Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Despite the fact that they broadened their business model to full car care many years ago, I still think of Midas as a muffler place. In fact, the last time I needed a muffler, I got it at the Decker store, and as far as I can tell, they did a good job.

This store, on Two Notch near The Village At Sandhill closed sometime late in 2012. I think I noticed it in December, and kept trying to get back out there during full daylight, which I never quite managed.

The sign, Moved to Decker Blvd is a bit disingenuous as the Decker store has been there (at Fashion Place, more or less) for a number of years, so it's more of a consolidation than an actual move.

Barnette's Wallcoverings was at the north-east tip of Boozer Shopping Center, and closed some time last year. It's been several months since I first noticed it closed, so it wasn't too near the end of the year, but on the other hand they are in the 2013 phonebook, so it can't have been too near to the start of 2012 either.

It seems to me that 2012 saw a lot of turnover in Boozer, and while they did get some new tenants, I think that there are more vacancies than usual.

UPDATE 8 May 2014 -- It's now Sissy's Furniture:

As I've said here before, we used to eat at Shoney's all the time when I was growing up, and when they were still affiliated with the Big Boy brand. The Hot Fudge Cake was always a special treat, and there were free comic books for us kids. The chain lost its way sometime in the 80s, dropping Big Boy and trying to branch out into areas they knew nothing about, like running motels..

The Columbia stores gradually started closing, with Beltline, Charleston Highway, Forest Drive and Two Notch all gone by the time I moved back to town.

This location, across from the old Kmart has seemingly been in trouble for years, as they stopped serving dinner and were open only for breakfast and lunch. As the marquee farewell message mentions, the two stores left are the Garners Ferry and Airport Boulevard locations. I haven't been in the Airport store for 20 years or so, but I've been to the Garners Ferry location several times recently, and find it rather neutral -- neither particularly good nor particularly bad. As commenter Andrew has posted, the chain has now hired a turnaround CEO to try and get the brand back on track. I wish them well, and suggest trying to make up with Bob..

UPDATE 18 September 2013 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this place is leased, and is to become a Cook Out>

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 19 April 2016 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, here is the excavator on the Shoney's lot:

UPDATE 10 May 2016: Some pix of the cleared lot(s) through traffic:

UPDATE 17 May 2016 -- A couple more pix of the vacant lot, though still not very good ones:

UPDATE 28 June 2016 -- Construction on the Cookout continues:

UPDATE 10 July 2016 -- Siding up now..

UPDATE 10 September 2020: Update tags, add map icon.

I've never actually been really sure what Pilates is. I know it's hard to spell and seems like it would be hard to do as well. At any rate, this small studio in Trenholm Plaza, next to 32 Degrees Yogurt is now gone, probably as of the end of the year.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 9 January 2013: Commenter Dave reports they have actually moved to 2864 Devine Street, so I have changed the status to "moved".

UPDATE 5 Feb 2013: Here's some pix of their new digs at 2864 Devine Street in the old AJ's / Strobler building:

The last time I noted this Rosewood Drive location, it was about the 1950s era local grocery chain Edens.

At that time, the building was occupied by bodyFit gym. The next time I noticed the place, it had rebranded as another gym, Jamie Scott Fitness which itself was in the process of relocating to the new Crosshill Market (The Whole Foods strip mall). This was slated to have happened by 1 December, so they should be there now, though I have not gotten over there yet to get pictures of the new location.

As you can see in the first pictures, the bodyFit location had a banner with both names on it, so I surmise that they were in the early stages of changing the name then (late 2010).

UPDATE 9 January 2013 -- Here is the Cross Hill location. As commenter Dennis notes, you have to go around behind the building into a bit of a cul de sac to get to it:

The Carolina Wings at the corner of Gervais & Pulaski is the latest location of this local chain to close. (You can see other stores here, and here).

There was an article in The State about it. I didn't save the link, but the gist as I recall it was that the chain went into bankruptcy, and that as part of their reorganization to come out of it, they were closing stores where the rent was too high and the margin too low to make sense in their current status.

As of a few weeks ago, at least, their Pawleys Island location (really Litchfield, but everybody tries to say they're Pawleys nowadays..) was still open, so they still do have a bit of a non-Midlands presence.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

UPDATE 14 July 2014 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this building has now been sold:

UPDATE 20 April 2020: This builiding is now breastaurant Twin Peaks. Also, adding tags and map icon.

This spot on Saint Andrews Road just east of the I-26 interchange has been much restauranted over the years as you can see here, here, here and here.

In general my theory is that it's too hard to get back to I-26 from this spot, or indeed to do anything requiring coming out of the parking lot and going westbound on Saint Andrews Road. In this case though, there may have been other factors in play as sadly a security guard was shot and killed here on 25 August 2012 as detailed in this State story. While it appears the culprits were caught, that incident certainly has to have given people pause. And while it appears to have been related to a late-night switchover to night-club operation, still I would have hesitated to go myself after that even during the day. I certainly would not have taken any kids.

At any rate, the place seems to have kept on until Thanksgiving at which time they closed down, and did not re-open as planned. Curiously letters are already peeling from the roadside sign, and missing from the rooftop marquee.

UPDATE 27 Jan 2013: Added the bouncy-castle picture of the Grand Opening.

UPDATE 26 January 2023 -- Interesting this update is almost exactly ten years since the last one! Anyway, as reported in the comments, this building has been razed:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 8 February 2023 -- I got some more pictures from inside the parking lot this time:

I noticed before the Holidays that health food store Nutrition Warehouse in Boozer Shopping Center has moved from the south side of the plaza to 1621 Broad River road in main strip on the north side. Apparently in their old location, they had two adjacent storefronts, as you can still see the label-scar on the unit to the right of the one with the very visible sign.

Along with the move, they have added a Contract Post Office, so the loss of Broad River Road UPS Store is now more or less made good. Their second location, on Forest Drive by the new Pasta Fresca location also has a CPO, and I've found it convenient several times despite the fact that it's just a stone's throw from the Trenholm Plaza post office. Every time I've walked in with a package, there's been no line whatsoever.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and has started the New Year out right.

I'm back, and getting re-combobulated. If I get some pictures uploaded, regular posting should resume tomorrow.

Well, here we are at the penultimate day of 2012! I thought it might be interesting to do a year end post about what brings people here to ColumbiaClosings. To do that, I've put together a Top 500 (more or less) table from my Google Analytics "keyword search" results for 1 January 2012 through 30 December 2012. (Actually up to about 4pm on 30 December..).

There are some things you might expect, some you might not, and some that are pretty surely automated searches (like "ship ahoy").

It's been a pretty good year, and I'l see you in "the teens".

Happy New Year!