Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This spot at the corner of Two Notch & Beltline was previously the home of Hursey's Trading Post & Advance On Checks with Auto Money going in sometime between 2014 and 2016. Google streetview shows it here as late as September 2022.

I'm thinking there may have briefly been another operation after this, as the current color scheme of the building is a red & black one, completely different from the green & yellow theme of Auto Money.

I should probably also mention that at least through 2011, the side of the building closest to Burger King was a separate suite housing My'Kuls Exclusive Gift Shop.

Here's another former Fatz, this one on US-501 in Conway on the main drag towards the beach.

Google reviews suggest this was re-purposed as an Asian buffet sometime around 2019.

Whitehall TV was an old-school television repair shop across from the former Clusters Of Whitehall just about where Bush River Road turns into Tram Road. I don't really know anything about the place, but I do know that people rarely get TVs fixed today as they don't have tubes or really any replacable parts at all anymore, which can't have helped things.

Google reviews suggest the place has been closed at least seven months, and commenter JohnR thinks it's about a year, so I'm just going to put 2022 as the date.

(Hat tip to commenter JohnR)

UPDATE 8 September 2023: Change reference "Tram Street" to "Tram Road".

UPDATE 9 October 2023 -- Here are some post closing shots:

The Florence Fatz Cafe still has a billboard on I-95, and the music in the foyer is still playing, but like all the rest, this location is now history.

Apparently the Southern 500 had just been run, and I had a heck of a time getting out of here and back onto I-95!

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I saw a real-estate sign driving by here in mid-2021, but as there were cars down there, I wasn't sure the place was actually closed. When I ran across the pictures again today, a google search confirmed that Hill's is gone, probably sometime in 2021.

The LoopNet page has a better picture than these.

I'm not sure why the sign says "Transmission" when all the online sources say "Transmissions", but I went with the plural.

To the best of my memory, I had never been in Clio until July when I drove through on SC-9. The town has obviously seen better times; Wikipedia says the current population is 726, but the downtown is still mostly intact if often vacant.

In the early years of the 20th though, it was a bit of a boom-town as the railroad came through, and took advantage of that to put up a Vaudeville theater to host acts travelling from New York to Miami. It was called an Opera House as such things tended to be, because that sounded classier.

According to The SC Picture Project and The Eccentric South, the place survived as a theater into the 1950s.

Currently it seems to be mostly empty, with a retail operation in the lower corner that looked not to have been open in a while. In the meantime, the pocket sized local police department hangs off the other side.

I don't suppose this is a big surprise: We have all noticed Fatz closing locations without adding any new ones, but still I was expecting it to take longer.

The news came last week that the whole chain has shut down, with some reports of bankruptcy filings, though no actual links to such.

This store in Lexington was the last Midlands location, and I had never eaten there, but I would drive by from time to time, and observe that it seemed to be doing a reasonable business. In fact, as I was taking these shots, several cars wandered in, looking for a meal.

It's a good sized building, and there are already an Asian buffet and a San Jose in the general area, so we'll have to see what happens next here.

Here are stories on the chain closing shop in The Index Journal, The State & The Greenville Sun.

(Hat tip to commenter Alan)

I go to this Groucho's fairly frequently for the BLT (which has a whole lot of B), and like to sit out on the patio, weather permitting.

I hadn't been in a month or so, and noticed no cars and a sign on the door as I was driving by the other day. My takeaway is that they are remodeling, though I would have said the place was in reasonably good shape, with comfortable booths. (Not at all fancy, but servicable and about what I expected from a Groucho's.)

The sign and web site are a bit vague about exactly what is happening, and how long it will take, and I'm not sure what's up with all those books, which I don't think were there before, but hopefully they will be back soon.

This block of three storefronts on Broad River Road, next to the former Tires & Beyond looks to be completely vacant now. It's interesting to take a look at Google Streetview over the years:

It appears that the A suite (on the far right) was Express Barber Beauty until sometime after August 2019.

Wonderful Grace looked to be moving into that suite around November of 2021, and was gone by September of 2022.

R & R Taxes moved into the B suite sometimes after August 2019, and was already gone by November 2021.

Moya was there in the C suite from at least August 2011 through September 2022, and has since moved down the road to 3106 Broad River Road, and is apparently still there.