.

Wow! This will teach me to stop throwing away everything from the credit union that doesn't look like a statement. Being in the Vista today, I drove down Pulaski Street to hit the no-fee ATM at Carolina FCU and was rather surprised to find it, and the substantial building in which it was housed, completely gone.

Well, perhaps not *completely* gone, as they are now working out of a trailer on Devine Street which is basically the same piece of property approached from the other side.

No ATM though.

(It appears the demolition also includes the old Gaines W. Harrison & Sons building at 724 Pulaski.)

UPDATE 15 November 2016 -- The Credit Union is now back at 710 Pulaski in a totally new building, or part of a building (it's also apartments):

Commenter justin points out this building on Blanding Street just West of Benedict, the former location of Stier Supply Company. I like the recessed blocks in the brickwork on the East side of the facade. You know that that's been climbed more than a time or two. I also like the bit of railway spur that fades out somewhere between Blanding Street and the main part of the courtyard. Obviously at one time, freight trains plied the way here, and to the concrete plant across the street. (Of course freight trains across the street is not a bit of Columbia nostalgia I actually miss).

Commenter Homer mentions that there is still a Stier location in Irmo on Lake Murray Boulevard.

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Artsy Fartsy art gallery and coffee bar was one of those places I never could figure out in that I never actually saw it open, but yet it never closed either (though it seems to have rebooted several times). I like coffee, so I was prepared to stop if I ever *did* see it open, but somehow that never happened.

It looks like the place will be rezoned for a thrift store.

This building in Triangle City as been a number of different automative service operations, as I noted here. Automotive Tekniques moved in at the start of September 2011, and seems to have lasted until late last year. I think I had some photos of the place in operation, but I can put my hands on them right now.

Currently a zoning sign on the property suggests it will be changing from C-1 Intensive Commercial to C-2 General Commercial. I'm not sure what that actually means, but to me it suggests a future retail operation.

(Hat tip to commenter tonkatoy)

UPDATE 17 September 2016 -- This is now STS Auto Sales & Repairs. Cola Daily says they opened on 25 September 2014 and that the name stands for Sales To Service:

I like this compact two storey house on Rosewood near Beltline, though it is perhaps a little hard to get in and out of.

It was the onetime home of Stan Smith Realty who have moved to Millwood. It looks like the place is off the market though I saw no signs of activity there yet.

UPDATE 27 September 2014 -- It's now a used textbook shop:

This address on the North side of Shakespeare Road near Columbia Mall and almost across from Wood's Wonderland was once, according to the Secretary Of State's office Howard & Riley Real Estate & Insurance. That would have been back in the late 1960s and 1970s.

However, LoopNet says the current building wasn't built until 2005, so there must have been an older structure there at one time. (This would have been the Pink House era on Shakespeare). I don't know what the property was used for in the interim, but the last tenant was Heritage Elictrical, which has apprently moved to Elgin.

I've featured this building on Bush River Road across from the new(ish) Wal-Mart, before, but erroneously in a post I still have to sit down and clean up and correct eventually. Hopefully this post will be more correct.

This building was a Food Lion grocery until the 1990s. I'm not sure when it closed, but it is not listed in the February 1997 phonebook, so I'm guessing the mid-1990s. According to commenter Saturday's Child, it was built as a Thrifty Mart around 1969 and then became a Food Town, staying with that chain when they switched their name to Food Lion.

After Food Lion left, it was a UPS call center and an operation called Spherion, possibly not in that order.

For the last several years it has been vacant, but as commenter William points out, the building is now being rehabilitated to become an AutoZone.

(Hat tip to commenter William)