Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I had thought that Eat More Tees had left Elmwood a good while ago (they are now located on Rosewood across from the Fairgrounds), but I see that the Elmwood location is still listed in the new (Feb 2013) phonebook, so I'm guessing they must have moved out sometime in mid-2012 (after phonebook entries are solidified..).

The building now houses a violin store, Palmetto Strings. It's rather an interesting building. In fact the whole area is interesting. To the best of my recollection, I had (somehow) never been in the Elmwood neighboorhood around Park and Gadsden Street. It is housing unlike most of the rest of Columbia, and strongly puts me in the mind of the historic district of Georgetown, parts of Charleston and downtown Fernandina Beach.

UPDATE 2 March 2013 -- Commenter Bo has some more information on this building, such as that it was a pharmacy and originally larger. Here's an additional view from the back:

With the closing of the State Farmers' Market (seen in the first picture), Case Plants relocated from there to North Main Street on the former site of Jacob's Automotive Group, and next to the old Varsity Restaurant. It's certainly a good drive from their old location, and that may have made a difference.

(Hat tips to commenters Justin & Matt)

Facebook is a weird animal. I get a lot of hits from there, but unlike a normal website, I can't check to see what people are saying when they link here becuase you have to be a facebook member to access almost anything. Likewise there's a lot of content on Facebook that's probably interesting to ColumbiaClosings readers, but in general it is not accessible outside of Facebook and never gets indexed by google. The exception is that for some reason or another, content often leaks out of foreign language Facebook subsidiaries.

A case in point is this posting which leaked through the Korean site:

Pat Seay Garvin다음 장소에 게시Georgetown Wooden Boat Show (Georgetown, SC)
2010년 10월 10일 오후 2:22 ·

Looking for any old SEAYCRAFT wooden boats made at 3132 Two Notch Rd. in Columbia, SC in the 50's. My uncle Tom Seay owned a boat shop and made several models of wooden powerboats. My father worked for him when I was little, and I remember those boats well. Would love to see an original still alive.

It's an unlikely little storefront for a boatwright, but I suppose they may have had the whole building at the time, and probably a back lot.

Long after that, during the era when the other part of the building was Mr. B's, 3132 was
Diamond's Liquor Store.

UPDATE 9 March 2020 -- Now, very colorfully, Sam's Tobacco & Vape:

I can't find any information on this old building on Fairfield Road other than it was apparently built in 1945. However, it looks like an old country grocery or general store to me, and could in fact be a twin building to The Other Store on Atascadero:

About all I can say about AAMCO is that growing up, they had a very memorable radio commercial. Well, perhaps that overstates it, as the commercial per se wasn't all that memorable, but the tagline made up for it. The announcer would advise the listener to bring his car to AAMCO with the hook:

That's Double-Ay-*beep*-*beep*-Em-See-Oh!

That little car horn beep in the middle of the business name would get my attention every time.

When commenter John mentioned that this place might be closed, I went to take some pictures and wasn't sure myself. The lot was certainly for sale, but all the signage and fixtures were still in place, and I thought they might be carrying the business on until they actually had a buyer. In the event that was not the case, and they closed shop sometime in 2012, early on enough that they are not listed in the February 2013 phonebook.

(Hat tip to commenter John)

UPDATE 5 March 2014 --It's now D's Automotive:

Marion Burnside Chrysler Plymouth was a constant breakfast-table presence while I was growing up due to their memorable commercials on WIS Radio. At this remove, it a little cloudy what the exact lyrics to their jingle were, but clearly they spelled out the word "Marion" and drove home the fact that they were at "Seventy Two Oh One on the Sumter Highway!". Here's the way several people recall it (as first seen on the Ads & Jingles page:

Mar-i-on is the name to remember,
7201 on the Sumter High-Way!
M-- "More Service"
A-- "Able to Serve You"
R-- "Real Value"
I-- "something something!"
O--"something something!"
N--"something something!"
Today!

(me)

M A R, I O N,
Marion Burnside Plymouth in Columbia
M for Marion Burnside Plymouth in Columbia
A at 7201 the Sumter Highway
R ready to serve you
I integrity
O opportunity
N now go!

(commenter Dennis)

M- Marion Brunside Chrysler Plymouth in Columbia
A- address 7201 Sumter Highway
R- ready to serve you
I- Integrity
O- Opportunity
N- Now Come

(commenter GB)

It's a bit hard to conceptualize now, but before I-77 and the growth of the metro area, this lot was way out in the boonies, or at least that's how I considered it. It was something we would pass on the way to the beach, and not something I considered as being "in town" at all. In the event, we were a Ford/Mecury family in those days (something 1970s' Mecurys cured us of), so I never actually paid a visit to Marion Burnside, and am a bit hazy as to when it closed. I'm thinking the late 1970s, but I could be wrong.

Jim Hudson moved into the Marion building sometime later, and had been there quite a while by the time they got caught up earlier this month in the general flight to Blythewood that has already taken Dick Dyer Toyota, Lexus of Columbia and a surprising number of other dealerships.

After a long series of days when I could only take pictures as the sun went down, or when the day was completely overcast, I had some hopes for these pictures. In particular, the sidelot with all the little plastic flags strung up was quite photogenic as they glittered in the early afternoon sun. Of course, the instant I got out of the car, the sun went behind the clouds, and I got yet another gray set of pix. The only partial benefit was that shooting against the sun as I had to do for most of these was a little less bad (Less bad, but still *bad*).

(Hat tip to commenter Frank)

UPDATE 2 May 2016 -- It appears that Dick Smith Ford is about ready to open:

Despite the fact that they broadened their business model to full car care many years ago, I still think of Midas as a muffler place. In fact, the last time I needed a muffler, I got it at the Decker store, and as far as I can tell, they did a good job.

This store, on Two Notch near The Village At Sandhill closed sometime late in 2012. I think I noticed it in December, and kept trying to get back out there during full daylight, which I never quite managed.

The sign, Moved to Decker Blvd is a bit disingenuous as the Decker store has been there (at Fashion Place, more or less) for a number of years, so it's more of a consolidation than an actual move.

I've never actually been really sure what Pilates is. I know it's hard to spell and seems like it would be hard to do as well. At any rate, this small studio in Trenholm Plaza, next to 32 Degrees Yogurt is now gone, probably as of the end of the year.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 9 January 2013: Commenter Dave reports they have actually moved to 2864 Devine Street, so I have changed the status to "moved".

UPDATE 5 Feb 2013: Here's some pix of their new digs at 2864 Devine Street in the old AJ's / Strobler building:

The last time I noted this Rosewood Drive location, it was about the 1950s era local grocery chain Edens.

At that time, the building was occupied by bodyFit gym. The next time I noticed the place, it had rebranded as another gym, Jamie Scott Fitness which itself was in the process of relocating to the new Crosshill Market (The Whole Foods strip mall). This was slated to have happened by 1 December, so they should be there now, though I have not gotten over there yet to get pictures of the new location.

As you can see in the first pictures, the bodyFit location had a banner with both names on it, so I surmise that they were in the early stages of changing the name then (late 2010).

UPDATE 9 January 2013 -- Here is the Cross Hill location. As commenter Dennis notes, you have to go around behind the building into a bit of a cul de sac to get to it:

This garden center behind the old Parklane Seafood/Flamingo Club building started off in the South Carolina Farmers' Market on Bluff Road, and moved over to Leesburg when the Farmers' Market was redeveloped.

(Hat tip to commenter Badger)