Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Apart from all the conspiracy theories, apparently the ubiquitious Mattress Firm just thought that Nothing succeeds like excess. It's not always a terrible business model. For instance, if you see two Circle K stores located across from each other, the thought is that This is a busy intersection, and *somebody* is going to put a gas station across from us to catch cars going the other way -- it might as well be *us*.

It can be more problematic for something like mattresses, which aren't a convenience purchase, or as the Houston Chronicle puts it:

Why store-on-every-corner strategy didn’t work for Mattress Firm:

Mattress Firm, as it gobbled up rivals and tripled its store count to more than 3,300 locations, seemed to have a storefront on every block — sometimes two storefronts. In its quest to become the biggest player in the $15 billion U.S. bedding industry, it pursued a strategy of clustering shops close together with the aim of crowding out competition.

It didn’t work.

The Houston retailer said as much when it filed for bankruptcy Friday, acknowledging that it operates too many stores and plans to shutter as many as 700 locations as it tries to get out from under $3.2 billion in debt through its Chapter 11 filing, which allows companies to restructure operations and finances while protecting them from creditors.

“I think they’re humbled,” said Seth Basham, an analyst with Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities. “They grew far too fast with ambitions to be a national retailer.”

The Wall Street Journal has some more details including that the crisis is a world wide one in some sense:

The bankruptcy marks a rapid fall for the once high-flying bedding retailer and Steinhoff, the South Africa-based retail conglomerate that has been called “Africa’s IKEA.” Steinhoff, whose purchase of Mattress Firm marked its entry into the U.S. market, has been caught up in an accounting scandal that erupted in December. Its creditors, who hold billions of dollars of the company’s bonds, agreed to suspend all payments on its debt for three years. Steinhoff is expected to launch a debt restructuring for its European business in the U.K. later this month.

Commenter Andrew supplies a link that lists the South Carolina stores affected (so far). For the record, they are:

This particular store is next to Jimmy Johns, more or less near the top of the Harbison hill going towards Saint Andrews Road. As of yet, they have not posted any closing signage.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 7 November 2018 -- Here you can see (poorly) that the store has been cleaned out:

Commenter James R notes the sale of Jim Hudson Hyundai on Greystone to Peacock Hyundai as of June.

This is just down from the old Stivers location, but unlike that closing, will not be taking a new car dealership off Greystone, which, I think, used to have quite a few more than it does now.

I do find it a little interesting in that Peacock is a bit of an unusual name for a dealership, which tend to have a human name (usually a man's) associated with the brand.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I have been to this strip fairly often for either Moe's or Bruegger's, and I do recall seeing Vacumart here, though I had no reason to visit that store. Commenter Tom mentions that the owner retired early as it was just getting too hard for a local store to compete with Amazon.

I can see that, but about all I can say about vacuum cleaners is If you have an Electrolux, you can pass it down to your children. If you have children..

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

I noticed this empty storefront in Boozer Shopping Center the other day. I know they were licensed for business here in 2014 but don't see any other information about this shop.

However, they were either a branch of a Greenville operation, or moved to Greenville, and you can see their colorful clothes here, here and here.

Although I did not know it, Chocolate Monkey is a small family owned chain of candy shops. As their Facebook explains, the owners have moved to Tennessee to run the stores there, and keeping up with the lone South Carolina store from there was just a bridge too far.

That's a good looking strawberry!

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

This Lexington Goodwill location, by K-Mart has moved down the street from 754 West Main to 1307 West Main. The State has the story, and a picture of the new store.

I don't go to Goodwill often becuause I really don't need more stuff and don't have to hunt through records and books anymore with the Internet, but you never know what you'll find. I got both of my nieces bikes from one of the Myrtle Beach locations.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

UPDATE 16 November 2018 -- Here's the new location:

I noticed this vacant storefront as I was walking Main Street the other day. Judging by the signs, this is an old building that is way overdue for a big overhaul, and got past the point of everyday maintenance. I would be interested in what is upstairs, and what shape it is in. As you can see from the sign, the tenant, House of Fabrics has relocated to 652 Bush River Road.

UPDATE 5 June 2019: According to The State this building is to be razed. Adding map icon too.

UPDATE 18 June 2019 -- Demolition started Monday (17 June 2019) and the building is now gone:

UPDATE 18 November 2020 -- The vacant lot from this building is now hosting a huge Christmas ornament:

Looking at the company website, it appears that Shoe Dept. is the correct name for this store front with no The and no full spelling of Department. It also appears to be a brand of Shoe Show, Inc. which also operates stores under that name and as Burlington Shoes.

Commenter ED suggests that the adjacent Dollar Tree will be expanding into this space, and indeed this may already has happened, as I have not looked back in there since May.

Shoe Dept. appears to still have a store in the Lexington area at 1792 South Lake Drive.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

There were no signs indicating that Primier Plus Motors on Jamil Road is closed, but on the other hand, there were no cars on the lot, and the showroom was not active.

The website is still up, and the service department *does* still appear to be open.

(Hat tip to commenter Arthur)

UPDATE 5 February 2019 -- As reported in the comments, this is now a Hertz sales operation:

Here are some pictures from commenter Allen J. Rivkin recalling a bit of downtown history, his father's store Marks

The first picture is from the grand opening at 1321 Main Street in October 1963:

As nearly as I can tell, 1321 Main Street would have been just after the vacant storefront next to Cantina 76, which is 1307 Main, and before the SC Education Lottery storefront, which is 1333. However there's really no way to do a true comparison due to the demolition.

The store moved from 1321 Main to 1625 Main in 1980:

There is apparently an ongoing project to repurpose 1619-1625 Main, which you can read about here.

In 2017, the store moved to 1219 Bull Street, the former location of Ritter's Furs:

(Big hat tip to ALlen J. Rivkin)