Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Commenter Jason points out that pet supply store Pet Basics at Sandhill has closed. This store was just down from the old Village Bistro/La Fogata location.

I'm not sure exactly when they closed (other than sometime this year), but their web site says they opened on 7 December 2011.

(Hat tip to commenter Jason)

When I drove by the other day and saw that It's All Good Grill would be opening soon in this spot on Two Notch near Pine Belt, I tried to remember what had been there before, and found I couldn't do it.

Just googling the street address leads to Jimmy's Transmission Service (as does the big sign by the road :-), but this property tax link suggests that there are two buildings on the lot and I'm guessing that Jimmy's is in the larger one. I'm pretty sure I have seen a number of businesses in here over the years, but none that stand out in my memory...

Well, at least nobody was hurt.

When I heard about this fire, my first thought was It probably started in the Self Storage, and it seems I was right. The self storage (and office) facility was carved out years ago from the old Spring Valley Commons Theater, and I figured there was probably somebody storing something they shouldn't. It seems I was wrong about that second part though: The Fire Department is calling it arson.

The blaze looks to have taken out stores starting with Adams Cabinet Works and working clockwise from there, through @ The Office, Tatiana, the self storage facility and Tripp's Fine Cleaners.

Just from the looks of it, I think they'll have to knock down most of that wing. Given that there are a number of vacancies in the plaza, perhaps some of the stores can re-locate within Spring Valley Commons.

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This little cell-phone storefront is in the Food Lion shopping center at the corner of Two Notch & Pine Belt Roads.

Judging from the Facebook page, they opened in late May of 2012 and closed possibly as early as late June 2012, or at least that's when the updates to the page stopped. At any rate, I don't think they made it into 2013.

There are currently several other vacancies in this plaza, despite Food Lion drawing fairly well.

Update 22 November 2013: It turns out this place has moved. The current address is 3950 West Beltline Blvd, Columbia, SC 29204, phone: 803-363-1353.

I used this location of Cartridge World a few years ago to refill the toner in my HP Laserjet, and that refurbished cartridge is still going strong. Sometime this year, this branch moved out of the Forest Park plaza next to Cardninal Newman, west down Forest Drive past beltline to a new location more or less across from The Pizza Joint and next to Lizard's Thicked.

It looks like the Forest Park storefront is currently being used for overflow storage.

Here, I believe, is the last posting from the little strip mall on North Woodrow Street near Broad River Road. This Irmo glass showroom is next to the former China Pearl, and is listed in this year's phonebook (Feb 2013), so apparently closed fairly recently.

UPDATE 6 October 2021: Adding "North" to "Woodrow Street" in the title and tags. Adding map icon.

Women's gym Curves moved out of this little strip just past Piney Grove Road sometime in 2011, to set up shop down the street at Seven Oaks Shopping Center (6169 Saint Andrews Road). As of last week, I believe this storefront was still empty.

Update 26 January 2014 -- The new location:

Here's a former beauty salon in an old ranch-style on Broad River Road in Irmo. The new, unused, phonebooks on the porch are closing signs I've seen time and again, though probably in the next few years that will stop.

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I'll admit I'm a sucker for anything mechanical, so I could toss out more of thes pictures, but I'm not going to.

This little automated carwash is on Broad River Road at Riverhill Circle, just across that street from China Hut Ace and just below the 'T' where Greystone Boulevard hits Broad River. I like the way that it seems a little bossy with its "Stop/Back Up/Drive Forward" warnings and the way it keeps up with the situation through observational pronouncements like: "Car Is Soaking".

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Here's another storefront in Irmo's Quail Valley Plaza.

As far as I can tell, this tailoring and alterations shop closed in 2009.