Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This little building at the Southeast corner of Two Notch & Covenant Roads is apparently an outbuilding on the L'il Cricket lot, or at least there doesn't seem to be a separate tax record for it. This Administrative Law Court decision (for Li'l Cricket's beer & wine permit) suggests that it was initially a smoke shop, but google says that more recently, it has been Willie's and Biddy's Corner Grill.

I was going to go back some later when I had time to stop and get closeups of the signs in the window and get a longer shot showing where it is in relation to the convenience store, but somehow I never did. At any rate, it is a tiny space, and looking at the windows, seems to have been mainly a walk-up operation.

UPDATE 18 September 2013 -- Here are some pictures of it as Biddy's:

and here it is in operation again as Wright's Eatery:

It looks like Elegante Wig Gallery, in the old Electrolux location on Devine Street has closed. I'm the wrong gender (and still have my hair so far..) so there's not much more I can say about it, other than it was not there too long as seemingly it started around 2008.

Here's another quick turn-around story (like Al-Amir). I had only just heard that Conrad's was closed, but when I got around to driving by, it was already open again as Henry's.

I wish them luck, but this building has been ill-starred lately. We've had Tiffany's Bakery, Granville's and now Conrad's in just the space of a few years. Maybe it's the apostrophe.

(Hat tip to someone in the comments -- I can't find the name right now..)

Here's one I have absolutely no memory of, though I would have been driven past it constantly going to and from Richland Mall. The building now at 2120 Beltline (note how it was "Belt Line" in the 1976 ad..) is a medical office next door to Moe's, and is obviously not the original restaurant building.

I have no idea how the theme played out in this restaurant either. Again, as a kid, I would have expected to notice some place with a knights and castles come-on, but am still drawing a complete blank...

(You'll notice I was having a little issue with lens fogging on the first shot here).

The closing for The Devine Street Al-Amir was the first one I ever posted on this blog. I also did one for the Sparkleberry Crossing location, and this one makes three.

It's a shame because I really like the food at Al-Amir -- the Damascus bread, tabouli, hummus and falafel are all very good. Luckily, they still have locations on Main Street by Moe's and at Sandhill in the old Shane's Rib Shack location.

This closing had a very fast turn-around. I know I ate at this Al-Amir sometime in February, and now it is not only closed, but re-opened as a burger and pizza place called Stinger's.

(Hat tip to commenter E.J.)

I never heard G-E-X pronounced Gee-Eee-Eks as the spelling here would imply. It was always just "Gex" to rhyme with "Vex". Not that I heard about it that often. Given the 21 Dec 1969 phonebook listing (ie: for 1970) above, it sounds like it was a Costco or Sam's before its time -- certainly we did not have a membership, and I never went with anyone who did. (There are some pictures of the membership cards here.)

The building (behind Applebee's just North of I-20) is certainly massive, and it seems to have had a department for everything, including groceries and meat, which really makes it sound ahead of its time. Wikipedia says G-E-X was another label for G.E.M the Government Employees Mart and that the electronics department eventually morphed into Circuit City by way of Ward's. The December 1972 phonebook is the last one to list the Columbia G-E-X which meshes with Wikipedia's claim that the chain went under "during the discount store shakeout of 1973".

After G-E-X the spot seems to have been a number of different operations including Home Quarters and Blue Cross. In fact, LoopNet says Blue Cross has a lease on the whole building that lasts until September 2012. Currently the building seems to be empty, with the last branding on the street sign as Palmetto GBH which seems to be some sort of Medicare related operation (their sign is still on the storefront in the LoopNet listing).

UPDATE 21 March 2011: Added "Intertec Data Systems" & "Phar-Mor" to the post title. Those apparently closed in the early 1980s and 3 October 1992 respectively. (Also fixed spelling of Applebee's..)

UPDATE 6 April 2011: Added the 1970 Bellsouth Yellow Pages ad for the pharmacy department (which apparently was open to the general public).

I don't know anything about Tires Unlimited other than that they sold used tires and were located in a very neat little building that was obviously once a service station.

It appears to be of an early '60s vintage, similar in some ways to the old Bill DuBose 66 station on Covenant.

The building now seems to be an impromptu parking lot for Blue Ribbon, and looks like it could use some TLC.

UPDATE 18 March 2011: Added "Patterson's Texaco" to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 25 May 2016 -- This place is to be a gas station again, albeit with a convenience store rather than service bays this time. Cheap Way is coming:

I first wrote about this building in a closing for The Village Bistro in August 2009. After that operation closed, La Fogata Mexican Restaurant set up shop, lasting at least a year, and apparently closing around the start of March this year.

I never managed to make it to La Fogata though I do like Mexican food. It's just a good ways from Forest Acres, and if I'm not in the mood for Moe's or a Mexican Mexican place like San Jose or Casa Linda, I usually end up at El Chico, headed the other way from town. Commenter Kp who tipped the closing says it was pretty good though.

(Hat tip to commenter Kp)

UPDATE 23 March 2011 -- Well, the signage is down and the place is up for lease again:

UPDATE 26 May 2016 -- As mentioned in the comments, this is now Top Dawg Tavern:

I don't see this carwash at the corner of Broad River Road and Young Drive in the February 2008 phonebook, so I presume it must have closed before that (and the pricing sign looks pretty faded). This particular stretch of Broad River Road has taken a lot of hits in recent years, and this property sits directly across from the former (and still vacant) AMF Bowling Center and more or less across the street from a former Circle K.

Folks, thanks to the courtesy of Barbara Summers and her daughter Lane, I was able to post some great new pictures from Barbara's collection for Boardwalk Plaza, Bum's Factory Outlet and Shamrock Haircutters.

Please go look at that post again, and leave your comments there!