Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Well, the last time I drove out to Sandhill, I got a picture (above) of the vacant Wet Seal storefront so that I could add it as an update to the Wet Seal post, which I distinctly remembered making..

Except that apparently never happened..

So anyway, Wet Seal has closed. The teen retailer went into bankruptcy in 2015, and never really made a go of it again after coming out. Business Insider has the story. The final closing was announced on 20 January 2017, and the first pictures were taken on 29 January, so I would suspect the end came for this store in early or mid February.

Somebody has bought the web site, but it's not clear exactly for what.

Given the amount of unleased space like this in Village At Sandhill proper, I was surprised to still see new buildings going up, as was discussed briefly in the comments for Family Christian Stores.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Well, as has been noted in Have Your Say a good many times already, Family Christian Stores is closings all of the chains stores and going into liquidation.

USA Today has a good overview, and Gleanings has a bit more detail and Christian business community focus.

I had thought I recalled that this chain started as Zondervan (who once had a store at Columbia Mall though I never did a closing), and these articles confirm it. The Zondervan brothers founded the business in 1931, giving them an 85 year run, which is certainly not bad. In 2012, the current management brought out the already money losing business and reorganized as a non-profit, but even on that basis the cash flow was not enough, and the chain filed for Chapter 11 in 2015, but even with shedding a lot of debt, the re-organization never was able to stay above water and apparently a lot of the debt shed was owed to small enterprises which could not afford to stay in business without the owed payments, so a bad situation all the way around.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew I think)

Amusingly, one of the google search suggestions that came up as I was typing this address was "convert to decimal". (Which would be 22 for those who care..)

Anyway, here's another phone store on the move. This one from this building to a brand new building constructed after the demolition of the former buildings at 10202 Two Notch.

(Hat tip to commenter mike)

UPDATE 27 March 2017 -- The new location:

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, this is one of the last old-time "service stations" around town. Looking inside is like visiting another age. The "Maps Here" sign is particularly evocative -- there was a time you got your branded highway maps at a service station. I still have a cubby full of old "Gulf" maps, some predating the completion of the 'I' system. That was also a time when we were convinced that gas was *not* a commodity product, and that "Good Gulf" was better than "putting a tiger in your tank" or vice versa.

And a man would actually come out to your car, pump the gas, check your oil, check your tires, check your battery and radiator and wash your windows.

Their sign says they were here for 33 years, which is a good run.

And for context, you can see two former closing in the background: here and here.

UPDATE 16 March 2017 -- Rather Hopperesque:

UDATE 1 September 21018 -- Something is happening here:

UPDATE 21 February 2019 -- Now a Cheap Way convenience store:

When I was taking the pictures of Dooley's, I happened to notice this empty building on the other side of the street. After doing a little googling, I found that it was a former Aaron's, and that, um, I had already done a closing for it, something I honestly have no memory of!

However, I find I can legitimately feature the building again as it has more recently been a Halloween Express holiday store. These tend to pop up in exactly these sorts of buildings: Large, and apparently un-rentable, under the theory that a few months of money coming in is better than zilch. For now at least, you can see the building kitted out for Halloween here.

This old-time fisherman's stop is apparently a Lexington institution, having been there according to The State for 67 years.

The development of the area, and the many changes in retail have persuaded the owning family that it's time to close:

“You just can’t make it on bait and tackle alone any more,” the elder Dooley said.

His son, 51, decided taking over the store isn’t worthwhile. “The only way it would is if I work seven days a week, be the only employee and probably live here,” he said.

And so goes another little piece of Americana...

UPDATE 26 March 2018 -- Now closed:

UPDATE 6 March 2021 -- Now open as Twisted Roots Bar & Grill:

Also adding map icon.

I wasn't really aware of this little women's apparel store on Corley Mill Road, though I have driven past it at least twice that I can think of. The area seems to be rapidly building up, but this place was still an older house on a good sized lot. Their Facebook page has a nice little shout-out to their local suppliers.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

I took these pix a few weeks ago; Google says this store is now closed.

I don't know a lot about Stein Mart, but apparently it has been struggling along with many other clothing retailers:

A beleaguered Jacksonville retail has brought on a high-level executive to handle its merchandising and marketing, among other responsibilities.

Stein Mart Inc. has hired MaryAnne Morin as president, putting her in charge of merchandising, planning, marketing and advertising and e-commerce.
....
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The holiday season was particularly dismal for the retailer, which saw comparable store sales slide nearly 5 percent year over year.

This is a pretty good sized storefront, it will be interesting to see what goes in next, and when. As I recall, it sat vacant for a long time after closing as Goody's and then again after being Giant Book Sale.

(Hat tip to commenter Blaner)

17 August 2020: Update tags, add map icon.

I'm not sure when Atlantic Bedding & Furniture opened in Cedar Terrace, but it must have been after October 2009, as you can see its slot vacant in the closing for the Cedar Terrace Fred's.

It seems to be a well organized liquidation -- I even got a flyer in the mail.

With this closing, the big back building, which looks to be a former grocery to me, will be completely vacant, at least for the nonce.

UPDATE 16 August 2017 -- Actually though I list the closing date as February 2017 in the post title, this closing sale lasted quite a bit longer than I expected, and was well advertised all over town. It appears that the doors have now definitely closed:

UPDATE 27 September 2021: Updating tags and adding map icon.