Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This one is kind of odd. After what was apparently a somewhat prolonged build, the proposed Fresh Market on Sunset Boulevard in Lexingtion was boarded up, giving rise to several local media stories, like this one from The State, that struck a reassuring tone, indicating that the store was still expected to open this Spring (ie: now). Conspicious, however, in the spin of those stories was a very tepid quote from Fresh Market corporate, which said essentially: No Comment.

Then last month The State reported that this store will *not* open in 2018 at all:

The company plans to focus on “improving core operations” at current stores, “so it has decided not to open any previously announced new stores for 2018,” according to a statement issued by the company. “Our focus remains on strengthening and growing our in-store operations, guest service program, merchandising selections, future offerings and, of course, our team members, as well as planning and executing new store openings after 2018.”

This strikes me as an extraordinary statement that has a blood-in-the-water feel to it. If the company had opened the stores it had been building and then put a hold on expansion, nobody would have said anything, but in these hard times for grocers, pausing (forever?) the opening of already (mostly) built locations sends a message quite apart from the bland words. I hope I'm wrong as I quite like the Fresh Market, but it doesn't sound good.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 13 April 2019: The Free Times reports that Fresh Market has abandoned the site and that instead a Publix Greenwise Market will be coming instead.

I've also changed the post title status to Cancelled and added a map icon.

UPDATE 25 August 2020: Changed the street address from "5328 Sunset Boulevard" to "5336 Sunset Boulevard Suite A", to match the buisness address used by Greenwise Market, which opened in this building in December 2019 and closed in August 2020. Also updated the map icon to use the better address.

UPDATE 18 June 2022: It looks like Prisma Health will be going into this site. See here.

Mostly I knew Silver City from their old location at 906 Knox Abbott Drive. When I was a graduate assistant every Wednesday (I think it was Wednesday..) when the new comics came out, I would drive from campus to there and peruse the weekly haul.

They moved to this old Hardee's building closer to the river while I was living out of town. I did stop by several times, but by that point, I was getting my fix through a mail-order subscription service, so it wasn't quite the same, though the staff was quite pleasant and I did pick up some stuff.

According to their Facebook page the store's last day was 2 December 2017. When I took these pictures, I had a brief chat with the building owner who said that they were looking for a new tenant in the building as is rather than taking it down and starting over. I was glad to hear that, as these old Hardee's buildings are pretty thin on the ground now. After the razing of the one at Eggroll Station, this is the last in the Columbia area, and I believe the owner said there were only one or two elsewhere.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas S)

UPDATE 12 October 2021 -- Now The Modern Locksmith.com:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 13 August 2022 -- Here is a picture from commenter Jimmy Freeman of the roadside sign for this building when it was a Hardee's:

I'm not a cupcake (or really any kind of cake) fan myself, but if you are: Don't despair. Cupcake Paradise is no longer in this old Piggly Wiggly center at the corner of Lake Murray Boulevard & Columbiana Drive, but they are still around. They moved to 7512 Woodrow Street (Irmo, not Shandon) sometime in the January/February 2018 timeframe and are up and running there now.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Here's another Harveys, this one on Decker. As with all the other Harveys, this one used to be a Bi-Lo, and I did a closing for that here.

The strip mall anchored by this storefront is High Point On Decker, and it is about at the top of the hill. Just down the hill from here is another strip mall with both a Food Lion and a Rite Aid, so I'm not sure another grocer will want to locate here.

UPDATE 17 May 2018 -- This store is now closed:

Here's another vacant Cricket Wireless storefront, this one in Topspin Plaza in Lexington.

I noticed as I was getting the pictures that Topspin Plaza actually has two marquees and street addresses. I'm not sure if they are separate developments or not, but the other is at 5341 Sunset Boulevard:

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I noticed the other weekend that this Broad River Road gas and convenience store, which was a Circle K when I originally did a closing on it, has now reflagged again, dropping the El Cheapo branding for CK Mart.

It does not appear that they did any digging or construction this time.

Beads & Yarn was the follow-on operation in this Sunset Boulevard location to Firefly Toys & Games. They apparently had quite a selection of knitting and crocheting yarn, and jewelry beads. The owners retired and closed the store in February, but still have a web site here, and do business online at Amazon.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

As mentioned in Have Your Say, all Columbia area Harveys supermarkets are closing. You can tell how dire the trouble the parent chain is in by the fact that they spent a lot of money rebranding these stores from Bi-Lo to Harveys less than two years ago. I did not do a closing on this location as a Bi-Lo at that time, so I'm including it in the post title and Alphabetical Closings now.

At this time, none of Columbia's remaining Bi-Lo locations are closing, but that is probably another shoe waiting to drop. The full list of closing stores across both nameplates and over all affected states is here.

Nothing Held Back

Well, continuing the story from the Toys 'Я' Us post, this is the same thing but in a more advanced stage. The Babies "Я" Us closeout sale has been going since February and is now in the end stages, if this WLTX story is still current.

One thing I didn't mention in the Toys closing is that both business units share a common problem on top of everything else: The US, other Western nations and Japan are currently in a "baby bust" situation. That means even if they could regain their former appeal to the customer base, the customer base itself is shrinking, or as the Four Seasons once said Bye, Bye, Baby, Goodbye!

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew I think)

UPDATE 15 June 2023 -- Now Hobby Lobby:

Also adding map icon.

So fare there are no signs advertising big closings savings at the Toys 'R' US Columbiana Mall outparcel site in Harbison, but it's just a matter of time as the firm officially threw in the towel last week and says it will not emerge from bankruptcy.

I missed the golden age of Toys 'R' Us, and in fact don't think I've ever been into a store. For us, the big thing was the Sears Christmas Wishbook with wonders on every page, here's an appreciation from someone who was not too old for the golden age, along with some reminders that Toys 'R' Us has been in and out of trouble for a long time.

The funny thing is that while TRU doesn't sell as many toys as it used to, it still sells a *lot* of toys, and you have to wonder how bad the debts must be if you have bankruptcy protection and can't come up with a viable plan for the way forward while you are still selling lots of toys.

A few links:

According to CNN, the timing of closing sales and the final closing have yet to be determined.

A trademark collector may be bringing KB Toys back as popup stores due to the TRU bankruptcy.

Amazon may buy some of the stores though I wouldn't hold my breath for the Columbia area.

I have to say this store does not look appealing to me. It looks a bit run down, boxy and not 'fun'. I realize there are limits to what you can do with stodgy Columbia codes, but to me something like *this* says TOY STORE!

And finally, thanks, guys, for that whole backwards 'Я' thing. Not.