Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

S & S moved from Rosewood to Main a few years ago, and set up shop in the Mast block. Unfortunately, if I recall a couple of articles about the place correctly, the volume of people willing to come to Main Street to purchase art supplies just wasn't there, and they closed the shop with the year.

I first wrote about this lot in the closing for North 1 Drive-In, a location that had a certain notoriety amongst teenage boys. Interestingly, the address given during the theater days is 8757, which is two blocks off of the current number. But then this was pretty much the boonies back then.

Not being a big exercise fan, what I constantly noticed about the New Life incarnation was the electronic banner on the top of their roadside sign. This normally ran a digital temperature reading, and it was never right -- Generally it wasn't even close.

Like Columbia Athletic Club before them, New Life has apparently lost the local battle against the (very fit) 500 pound gorilla that is Gold's Gym. Curiously, apparently the only New Life location remaining is in Cedar Rapids Iowa.

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Based on the available evidence, it appears to me that Monday 6 January was the last day of operation for the Lexington Wild Hare, on US-1 north of I-20. This closing leaves the chain with two restaurants: one in the Vista and one on the Western segment of Bush River Road near the former Irmo Kmart.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

UPDATE 25 September 2016 -- This is now The Kingsman Cue & Brew:

Commenter MB reports that Liberty Pizza in the old Pop's location is closed. After peering inside, I would like to ammend that report: Liberty Pizza is not mearly closed, but truly most sincerely closed:

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

I have some more pictures of this place.. somewhere.

Mudbone's was a cajun restaurant in Friarsgate Plaza on Broad River Road just North of the I-26 interchange.

Reviews were mixed, but everyone seemed to agree they had great hushpuppies.

UPDATE 16 January 2014 -- Commenter badger sends in these scans of the Mudbone's menu:

It's not clear to me how a play area could be "out of order". I suspect its more like the area didn't get enough traffic to make paying to keep it clean worthwhile.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

Here's a wholsale fashion costume jewelry outlet on Decker in the process of closing out. It's just a few units up from the old Columbia Import / Passion location.

I've always enjoyed the food at the various Al-Amir locations over the years, though they have sometimes seemed to operate on rather an amateur basis, where you might not get the side-items the menu said came with your meal, or get your glass refilled in a timely manner. Still, I'm sad to see this one (in the old Shane's Rib Shack location, and which was, I believe basically a replacement for the Sparkleberry Crossing one), or indeed any one close.

I think that at current, the one in the old Stuffy's location at University Corner on Main is the only one open.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 14 July 2017 -- Now Blaze Pizza:

This building, overlooking I-77 predates that road, and was originally Galaxy World video arcade.

I did a closing for Harbison Edwin Watts a few weeks ago, leading me to think the chain itself is in trouble. A bit of googling finds that this is, in fact, the case:

Edwin Watts filed for bankruptcy protection in November and later sold its assets to Hilco Merchant Resources and an affiliate of Worldwide Golf Shops for $40.8 million. Worldwide Golf Shops also owns Van's Golf Shops, Roger Dunn Golf Shops, the Golf Mart and other golf retailers.

Under terms of the sale, the new owners said they planned to close 42 underperforming stores. The other 48 locations, including the Tampa Bay area's other stores in Brandon and Palm Harbor, will continue to operate under the Edwin Watts name.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

After the Forest Acres location closed in the fall of 2012, this Sunset Boulevard location was the chain's only remaining Midlands (or indeed South Carolina) location. In fact, looking at the Yumilicious website, it appears that all the remaining locations are in Texas.

I'm afraid I never stopped at either location, having more or less given up on anything yogurt related years ago since it all seems to be non-fat, or low-fat today. If I'm going to have a frozen treat, it's going to be full-fat..

(Hat tip to commenter mike)

UPDATE 6 March 2014 -- Some daylight pix:

UPDATE 19 February 2022: Adding map icon and updating tags.