Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Big thanks to commenter Gary, who sent in these pictures of Sloan's Drive-In on the Sumter Highway, and says that it was located near Universal Drive. The pictures are from an old Lower Richland yearbook, and apparently the restaurant owner was a LR booster to judge from the signs.

I have to say that I absolutely no memory of ever seeing this place, and we used the Sumter Highway to go to the beach for most of the 1960s and early 70s (until I-20 made Screaming Eagle Road an attractive option). Gary puts the restaurant in the 1970s, but I'm a bit skeptical. The design aesthetic looks much earlier to me, 50s or 60s, and I can't find a yellow pages listing for the place in my 1970 restaurant pages (or any other of the '70s pages I have here at home). Anyone have any personal recollections of the place? The country could certainly use a good $0.19 hamburger!

UPDATE 23 October 2011 -- Ok, I have done a little checking at the library, and this is what I found out about Sloan's:

They first listed in the December 1967 Southern Bell phonebook, and last listed in the December 1969 directory. They ran the same Yellow Pages ad (reproduced below) in each year of their listing. Also, as mentioned in the comments, the 8010 Garners Ferry Road address where Sloan's sat has been subsumed as part of Grace Hill Plaza, which is officially 8006 Garners Ferry Road. Also, the official name was Sloan's Charcoal Hamburgers so I have changed the post title from Sloan's Hamburger Drive-In to that.

As I was looking for The Sunbeam Thrift Store the other week, I noticed that this storefront on the West side of Parklane just north of Columbia Mall was also vacant. The sign indicates that they have relocated to 1315 Calhoun Street, which looks to be about at the intersection with Sumter.

This place is not too far from the NAPA on O'Neil Court which also relocated, though there are still a number of parts stores in the general area.

UPDATE 7 May 2012: The Calhoun Street location has now closed as well.

Looks like someone claimed all the freight after all!

Or they may perhaps have moved to Blythewood. There is a Bargain Warehouse listed there in this year's phonebook.

I wonder what this place was originally? There are three connected units in this small strip at Two Notch and Calvin Drive. The two end units have this odd, rocky facade, while the middle unit does not. Curiously, the Chinese Wing Restaurant on Two Notch at Fontaine Road also has the same sort of facade. I like the touch of yellow here as it makes the place stand out a bit from its neighbors.

UPDATE 30 September 2011: Add picture of roadside sign at top.

The sign on this former Bank of America branch dates the closing to 8 April 2011, but if I hadn't seen that, I could have almost sworn I used this ATM several months after that. At any rate, I certainly didn't notice that the place was gone until this week. (And it has been gone long enough that the grass is unkempt, and the building starting to deteriorate [though someone is still tending the flowers in the sidewalk patch]). The building is on an odd triangular shaped lot at the sharply angled corner where Millwood Avenue hits Devine Street, and as I recall, it could be a chore to get in and out of, depending on where you were coming from and trying to get to.

I'm not sure why the branch was closed, but from what I can tell of the news, Bank of America in general continues to be in a pickle due both to bad luck and bad practices during the run-up and aftermath of the housing boom. Anyway, it will be interesting to see what goes in here. It might be a nice place for a restaurant as this stretch of Devine doesn't really have any.

UPDATE 13 March 2014 -- It's to be a Dunkin' Donuts, the sign was going up today:

Cabo Fresh Taco, on Sumter Street near the hospital and in between Quiznos Sub and The Palmetto Sandwich Shop is gone. I never was really aware that it was there, or I might have stopped by though I very rarely eat downtown.

The replacement operation is already in place, Anthony's Past Time Cafe which I presume is connected with Anthony's Dairy Bar on Two Notch.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

UPDATE 2 June 2020: Anthony's closed and rebranded as Massey's some time ago, then Massey's also closed. Rather than put the Anthony's closing on the Massey's closing page, or making a separate page, I will put it here because the pictures here already show it. So I am adding Anthony's to the post title.

Noticed Monday night as I was coming out of Carrabba's that Fruiti Cup frozen yogurt in Sparkleberry Square was gone. Well, actually that's not quite accurate because I never knew it was there first, and I couldn't completely tell if it were going out or coming in. A little googling established it though, and puts the date sometime after 3 August.

This spot was originally, or at least previously Ritz Camera, and this closing adds one more to Sparkleberry Square's list.

UPDATE 12 September 2011 -- Some daylight pix:

UPDATE 17 April 2012 -- Looks like it's to be Dickey's Barbecue Pit restaurant:

UPDATE 29 June 2012 -- As commenter Andrew mentions below, Dickey's is now open:

San Jose is probably the biggest local Mexican chain (though they don't all have the same ownership), and one I like pretty well. I never made it to this smaller location on Sunset not far from the zoo, and in fact am pretty sure I did not know that it was there. Commenter MB notes that it wasn't there too long. I have to say Sunset Center has a good-looking ice cream cone on their sign!

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

It seems to me that there used to be a number of "day old" bakery thrift stores around town, but I can't recall seeing any recently. This one on Parklane not from from the old Sounds Familiar location was completely unknown to me. It appears from the signage and construction permit that it will reopen as Panda Chinese Restaurant, which will make three (that I know of) in the general area.

(Hat tip to commenter Miz T)