Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Before I-20 came in, we would take US-1 through Camden whenever we would go to visit relatives in Hartsville. Often on those trips (or whenever we could nag successfully enough) our parents would let us stop for lunch at the Burger Family restaurant. In retrospect, there was nothing special about it, it was a standard hamburger stand in a town that didn't yet have a McDonald's, but it was someplace different, and that's what mattered. At this point, I can only recall three things about it: The manager had a hearing aide; the burger names were family themed: Papa Burger (the largest) , Mama Burger (more "normal" sized) and some kind of kids burger, the cute name of which I can't recall, and they always got something about the order wrong. It became a running joke with us.

After Burger Family closed, we switched to Hermes, which was sort of a Hardee's knock-off in a town that didn't have one of those either. Then, of course, I-20 came in, and we started taking that to Bishopville instead.

I am not absolutely sure this is the right building, but I have looked a number of times in Camden over the years, and this is the only one in about the right place, looking like it could have been there then, and have been a restaurant then, and which tickles vague memories. I could be wrong -- it was a *long* time ago.

Sticking with Wells Fargo for another day, the company recently announced that they will close this administrative center on Greystone Boulevard next summer. The State has the story, along with the astounding statistic that they have laid off 40,000 people over the last few years. It is certainly a shame that so many folks have to suffer for a number of bone-headed and unethical stunts management has pulled over the last decade.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

Continuing the recent theme of abandoned (or demolished) walk-up ATMs, this one at the Dutch Square Wells Fargo has been closed for a good while.

The adajacent branch continues to be open, and people in the parking lot can, of course, walk up to the drive-through ATM, and in fact somebody did that just before I took these picture.

Does anyone know what is going on here?

They have forced Two Notch down to one lane turning onto Fontaine and one lane for through traffic and have had barrels up for at least six months, but even though I drive by there quite often, and frequently during prime work hours, I have never actually seen any crews or construction going on -- It's like they just plugged up the road for fun. I know the folks at China Hut & Ace Glass must be pretty sick of it by now.

While we were talking about the Walk-up BOA ATM on Saint Andrews, I recalled this one on Greystone, and was curious to see if it were still there. It's not, and the Google Reviews suggest it probably closed around 2020. I think that if a place is not a natural foot-traffic spot, people are increasingly reluctant to get out of their cars and box themselves into one of these..

I was driving Taylor this evening, and noticed that there seemed to be less signage than usual on Deli Say No More catty-corner (more or less) from The Township. Looking inside confirmed the interior largely stripped.

I didn't actually know the name of this place until I started googling around, which reveals that they have apparently re-named and re-branded and moved to Two Notch near Fontaine. The web site and phone number remain the same.

I had noticed the new business in the old Video Magic & Mags / Nancy's Nook building, but hadn't made the connection.

UPDATE 14 May 2024 -- The Two Notch location:

UPDATE 17 June 2025 -- As mentioned in the comments, to be a San Jose, Jr.:

Aside from the Hungry Howie's in Myrtle Beach, this is the only other location for the chain that I was aware of. I'm not much for take-out, and of course it's all the way out in Irmo, so I never tried a Hungry Howe's pizza. Just from the web-site, it sounds like it could be pretty good: several of those crust flavors sound promising.

I am a little fuzzy on the details, and can't find anything online right now, but this location first came to my attention several years ago when the news broke that it had been sold to a rival chain. I don't know what happened, but obviously that deal never came to fruition, and operations continued for many years after that, until mid-September of this year, when it closed for repairs, a state which officially morphed into a permanent closure recently as reported on their Facebook page.

I notice that the store is not listed on the Quail Valley marquee. That seems pretty quick -- I wonder if it were ever there.

(Hat tips to commenters Heath, Andrew & Tom)

This is fairly near to me, but if you'd asked me where it was, I couldn't have told you. I guess I get tunnel-blindness when I'm not in the market for whatever I'm drving by.

Anyway, commenter Andrew reports the retirement sale and upcoming closing, so if you are in the market for some casual & patio type furniture, you should probably head on down there before too much longer.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I was driving by this weekend, and noticed that the S-Mart convenience store & gas station on the Southwest corner of Blossom & Huger was closed. I didn't notice until I was sitting at the light, so I didn't have a chance to park and look around, but from the pile of dirt and scuff marks, it looks like they have already taken out the tanks.

Normally I would expect something to go into this high-traffic spot quickly, but I proved to be wrong about the catty-cornered lot with the former Columbia Antique Mall / Chic Antique & Co., which closed in 2016. That struck me as a prime site, but now six years later, the space is still vacant.

UPDATE 27 March 2025 -- The new building is well on its way up:

I thought I had some daytime pictures of this place, but in the event I can't find them. The nighttime shots are suboptimal because of a big streetlight in the wrong place, but they'll have to do as a placeholder.

The New Brookland Tavern has been in this spot seemingly forever, with very few changes over the years. I Believe the last time I was there was to see The Explorers Club, which whould have probably been August 2011. At the time I recall thinking that the place was pretty ragged, and judging by the stories about the place moving, it doesn't sound like it has gotten any less so.

The building has been sold recently, and the Tavern's lease expires at the end of the year, so they plan to have the final shows in December, and hopefully find a new home in the new year.

You can check out upcoming shows for the final season here.

The story has featured several times in local media. You can read The State stories here & here, and the Free Times story here.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 2 October 2023: Added a (still not great) daytime shot.