Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

There's an interesting little history of CompuZone at their web site. I did not know this, but the store started here in Columbia as The PC Store in 1992, though they eventually ended up with more stores in the Charleston area than here. As far as I know those other stores are still open.

I don't believe I ever shopped at this store though I certainly have bought my share of computer parts. I was living out of town for a good part of the time it was open, and when I got back to town, there was a Best Buy much closer to me. Their site does show some nice looking SATA drives -- eventually I will upgrade and have me some terabytes on this table..

The place has been thoroughly gutted in advance of the next operation, BatteriesPlus moving in. Their sign says they will have lightbulbs as well -- I wonder if they will import some 100W ones (though I stocked up on a enough to last me a good long time!)?

(Hat tip to commenter Badger)

I was driving along Two Notch near Beltline the other day and noticed a For Sale sign in front of Auto Zone, and at first thought that large space had been vacated. In the event it was a much smaller storefront next to Auto Zone in the strip.

As far as I can tell, Grand Divas Hair Salon occupied this address until sometime in 2008 when they moved out to 5350 Farrow Road (where they still are as of the Feb 2012 phonebook).

Carolyn's Flower & Gift Shop was listed on 3306 Millwood Avenue while Grand Divas was here, moved in when they left, and then last year, moved back to Millwood at 2917 1/2 Millwood Avenue (2917½ Millwood Avenue).

The first time I went to Tandoori Grill I recognized one of the staff from the Broad River Road location of Delhi Palace (or I should say he recognized me), and the food was quite good. I went there probably four or five times and it continued good, then I went there a final time, and I didn't think it was good at all, and I don't think the original guy was there anymore.

I was recently passing by during hours when the place should have been open, and noticed the sign wasn't on, so I turned in to check it out. The sign on the door is a bit unclear, but I think the gist of it is that the restaurant became "available" on 15 January 2012.

The little strip that it sits in, Fortune Square has not seen great success in quite a long while (the main store is Big Lots), but that makes it attractive to smaller operations, a number of which have come and gone over the years, including notably La Pizza Cucina.

UPDATE 18 September 2012 -- It's now Kiki's Chicken and Waffles:

This little storefront in Sequi Center (almost across the street from the Sesqui State Park entrance) has obviously been a number of things over the years. A little googling turns up Second Debut which was a thrift shop, but the sign covered up by the Sew N Sew banner doesn't look like it belonged to a thrift shop (I could be wrong..) so I'm guessing there was another shop in between.

Commenter Miz T says that Sew N Sew was there at least two years ago, and that they were gone by mid January, so I'm guessing they probably left with the old year at the end of December.

(Hat tip to commenter Miz T)

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Originally, as I recall it, this was simply the Columbia Mall Theater, and opened about the same time as the mall itself. Compared to some of the other theaters in town, I don't have any really strong memories of the place. I know I saw what was pretty much the last 70s style Disney live-action movie there: The North Avenue Irregulars as well as one of Disney's periodic re-issues of The Jungle Book and the first run of The Rescuers Down Under. (Yeah, I like Disney). I also remember trying to go there for a James Bond flick, one of the later Moore ones, and finding it sold out, a pretty rare experience back then.

At some point after I moved out of town, the Mall started to decline, and the theaters actually went under (along with the nearby Capitol Centre Theater). After that, a company called Phoenix Theaters re-opened the theater, which was sort of their shtick "phoenix from the ashes"/"new theater from old". I can't find out a lot about them because every google search turns up theaters in Phoenix Arizona, but this might be their web site. If it is, they have downsized considerably. At any rate, I don't think the Phoenix incarnation lasted too long here in Columbia. I recall seeing one movie under that regime (they had the latest showtimes) and not being too impressed with the theater (or the movie as I can't now recall what it was).

After that, I think the theaters closed again, and remodeled along stadium lines, which was the latest gimmick several years ago (and is an improvement, I have to admit). I'm struggling to think of any movie I saw there after the conversion, and I don't think there is one -- by that time, I had switched mostly to Richland Mall and Forest Drive as my default theaters.

I've lost the hat tip for the commenter who pointed out this closure, and when they said it happened, but if you look closely, you can see a poster for The Darkest Hour a movie which opens on Christmas Day 2011, so it was very recent, and we can assume somewhat unexpected if they thought they would be showing that one.

UPDATE 3 July 2012 -- As the pictures below show, the place is now open again as Columbia Place Stadium Cinemas.

Getting ready to re-open (28 May 2012):

Open again (29 June 2012):

Surprisingly, given its location at the corner of Two Notch & Faust Street, this building was apparently once connected with a church or some sort of religious personage. I can dimly remember seeing the Merita store there, and Titlemax seems to have been the most recent tenant, showing up in the February 2007 phonebook, but not thereafter. According to Richland County the place is currently owned by Midland Holding Corp who are apparently trying to sell it.

The lot is also home to a 30 Sheet Poster billboard, and if you click that link, you can see the place with the Merita store in operation, and a different paint job.

Well, the relocation of this title-loan company from Arcadia Lakes Shopping Center answers the question of what will next go into the old Carolina First Bank building at Columbia Mall.

I'm not sure it's a more accessible location, but the building is certainly classier.

UPDATE 20 December 2011: Originally stated the name of the strip mall as Arcadia Lakes Plaza which was wrong. I have corrected it to Arcadia Lakes Shopping Center.

LoopNet says this rather nondescript little building on Two Notch near Covenant Road was built in 1970. I would have been in third grade, old enough in theory to recall what it was originally, but apparently my eyes totally slid over it for the first 41 years of its existence.

At some point though, it became the Tonya D Parks Nationwide. Judging by this comment from commenter Amanda they moved from here to the old Sandy's Escorts location at 5201 Two Notch in July of 2010.

Google doesn't give me much help on the E F Martin Co, telling me confusingly that it was either a "non bank holding company" or an auto repair shop.

This old-school Exxon on Two Notch near the I-20 interchange, and O'Neil Court is currentl Go Used Tires, but apparently that will only last until the sale of the building, which is currently on offer.

This is a classic look for an Esso/Exxon of that era. Here is a similiar one (which I believe stayed open longer) in Yulee Florida:

Hopefully the Two Notch building will not be razed, but given the age, I wouldn't bet on it.

UPDATE 5 December 2011: Added Esso to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 10 October 2016 -- The Two Notch building continues to deteriorate. I don't see how the next operation won't raze it. I also note the sheltered area looks to have been something of a homeless campout: