Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Commenter Brian says of Miss Mattie's in Lexington, Her red velvet cupcakes were the best I ever had.

The shop is in McCauley Square on Sunset Boulevard, north of Hudson's. This is the same strip mall that housed Yumilicious.

Commenter Brian also notes that the closing was originally flagged as temporary, but that was some time ago. All the furnishings are still intact, so that could still be the intention, but the flat Closed on the sign doesn't offer much hope.

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Here's an old-school, single island service station in Lexington. Just looking at it, I suspect it predates the BP era and probably goes back into the (original) Gulf age. This is the kind of place that used to exist to service cars -- which needed almost constant attention. Any thought to customer restrooms or any vending more elaborate than a soft drink machine was pretty much non-existent. Now, one by one they fall by the wayside as that generation of owners retires or they just can't compete against the new convenience store stations that use all the space that could have been bays to sell people stuff.

This one will be selling people Thickburgers soon.

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I have already done a closing for Huller's Black Forest in their final home on Saint Andrews Road. Before they moved there however, they occupied this Columbiana Drive building, up a flight of stairs from the Nathan's / Bruster's parking lot.

I thought I might as well do this one now, as the building has just reopened as The Tilted Kilt, a breastaurant a bit more upscale than Hooters and thankfully featuring no actual Scottish cuisine, most of which seems to have been created as a dare of some sort.

UPDATE 19 September 2022: Adding map icon.

You have to love the street name.

I ran across this defunct Irmo daycare center when I was turing around on Lake Murray Boulevard to go back and take pictures of something else (of what, I cannot now recall).

The way the toys are still out, waiting for children who won't return is rather sad.

(I see a lot of folks from Facebook stopping by this page today. If you like this kind of stuff, go to the Alphabetical Closings page for lots more defunct Columbiana -- Ted 28 Feb 2014)

24 December 2013:

15 January 2014:

27 February 2014:

Well, that didn't last too long, I'm afraid. Sammiches was the follow-on operation to The Diner in the old Jesudi's building across from the Kmart. They opened in January 2014 and closed after about a month.

I only stopped by once, and I'm afraid I wasn't too impressed. First, I was expecting.. sammiches, and there were actually very few on the menu (and not ones I would normally go for) and second, the place was freezing. I had my sweater and my windbreaker the one buttoned and the other fully zipped up and I was still cold. The menu was some stapled laser-printed sheets, and I was the only one in the building. I had the feeling at the time (early Feb) that the place was not long for the world.

After commenter CayceKid mentioned that the place seemed closed, I rode by this afternoon (27 Feb) and there was a U-Haul van in front and the place was obviously being stripped -- something a look inside later in the evening confirmed.

(Hat tip to commenter CayceKid)

Melanie's was in the little strip mall by the railroad tracks on Two Notch just across from the Big Lots shopping center. As far as I can gather from their web page, it was a beauty parlor and hair salon.

Although the suite numbers don't match exactly, I'm pretty sure looking at the pictures that Melanie's was the follow-on operation to The Crate.

UPDATE 3 March 2014 --Commenter Steve points out that Melanie's has in fact moved to Sparkleberry, and with that info I'm able to google up a new address at 111 Sparkleberry Crossing, Suite 6, and a Facebook page. Looks like they just had their relocation Grand Opening.

Also, driving by again and specifically looking, I agree with commenter badger that this is not the old Crate unit in that complex.

UPDATE 12 March 2014 -- Here is their new Sparkleberry Crossing location:

After 75 plus years in business, Ritter Furs & Outerwear has closed its doors. Here's a bit of the history of the place, and it appears that it has been at this location since at least since 1955, which I would not have expected.

But, heaven help me, I cannot think about furs without this being the first thing that pops into my head:

Well, here's another Five Points froyo operation closing shop. Winter can't be kind to such places. This one was in a nice new brick building at the corner of Santee & Blossom on the former Kenny's lot.

(Hat tip to commenter Mike d)

Normally, I would split these two businesses up, but the building is so small they're both going to be in the pictures anyway.

At any rate, this little building on Saint Andrews Road is just in front of the old Cussin' Bill's, and under the hill from Fred's and National Mail Services.

I like the vintage Gull Wing style of the cleaning portion, and I'm not sure why they didn't just do the whole building that way.

It appears that Alabaster moved to Broad River Road around 2009, and Crown closed around 2010. I did not see any indication that the building is for sale, and apparently the Fire Marshall thinks someone may try to refit it, so we'll see what happens there.

UPDATE 12 July 2016 -- Now Best Catch Seafood Market:

I first wrote about Empire Grill in a closing for College Corner. Even at the point I took the first picture above for that post, I had to wonder what was going on, as the signage for the new place made Open Late a big selling point, and .. it was never open late.

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