Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Get that day of ill-omen off your wall!

We've got 6 different designs for Pawleys Island standard and oversized wall calendars, and while I can't guarantee a full year of no Friday 13s, I do warrant that there are no black cats, cracked mirrors, or unattended ladders.

Did I mention that calendars make great Christmas gifts?

Buy Early, Buy Often!

Sadie's, in the old S & S slot in Richland Mall is closed again, this time for good (though the sandwich-board sign remains optimistic). They had closed once before a year or so ago for a change of ownership, but apparently that didn't help in the end.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

Capitol Square is across Sunset Boulevard from the Chicken Plant, and more or less adjacent to the old Dairy Queen.

I don't know much about Decor & More other than it presumably sold decorative home accessories and closed around 2006.

I don't play any course that doesn't have a windmill on it, but some folks do.

Edwin Watts Golf is more or less at the bottom of the hill going down Harbison from Saint Andrews Road, almost at the intersection with Bower, and they are currently in the process of selling to the bare walls.

(Hat tip to commenter John Barrs)

Well, of course I never thought to get a picture of them, but every year since the 1980s, the main elevator court at Richland Mall hosted a full orchestra of animitronic bears playing Christmas music. The signage proudly announced that the conductor bear who stood with his back to the audience benches (which were in front of Barns & Noble facing the elevator) was 'Leonard Bearstein'.

Because, you know: Richland Mall, there was never a crowd for the bears, but generally there would be a couple of kids and parents, perhaps heading to or from Gymboree sitting on (or running around) the benches.

I don't know if there was too much wear-and-tear on the bears, or it's just that nobody cares anymore, or the last guy who knew how to put them together retired, but this year, the bandstand is not in evidence, Leonard Bearstein is not tapping his baton, and the holiday decor is Christmas trees only.

If this auto lot, just south of the New Brookland Baptist Church, had an office, it must have been in a trailer.

Seems like it would be a good place to sell Christmas trees, but it's too late for this year, I guess.

(Hat tip to commenter James)

Bicycle shop Summit Cycles was in this nice old house near the top of the hill on Meeting Street, just down from WECO. There's not much more I can say about it, other than if you got your bike there, I'll bet you could coast all the way to the State Museum, lights permitting..

(Hat tip to commenter jonathan)

I noticed this evening as I was driving by Columbia Mall that there were no cars visible in the outparcel parking lot of Caprioska (the old O'Charleys / Sticky Fingers location). For a Friday evening, that seemed odd, so I turned in.

Taking a tour of the parking lot revealed that the place is open, but as Brickhouse, not Caprioska.

The Caprioska web site is as succinct as any I've ever seen, and their Twitter feed and Facebook page lead me to believe that they closed some time between 15 and 20 November 2013.

In the beginning, I think this place was to be sort of a Brazilian spot, but reviews indicate that changed over time.

The story at The State.

My first thought is that the headline is a bit sensational since we learn in the second paragraph that the tracts in question are currently vacant.

My second thought is that if Kahn Development loses the land, it loses control of the future of VAS.

Well, just to continue our ongoing list of Pig closings, the store in Litchfield Beach is now gone.

This was a fairly new store, and quite nice. It also seemed to always do quite a good business as far as I could tell.

The store is located in a plaza just across US-17 from the main Litchfield resort area (with the old Tara Theater) and has a number of restaurants and a few retail operations. There has been some churn during the financial crisis, and Blockbuster, a computer store and a couple of others have gone, but Massey's Pizza and Eggs Up have moved in, so on the whole it is doing OK. Physically the site is quite nice, with moss draped live-oaks and stop-light access.

The Pig will be re-opening as a Bi-Lo, and I have to think that this will mean moving the Bi-Lo from a few blocks north into this spot. Currently the Bi-Lo (originally built as a Harris Teeter) is in an older, failing plaza, which has recently seen the only other decent store (Litchfield Books) decamp to the new Fresh Market complex.

All of this movement takes place in the total revamping of the local grocery environment. Along with the newly opened and afore-mentioned Fresh Market, the Grand Strand's first Publix will be opening in the currently dowdy Pawleys Island Plaza, and a Lowe's Foods will be opening in a new plaza at the Island's South Causeway. This has to be putting a good deal of pressure on Food Lion which has been running a rather up-scale location also at the South Causeway.

(*) All the online google hits list this location as Pawleys Island. In my mind that is clearly wrong. This is Litchfield Beach, plain and simple. Somehow the area covered by the Pawleys Island moniker has tended to spread as "Arrogantly Shabby" has become "upscale" and gained a bit of cachet.