Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I've written about Waldenbooks at Columbia Mall, and the other book store at Dutch Square Browz-a-Bit, but I've not said anything about the Dutch Square Waldenbooks, which for several years was my main book store.

Waldenbooks actually had two different locations in Dutch Square. The first one was sort of odd in that it was behind the corner of the main corridor and the first crosswalk, but not on the corner. There were two entrances to the store. One was on the crosswalk corrider before coming to the corner (where the Great Steak & Potato Co is today) and the other was on the main corridor just below Tapps (now the theaters), but the actual corner, Steak & Potato slot was another store.

The main corridor also goes markedly up hill from the crosswallk to Tapps, so the Walden's was a split-level store. If you call the crosswalk entrance the "front" (and that makes sense as they later closed off the exit to the main corridor), then the front of the store was on the ground and the back of the store was built on a platform that was, I believe, two steps up from the ground. My main interest was the science fiction rack, which was parallel to the main corridor and butted up against the raised platform forming the back of the store.

For at least one year, possibly two, I would spend one afternoon a week in the Dutch Square area while my mother would take my sister to piano lessons a couple of miles away. I had only a $0.60 weekly allowance, supplemented by $3.00 for mowing the lawn, so any actual purchase was a matter of careful deliberation and agonized tax calculation and penny counting (though it certainly helped that mass market paperbacks were still under a dollar in those years). In my hour or so of time, I would sometimes walk down to Boardwalk Plaza to peruse the Book Dispensary, but mainly I would circulate between Walden's and Browz-A-Bit trying to make up my mind.

I have strong memories of some of the books I bought at this Walden's (and in fact still have the books themselves in most cases). I recall in particular getting all of Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, one at a time, with awful 70s covers, and Pyramid editions of all of Doc Smith's Skylark and Lensman books (with bad [what was it with the 70s and loss of design sense?!] but better covers as well). Covers aside, I must have read each of those books at least 20 times.

I also liked the humor section though I rarely bought anything there. One book in particular made a great impression on me as a 13 or 14 year old. I was amazed that it sat right out there in the open, and always wished I had the courage to pick it up. Buying it was out of the question, of course :-)

Later when I could drive on my own, Columbia Mall became my book hangout of choice what with Walden's on one end and B. Dalton on the other. I sort of lost track of the Dutch Square Walden's. I did know they had moved down the main corridor from their original location. The reason I heard was that the split-level store was not ADA compatible, but I don't know if that is true or not. At any rate, I found their new location less interesting than the original. What with that, moving out of town and the advent of "big box" bookstores, I doubt I was in the new store more than a dozen or so times. I didn't even hear about it when the store closed.

After Walden's, Fashion's Unlimited went into their slot, and I find it amusing to see how they stock the men's dress shirts in the old Walden's magazine display rack.

I know this storefront on Two Notch Road below Dick Dyer Toyota has been a number of different operations over the years, but I can't bring any of them to mind right now, and google isn't overly helpful (I assume the fire department caution sign has the correct address..). I have to say that the name of this place strikes me as dubious. I want a bit more specificity in my food than Things -- It reminds me of the old "Parts is parts" chicken nugget commercial.

I don't know what happened here. The right side of the building looks like there might have been a fire, but the main part looks more like a truck ran into it. They yellow tape around the site designates it as a "crime scene", but I don't know if that's true or that's just the default for "keep out" banners.

I've never really been in the market for a wig, but I have noticed this store on Beltline between Two Notch and Farrow off and on over the years. The name never really registered with me, but this time when I saw it closed, I finally made the connection with the store which took over the Two Notch location of Floor It Now -- I'm pretty sure it moved from here to there.

Guess you could say it flipped its wig..

UPDATE 27 Feb 2013 -- It's now One Love convenience store:

It appears that China Dragon restaurant on the corner of Farrow Road and Beltline Boulevard is gone. When I took these pictures, it was after the return date stated on the vacation sign, but the phone had not been disconnected, so I held off posting. Now the phone is cut off and when I drove by this evening, there were a couple of cars there with people who seemed to be looking at the property (though there is no "For Sale" sign).

I never ate at China Dragon but the building has been there forever, and stuck in my mind as a kid because of the rocky exterior. Since we went down that way so seldom, I had a poor mental model in my mind of exactly where it was, and would always be surprised when I saw it again.

The building design is clearly the same as this much restauranted building on Decker Boulevard, so going by the comments there, it was probably originally a Popeye's Chicken.

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I've written about D's Wings a couple of times before. The short version is that it's a local chain with a surprisingly large menu (including good grilled cheese sandwiches and raw fries!) that has gone through a rough patch over the past couple of years.

I think this location, on Columbiana Drive just past Columbiana Center, closed at about the same time the Blythewood and Clemson/Sparkleberry stores did, which was around October last year. I don't know the ownership structure of the chain, but I would speculate that there are several owners because other D's locations (Beltline & Parkland Plaza for instance) continue on.

If you've followed this blog for a while, you've come to know one of my photographic weaknesses, and I indulged it fully the evening I finally stopped by this location.

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(The State 15 April 1973)

To the best of my memory, I had never been on Atlas Road until last month when I was looking for that huge flag that flies by I-77 in-between Bluff & Shop Roads. After finding Atlas Road back there, I recalled some comments in "Have Your Say" to the effect that Boozer Lumber had been located there, so I went back later to take a look.

I had heard of Boozer Lumber over the years but really had no idea where it was or how big a place it had been. The complex is huge, and appears to have taken in at least three related Boozer enterprises. I didn't notice any "for sale" signs on the lots, and the company web page seems to imply that the site is still owned by it. It will be interesting to see what happens to the property in the future.

I've never seen the appeal of birds as pets. Herman the parrot was fascinating to me as a kid, but in my mind he was a pet store fixture -- I had no desire to take him home. Parking your car under the wrong tree will illustrate possibly the main reason I feel that way, but different squids for different kids. Parrot Phernalia was a store for those who do like birds, and I would notice it from time to time as I would cut over from Bush River Road to Harbison Boulevard and I'm pretty sure I saw it open very recently. This real estate listing suggests the storefront was built in 1970, so I'm sure it has been other things as well, but I don't recall anything from before Parrot Phernalia (certainly there was nothing with a more memorable name..). Anyway, I guess Polly will have to look elsewhere for her cracker!

UPDATE 9 June 2009:

I turns out this place has moved and is still in business, and sounds like a really nice place (though I still have no desire to have a bird!) -- by all means read The State story found by commenter Kc.

Also, I've added some of the building's previous incarnations to the post title line.

Mimi's Cafe was a very nice little restaurant on the edge of James Island. The building itself wasn't much and parking was impossible, but the setting was extraordinary with the porch and deck looking out over a beautiful salt-marsh. It was a great place to have a meal (with an excellent creme brule for desert!) and then just sit for a while and soak in the atmosphere.

I had seen a report somewhere that Mimi's was closing and that a new restaurant was going into the building, but I figured that if the food were even half decent, there was no way to ruin the location and I planned to go by for lunch on my recent trip to the Holy City.

As it turns out, there is a way to ruin that location -- a kitchen fire. (One of that story's comments suggests the headline: Boathouse Parking Problem Solved...).

Obviously I ended up eating lunch elsewhere!

I hope they can rebuild though the city notice suggests a rocky start.

After Vacation Part 1 a few weeks ago, I'm down in Charleston for the Piccolo Fringe.

I saw The Upright Citizens Brigade tonight and it was a very funny show. They will be playing again during the week, and I recommend you come down and see a few shows. Tickets are available through Publix or ticketmaster.com. The whole fringe schedule is at The Have Nots site, and of course I will be catching the holy city's own national quality improv troupe as well.

Anyway, posting will be light to nonexistant for the rest of the week, though I will try to pop in often enough to keep comment spam down.

This one is a bit of a surprise. Since this location outlasted the Columbia Mall location by several years, I figured it was safe. On the other hand, Columbiana Drive has lost both a D's and a Smokey Bones recently, so there may be some stress on the area I'm not aware of -- the only thing I can think of is that it's a pain to get to either from Harbison (two lights from I-26, I think) or Lake Murray Boulevard (a left turn if coming from I-26).

Not being a great rib fan, I never visited this location, but it looks to have been a nice building. The left side appears to have a second story -- was there seating up there or just office space?

(Hat tip, um, just about everybody, but I think Tom was first).

UPDATE 19 September 2022: Editing tags and adding map icon.