Richland County Industrial Park, Clemson Road: never opened 4 comments
Awesome Mattress, 7201 Parklane Road: 2011 2 comments
I don't know if this was the same Awesome Mattress business that was on on Two Notch in the old Zesto building that is now Hola Mexico, or a different one. If it was the same one, it didn't last too long in its new location, wihch is not one that catches my eye often. In fact, I don't ever recall going to this little Columbia Mall outparcel strip-mall for anything, and would be hard pressed to name any store that has ever been there..
UPDATE 1 June 2012 -- It's now a Richland County Sherriff's station:
Mr B's Railroad Tavern / etc, 8444 Parklane Road (Old Legrand Road) / 6531 Two Notch Road: 1991 / 2000 35 comments
This distressed building, on Old Legrand Road just off of Parklane near the Farrow intersection, was obviously a store of some sort, judging from the marquee space above doors in front. It also appears to have had a really nice ceiling at one time, though no more. I considered taking a closer look at the back rooms which are visible here, but decided that was the kind of place where people who don't want company might stay. There's what appears to be a pump shed on the right side of the building, so I'm guessing this place was never on city water.
Google has a pretty good satellite view of the place:
Looking at that, it appears there is another decrepit building on the same lot further back from the road.
UPDATE 14 April 2012: Commenter sugarbear1 provides one of the names for this place: Mr. B's Railroad Tavern. I have put that in the post title and have taken out the generic "Building". Also changed the "1970s" closing date to "1990s".
UPDATE 15 April 2012: Changed the closing date again to "late 2000s" based on the fantastic photos commenter Dennis dug up (check his link in the comments).
UPDATE 24 April 2012: OK, I did some research at the library. Interestingly, this location apparently never had a telephone listing, and I had to get the infromation from on "city" directories.
The first such listing is in the 1983 city directory, and gives the address (which is clearly *now* on Old Legrand Road) as 8444 Parklane Road. The listing is for
Mr. B's Railroad Tavern (Thos Hammonds)
I assume Thomas Hammonds was either the business owner or the property owner..
The last listing was in the 1991 city directory, and the 1992 directory lists the address as "vacant".
The Febuary 1993 Bellsouth directory is the first to list Mr. B's Railroad Tavern as being at 6531 Two Notch Road. The last listing was in the February 2000 directory. Here is a shot of what's currently at that location:
I'll note also, that it turns out "Mr. B's" is a pretty popular name for various places, and there were a number of other places with that prefix during the same time period. In fact, there is currently a Mr. B's at 3128 Two Notch Road just east of Beltline which appears to be a bar and venue.
Eddie's / The Vista Grill, 1301 Assembly Street: March 2012 7 comments
Little Folks Place, Inc. / Kiddie Kollege Pre-School, 1540 Bush River Road: 2000s 8 comments
Amoco Food Mart, 6001 Monticello Road: mid 2000s 7 comments
Hope Your Easter Is More Supial Than Not! no comments
Maryland Fried Chicken / Rockingham's / Triangle City Diner, 1237 D Avenue: 1970s 8 comments
There are still some Maryland Fried Chicken restaurants on the Grand Strand, but they seem to have abandoned the Midlands sometime between the February 1976 phonebook (above) and the February 1985 one. This building, in Triangle City, is still standing, and still a restaurant, but now it's True BBQ. You have to love the pigs, and the sauce names.
UPDATE 5 April 2012: Added Rockingham's and Triangle City Diner to the post title based on the comments, and google.
Branham's Exxon, 3400 Devine Street: 24 March 2012 6 comments
There's been a lot of speculation in Have Your Say lately as to whether Branham's Exxon at the corner of Devine & Ott is open or not.
I think the answer is probably: It's open, but it's not Branham's. Commenter Nobody saw a sign there to the effect that it was closing 24 March 2012 after 35 years, but when I drove by, I saw the station open and with people actively filling their cars. A closer inspection on a later Sunday trip reveals that the streetside sign now says:
Gas Pumps Open
Thank You
Keenan Oil Co
while the other sign of the sign says that the "shop" (which could be the convenience portion, the auto bay portion, or both) is temporarily closed.
It appears that the station has been sold to Keenan which is, for the nonce at least, running it as a gas-only station. I certainly wish the owners a nice retirement, but it's sad to see another of the very few "mechanic on duty" stations left close. In fact, the only other one that comes to mind right now is Null's Exxon on Two Notch.
UPDATE 5 February 2013: It's now a Gaz-bah:
The UPS Store, 1013-F Broad River Road: July 2011 4 comments
This little storefront in the Food Lion plaza between Greystone and Brevard, was a UPS Store. This review says that they were having problems for a while, and I wonder if that suggests that the copier which appears to still be in there was unfixable.
I believe that a contract Post Office opened fairly recently at Boozer Shopping Center, so there are still shipping resources in the general area.
(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)
UPDATE 9 September 2013 -- It's now Peking Wok II:
