Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed on a recent drive-through of Boozer Shopping Center that First Credit on the north side of the plaza is vacant. I can't really find any information on it, but I'm guessing that I went by that storefront a number of times in 2021 without noticing a vacancy, so I will tentatively place it in that year.

I thought I had some pictures of this vanished ATM with the various closings which have happened on this lot, but in the event I don't seem to. At any rate, this was a stand-alone ATM, not associated with any branch. I used it a time or two before I noticed the credit-union ATM up the hill, after which I stopped paying the fee. I believe it post-dated the Kmart though I can't say for sure. Interestingly, google gives the ATM a Bush River Road address rather than the Arrowwood Road address of the main building.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

Before we picked out The Parthenon as our favorite, my father and I used to go to the location of The Villa which was in the building that now houses Pawley's Front Porch. After that, I kind of lost track of it, as Bush River Road was a good distance to drive at that time. I did get out to that location once later, and found the food and service to be good, but for some reason I just felt antsy in the dining room with no windows anywhere and I did not go back.

Recently they have announced that they are closing and that 22 December 2021 will be the last day, and reported in this ColaDaily story. As of this writing, that is next Wednesday, so you still have a few days to catch up with them if you like.

(Hat tips to commenters Heath & Ed)

I admit to being a little confused about the status of this place. I have never seen any cars there, and the Facebook page shows no recent activity. Furthermore, I recently drove by there at 10pm on a Saturday night and everything was dark. But there is no indication on the door that they are out of business, the street sign seems fairly new, and there are recent google reviews.

Can anyone confirm whether they are open or closed?

UPDATE 27 January 2023 -- Initially this post was a request for information as I could never tell if the place were open. (One commenter supplied the tidbit that they did not open before midnight). Now it is a closing, as the shopping center has suffered a fire, centered on this club.

According to commenter Mr. Hat, Lita's Treats dessert bakery, in what's left of the food court at Dutch Square is moving to 800 Lake Murray Boulevard. This is the old Piggly Wiggly shopping center, now home to Stars & Strikes. Interestingly (or not) there was previously a cupcake bakery in that complex.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 22 June 2021 -- Here is the new location:

There seems to be some self-caused confusion about the name of this place, as the outside sign brands it Best China Buffet while the inside one goes with Super China Buffet. The last Yelp review is from late 2018, so I'm going to guess they closed in 2019. To be honest, the reviews suggest it was probably inevitable. There seems to be one food operation still in the Dutch Square food court, but it's a far cry from the days of Annabelle's, Morrison's, Chick-Fil-A and Cromers (not to mention lunch counters in Woolworths and Eckerds).

This one surprises me.

Fuddruckers closed in February 2020, and and was quickly sold to Columbia World Outreach Church for $452,500.

They worked several months getting the place gutted and rebuilt. According to LoopNet

Upgrades include a new roof, all new interior finishes, restrooms, sanctuary to accommodate 192 chairs, classrooms, children's nursery and a large outdoor area.

Unfortunately they did not have long to enjoy it, and the property went back on the market in mid-December 2020.

UPDATE 20 October 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, this is to become The Gala Event Center:

UPDATE 15 December 2021 -- Looks like The Gala Event Center is up and running, and they have leveraged the very neglected patio area of Fuddruckers with new construction:

I don't know what's going on with the Boozer Shopping Center location of Chick-fil-A, but the place is currently closed, though it is flagged as temporary.

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)

UPDATE 6 March 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, this place is open again:

UPDATE 8 July 2022: Updating post title capitalization & tags.

I believe this building was built for the office supply chain OfficeMax, or at least that's what was in the storefront when I first became aware of it. Remington College moved in sometime around 2009, when the first picture above was taken.

I noticed about a week ago that the signage at the road and on the building had come down, but I'm unable to find any thing in the local media about it. The Facebook page for this location has entries up through Thanksgiving 2020, but no note about closing the campus. The main website for the school doesn't mention Columbia as a campus, though Wikipedia still does.

UPDATE 28 January 2021: Add Big Star to the post title based on the comments.

I used to wonder about this Walmart on Bush River Road in the old Bush River Mall location. I would be eating late at Fuddruckers or El Chico and decide I would stop by Walmart on the way home to pick up a few things when it was less crowded. The first few times I found it closed, I figured they were ramping up staffing and hours at a new store, but eventually I figured out it was never going to be a 24-hour store, as most were at that time.

The State has the story, attributing the closing to "low sales", though I suspect shrinkage and other factors played into things as well. The pharmacy will be closing this week, on 22 January.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

UPDATE 1 April 2021 -- All the signage is down, though the place still looks pretty good:

UPDATE 9 November 2023 -- Here's a Youtube video about the store: