Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Frank's was a small meat-and-three restaurant on Two Notch just east of Beltline in the corner of the strip mall with AutoZone.

I have to say that I never stopped by Franks's although this Cheeseburger Crawl appreciation says it had been there quite a while and describes it in a way that makes me sorry I missed it.

Going by the door sign, the place went out in a very classy way at the end of June.

UPDATE 1 September 2012: Add some pictures of the parking lot sign.

This Dentsville mattress store is listed in the February 2011 phonebook (along with one on Augusta Road), but neither is in the February 2012 phonebook.

Meanwhile, there are lots of spare mattresses at the Ramada Inn.

"Boss! The Plane! The Plane!" — Sorry, but that had to be said

I'm not quite sure what is going on with Club Fantasy Island, a tiny strip club on Two Notch Road which basically shares a parking lot with the old Shrimper restaurant and the old Atlantic Twin Theater. (As I recall, the club got a bit of notoriety some years ago when there was a shooting in the parking lot, but I'm not sure if the incident was actually related to the club itself, a neighboring club, or was random.)

Anyway, I took these pictures back in early March 2012 because I had noticed that when driving down Two Notch at times the club should normally be open, it wasn't. I almost went ahead and did a closing on it then, but one night somewhat later when I drove by, it was open once more, and I saw it open normally after that. Then, in June, I think, it was closed again, so I don't know exactly what the status is, but if they re-open again, I'll just update the post title.

UPDATE 28 January 2022 -- This building has now been razed. Hope somebody got the neon sign:

Also updating tags and adding a map icon.

Books Revisited was the follow-on operation to the Two Notch location of The Book Dispensary, and occupied the same space in Tillman's Plaza near the Two Notch K-Mart. I believe they also used all the shelving, counter and other fixtures left over from The Book Dispensary so the shops looked very similar.

In the event, I only stopped by Books Revisited once. I browsed the Science Fiction section, and picked up a couple of Berserker books by Fred Saberhagen who had at the time just recently passed away. The staff was friendly, and the place was comfortable: well lighted and not cramped -- there used to be some real dives I surfed for used books in. So why didn't I go back? Well, I certainly hadn't ruled out doing so, but I think it's the old story of internet disintermediation and getting what you want vs serendipity and getting what you didn't know you wanted. As things stand now, I can probably get any paperback that pops into my head for a few cents on Amazon (though it will cost more to have it shipped..) rather than looking around town in the hopes I might find it, and I find that as I get older, I seem to have less and less time and interest in plowing through stock. It used to be that I would go to Woolworth's and check every LP in the cut-out bin, or check every book in the Science Fiction and Humor sections at The Book Dispensary or The Paperback Exchange or George's. I found a lot of treasures that way, and wouldn't take any of those hours back, but I'm just not willing to do it anymore. And I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect, unfortunately for places like this, that a lot of other people aren't either.

(Hat tip to commenter Brandi)

Here's another closing in Sparkleberry Square. I can't say much about Dress Barn other than they sell women's clothes, and I always thought it was an iffy name ("that dress makes you look like the broad side of a barn"). Interestingly (or not), Sparkleberry Square has now flanked Kroger with clothing closings, men's to the right of Kroger and women's to the left.
(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

When I noticed this empty slot in the Food Lion plaza on Two Notch the other night, my first thought was that GQ Barber Shop had closed, but on checking the closing I did for Arnold's Professional Cleaners last year, I see that at that time, the shop was called Simply Hair Barber Shop, and in fact Simply Hair is listed in this year's (February 2012) phonebook, so it would appear that GQ is going in rather than out. (Given that there is no "opening soon" sign, I could be wrong and GQ might have gone in and out very quickly).

Note that GQ mostly re-uses the Simply Hair sign.

I know I took some pictures of this under-awning vacancy at Polo Plaza at least a year ago, possibly longer. In the event, I never could determine what had been there, and so never did a post on it.

I was going to Time Warner Cable in the same plaza the other day and noticed that the two suites were still vacant, so I decided to put it out there and see if anyone remembered what was there last.

The street address is 9810 Two Notch Road, and the two store fronts are designated "9-D" & "10-C" according to the stenciling. I notice however that other references to the plaza use only the suite letters, as in this LoopNet listing

UPDATE 8 July 2012: Commenter Clay identifies this place as a former Gooney Birds and then GB's, so I have changed the post title from "Storefronts" to that. I found that GB's Grill & Bar was listed in the Feb 1997 phonebook, so it was there at least until then. There's a gap in my phonebooks, but it appears that WG's closed in 2007.

UPDATE 9 December 2012: Add Sharee's to the post title based on commenter Natalie's info.

Today's closing takes us back to Garden Place Plaza in Dentsville, to the storefront just east of PC Corner.

First American Cash Advance (or First American Ca$h Advance as the signs have it) was one of Columbia's many payday cash advance operations which feature here pretty frequently. Also a pretty regular feture here is the store marquee, turned around so the store name is not legible, but retained so as to not leave holes (which are both unsightly and let in the weather) in the sign fixtures.

Here is the plaza marquee:

And here is the vacant First American space, photoshopped to turn it rightside up again and enhance it a bit:

Here's the same thing done to the storefront sign:

The address of this place is a bit hard to understand. The adjacent PC Corner spot is 7384 Two Notch. I can see how this slot is 7386, but the "Suite A" doesn't seem to make sense.

Garden Place Plaza is the strip mall at the south west corner of Two Notch Road and O'Neil Court, and has featured here at least twice before as both end anchors (Floor It Now & Beds Plus) closed.

Now computer store PC Corner (which was *not* in a corner spot.. ) has joined them, and fairly recently I think, as it was listed in this year's (February 2012) phonebook.

UPDATE 13 May 2012 -- Commenter Terry sends in this 1994 receipt for a top-of-the-line PC Corner system. Hey Terry, I think you can let that receipt go now -- I'm pretty sure the warranty has expired!

Well, it looks like Video Magic & Mags on Two Notch just before Fontaine has gone under despite (or because of?) their Low Low Rices, and that their Movies For The Entire Family are being cleared out.

This porn emporium has been there seemingly forever, and outlasted the one on the other side of Fontaine by probably a couple of decades.

It appears that a new incarnation for the building will be forthcoming shortly as the parking lot has been re-paved, the sign has already been painted over, and there seems to be a stream of folks in and out working on the interior.