Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed this "stuff for the holes in your house" store driving on Sunset last weekend. They are listed in the February 2012 phonebook so apparently they closed up shop sometime last year.

Presumably they meant "Vista" in the scenic sense as they aren't really close to the Congaree Vista..

I like some Lebanese food quite well, but I never got around to trying Mezza perhaps partly because of the location and partly because of the Hookah Lounge aspect, which I was afraid might put me in a smoking section, something I have less and less tolerance for as the years go on.

At any rate, that's not an option anymore as they closed up shop on Christmas Eve and the place's site proclaims that the space has already been sold.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

UPDATE 16 October 2013 -- It's now open as Le Peep:

I noticed yesterday that Five Guys on Forest Drive in the old Forest Lake Exxon building was closed. I figured maybe they were buffing the floor or fixing some sort of plumbing issue, but they remained closed on Monday and from what I can see (which isn't too much as I couldn't get a close look) there is major work going on in there. The website doesn't offer any additional information other than "closed today", but the fact that it's still listed leaves me to believe they will be back.

It will be interesting to see what they are doing, as the building was completely refitted just a few years ago.

UPDATE 23 January 2013: Added some daylight pictures, though still not very good ones.

UPDATE 31 Jan 2013; Work is complete and the place is open again.

UPDATE 1 May 2023: Interestingly, this is about ten years since my last update to this post. Five Guys is closed again for renovations, and is expected to reopen on 12 May 2023. I'm not sure exactly what needed changing: I've eaten there several times recently, and the place seemed to be in pretty good shape. I guess my least favorite thing is the faux-wood chairs, but obviously that's not the issue here.

(Also updating tags and adding the map icon)

UPDATE 6 June 2023 -- As mentioned, open again:

Urban Thread & More opened in the old American Apparel location on 16 April 2011 and closed sometime around the end of 2012. Or at least this expansion store (the "& more") closed. There is still the original Urban Thread on the other side of the street at 613 Harden, and it appears that this location has been consolidated back into that one.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

UPDATE 19 February 2014 -- It's now Copper Penny:

Facebook is a weird animal. I get a lot of hits from there, but unlike a normal website, I can't check to see what people are saying when they link here becuase you have to be a facebook member to access almost anything. Likewise there's a lot of content on Facebook that's probably interesting to ColumbiaClosings readers, but in general it is not accessible outside of Facebook and never gets indexed by google. The exception is that for some reason or another, content often leaks out of foreign language Facebook subsidiaries.

A case in point is this posting which leaked through the Korean site:

Pat Seay Garvin다음 장소에 게시Georgetown Wooden Boat Show (Georgetown, SC)
2010년 10월 10일 오후 2:22 ·

Looking for any old SEAYCRAFT wooden boats made at 3132 Two Notch Rd. in Columbia, SC in the 50's. My uncle Tom Seay owned a boat shop and made several models of wooden powerboats. My father worked for him when I was little, and I remember those boats well. Would love to see an original still alive.

It's an unlikely little storefront for a boatwright, but I suppose they may have had the whole building at the time, and probably a back lot.

Long after that, during the era when the other part of the building was Mr. B's, 3132 was
Diamond's Liquor Store.

UPDATE 9 March 2020 -- Now, very colorfully, Sam's Tobacco & Vape:

I can't find any information on this old building on Fairfield Road other than it was apparently built in 1945. However, it looks like an old country grocery or general store to me, and could in fact be a twin building to The Other Store on Atascadero:

About all I can say about AAMCO is that growing up, they had a very memorable radio commercial. Well, perhaps that overstates it, as the commercial per se wasn't all that memorable, but the tagline made up for it. The announcer would advise the listener to bring his car to AAMCO with the hook:

That's Double-Ay-*beep*-*beep*-Em-See-Oh!

That little car horn beep in the middle of the business name would get my attention every time.

When commenter John mentioned that this place might be closed, I went to take some pictures and wasn't sure myself. The lot was certainly for sale, but all the signage and fixtures were still in place, and I thought they might be carrying the business on until they actually had a buyer. In the event that was not the case, and they closed shop sometime in 2012, early on enough that they are not listed in the February 2013 phonebook.

(Hat tip to commenter John)

UPDATE 5 March 2014 --It's now D's Automotive:

Here's a little barbecue joint (and live venue apparently) in between Andrews & Georgetown on US-521 west of US-17Alt.

It looks as though there were some attempt to rebrand it after Little PaPa's closed.

The pig does not appear to have fully grasped the gravity of his situation..

Marion Burnside Chrysler Plymouth was a constant breakfast-table presence while I was growing up due to their memorable commercials on WIS Radio. At this remove, it a little cloudy what the exact lyrics to their jingle were, but clearly they spelled out the word "Marion" and drove home the fact that they were at "Seventy Two Oh One on the Sumter Highway!". Here's the way several people recall it (as first seen on the Ads & Jingles page:

Mar-i-on is the name to remember,
7201 on the Sumter High-Way!
M-- "More Service"
A-- "Able to Serve You"
R-- "Real Value"
I-- "something something!"
O--"something something!"
N--"something something!"
Today!

(me)

M A R, I O N,
Marion Burnside Plymouth in Columbia
M for Marion Burnside Plymouth in Columbia
A at 7201 the Sumter Highway
R ready to serve you
I integrity
O opportunity
N now go!

(commenter Dennis)

M- Marion Brunside Chrysler Plymouth in Columbia
A- address 7201 Sumter Highway
R- ready to serve you
I- Integrity
O- Opportunity
N- Now Come

(commenter GB)

It's a bit hard to conceptualize now, but before I-77 and the growth of the metro area, this lot was way out in the boonies, or at least that's how I considered it. It was something we would pass on the way to the beach, and not something I considered as being "in town" at all. In the event, we were a Ford/Mecury family in those days (something 1970s' Mecurys cured us of), so I never actually paid a visit to Marion Burnside, and am a bit hazy as to when it closed. I'm thinking the late 1970s, but I could be wrong.

Jim Hudson moved into the Marion building sometime later, and had been there quite a while by the time they got caught up earlier this month in the general flight to Blythewood that has already taken Dick Dyer Toyota, Lexus of Columbia and a surprising number of other dealerships.

After a long series of days when I could only take pictures as the sun went down, or when the day was completely overcast, I had some hopes for these pictures. In particular, the sidelot with all the little plastic flags strung up was quite photogenic as they glittered in the early afternoon sun. Of course, the instant I got out of the car, the sun went behind the clouds, and I got yet another gray set of pix. The only partial benefit was that shooting against the sun as I had to do for most of these was a little less bad (Less bad, but still *bad*).

(Hat tip to commenter Frank)

UPDATE 2 May 2016 -- It appears that Dick Smith Ford is about ready to open: