Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I mentioned a few days ago that the Forest Drive Cartridge World had moved.

I'm not sure which happened first, but in the same general time frame, the one on Sunset Boulevard in Topspin Plaza closed, although it is still listed on the plaza marquee. (Interestingly, everything on that marquee is a store, except Eggs Benedict..)

(Hat tip to commenter James)

Well, at least nobody was hurt.

When I heard about this fire, my first thought was It probably started in the Self Storage, and it seems I was right. The self storage (and office) facility was carved out years ago from the old Spring Valley Commons Theater, and I figured there was probably somebody storing something they shouldn't. It seems I was wrong about that second part though: The Fire Department is calling it arson.

The blaze looks to have taken out stores starting with Adams Cabinet Works and working clockwise from there, through @ The Office, Tatiana, the self storage facility and Tripp's Fine Cleaners.

Just from the looks of it, I think they'll have to knock down most of that wing. Given that there are a number of vacancies in the plaza, perhaps some of the stores can re-locate within Spring Valley Commons.

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This little cell-phone storefront is in the Food Lion shopping center at the corner of Two Notch & Pine Belt Roads.

Judging from the Facebook page, they opened in late May of 2012 and closed possibly as early as late June 2012, or at least that's when the updates to the page stopped. At any rate, I don't think they made it into 2013.

There are currently several other vacancies in this plaza, despite Food Lion drawing fairly well.

Update 22 November 2013: It turns out this place has moved. The current address is 3950 West Beltline Blvd, Columbia, SC 29204, phone: 803-363-1353.

I used this location of Cartridge World a few years ago to refill the toner in my HP Laserjet, and that refurbished cartridge is still going strong. Sometime this year, this branch moved out of the Forest Park plaza next to Cardninal Newman, west down Forest Drive past beltline to a new location more or less across from The Pizza Joint and next to Lizard's Thicked.

It looks like the Forest Park storefront is currently being used for overflow storage.

Here, I believe, is the last posting from the little strip mall on North Woodrow Street near Broad River Road. This Irmo glass showroom is next to the former China Pearl, and is listed in this year's phonebook (Feb 2013), so apparently closed fairly recently.

UPDATE 6 October 2021: Adding "North" to "Woodrow Street" in the title and tags. Adding map icon.

Women's gym Curves moved out of this little strip just past Piney Grove Road sometime in 2011, to set up shop down the street at Seven Oaks Shopping Center (6169 Saint Andrews Road). As of last week, I believe this storefront was still empty.

Update 26 January 2014 -- The new location:

Local butcher shop Ole Timey Meat Market has moved their Rosewood Drive location from the former Keg O' Nails building to the former Edens Food Stores / bodyFit / Jaime Scott Fitness building a number of blocks east.

As you can see, there is already ongoing work on the 3008 building, so apparently it will not be vacant long.

(Hat tip to commenter Mike)

Here's another of the many restaurants I was completely unaware of. This Irmo spot offered more than the seafood the name would have you expect. Of course, some other reviews make it sound as though the literary meaning of the name may have been appropos from time to time as well.

The space is now open again as Bistro On The Boulevard.

(Hat tip to commenter Becky)

To the best of my recollection, I've never eaten at any establishment in this Five Points storefront, to include San Jose, though I have certainly eaten at other local San Jose locations, and found them to be perfectly OK.

Commenter MB noted the closing, and pointed out that until fairly recently it was Mucho Margaritas, something I must have driven by many times without it registering at all. Already today the sign was down and folks were carting off the fixtures. With the recent closure of Dreams Of Bombay, there are now two adjacent restaurant vacancies in this building. (I don't know what, if anything, is in the upper storey).

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

UPDATE 1 July 2014 -- This will next be the bacon themed restaurant Sizzle. Mmm, Bacon!:

UPDATE 25 January 2023: Add tags and map icon.

This Sammi's location was way out on Broad River Road, just across Lykes Lane from the Publix plaza. I took these pictures when I originally thought it was closed, back in June of 2012.

As it turned out, they weren't closed, but just having some work done. They opened again and carried on (with an 'A') until last month.

Now it's Touchdown's Wings & Things.

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