Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Arnold's Professional Garment Care (or Arnold's Cleaners as the building signage indicates) looks to have been in this building for a good many years. The plaza, at the North West corner of Meeting and 12th Streets is a bit of a hard luck location, losing its grocery long ago, but Arnold's kept going until this location (there are others) closed on the first of February. If you had clothes there, don't panic -- they've been taken to the North Main Street store.

(Hat tip to commenter Sam)

Here's a little antique store in West Columbia that I'm afraid I never got around to visiting. Here's what commenter Larry had to say about it:

It sounds like the kind of place I would find interesting. I really don't like high-end shops with a lot of antique furniture, I like places with a lot of "old stuff" -- the warehouse antique mall on State Street being a prime example (as was the lamented Dixie Used Furniture in the Vista.

In fact, I bought the first Closing-Cam at an "antique mall" in Fernandina Beach, making it the first "antique" digital camera I'm aware of..

("Hats Off To Larry")

UPDATE 21 January 2012 -- It's now Perkins Jewelry & More as seen in this not very good drive-by picture:

There were three Goody's locations in Columbia, one on Two Notch Road, one on Bower Parkway and a final one here on Augusta Road in West Columbia. As mentioned in the other posts, the chain went Chapter 11 in 2008 and closed all their Columbia stores.

The one on Bower Parkway has has a couple of temporary tenants like a "Giant Book Sale" and one of those indoor flea-market type things they have at Jamil from time to time. The one on Two Notch is going to have Joann Fabrics as a new tenant, but as far as I know this one near the West Columbia Wal-Mart and I-26 has never had anything set up shop, even on a temporary basis.

The Loopnet listing says there's 31,609 square feet that can be subdivided, but it's been two years already, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

UPDATE 11 March 2021 -- Now a Muv Fitness:

Also adding map icon and updating tags.

I really like this building on US-1 near Wal Mart, or at least the classic part of it -- I could do without the two prefab sheds at each end. Whenever I see a gull-wing light tree like the one on the left (west) side of the lot, I get a real feeling of nostalgia. When I was a kid in the mid 1960s, we would take US-301 to Florida every summer and Christmas, and somewhere along that route, there was a big abandoned truck-stop. I don't know where it was exactly, though it was fairly early on the trip, so it was probably in South Carolina (and as we went South, it was on the left). Anyway, the lot was strewn with those gull-wing lights and it always made a big impression on me.

Aside from the light, the canted wrap-around bay windows on the west end are another really nice touch, as is the trapezoidal riser on the east end. They don't make 'em like that anymore. I would guess the building started as a gas station, probably in the late 1950s, but I don't really know.

As of now, KC Customs & Detailing still has a web page up, and from that I can definitely say they were in this spot as late as February 2010. There are also some shots of the building with the KC signage still up.

UPDATE 15 Jan 2011 -- It's now Poppa Joe's New & Used Tires:

UPDATE 14 April 2018 -- Adding "Texaco" to the post title based on the comments

I never ate at this San Jose on US-1 near the I-20 interchange. Firstly, it's not near anywhere I usually am, and secondly (and more importantly..) it looked pretty suspect as far as quality goes.

At first I assumed it had just gone under (and was somewhat surprised at all the stuff left inside), but driving down the road towards I-20, I found a very nice looking new San Jose restaurant, so I assume it moved to the new building though there are so many San Jose places in Columbia that I can't swear it's the same operation.

UPDATE 16 Jan 2010: Commenter JB says this used to be The Oak Grove Superette, so I've added that to the post title.

UPDATE 4 March 2010 -- Here's the new San Jose building:

UPDATE 20 Jan 2011: Added "The Carolina Grill" to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 20 May 2021: Adding map icon and updating tags.

UPDATE 25 January 2023: Add tag.

Here's yet another of Columbia's (or West Columbia's in this case) former Eckerd Drugs locations, and like a number of former drugstores in the area, it's been re-purposed as a discount store, a Dollar General in this case. I didn't get any front-on shots because people were in and out constantly while I was parked next door at Walgreens, but it's the standard Eckerds look.

I'm not sure when the Walgreens went in, but its being there may have something to do with why this Eckerds did not continue life as a Rite Aid.

UPDATE 13 May 2011: Changed the closing date in the post title based on commenter Andrew's research.

UPDATE 10 August 2020: Add map icon, update tags.

This Big Lots store on US-1 in between I-26 and the flea market, was clearly once a grocery store, but I don't know what kind. The design has that certain late 1970s "We have lost our collective minds" look

I know that this was a Big Lots as early as May 2001 because I stopped there on my way to the airport to pick up a camera I didn't care what happened to. What I ended up with was worse than the average drugstore disposable of today, and I ended up with a bunch of mostly awful pictures.

I can't pinpoint the date any closer than that -- I used to ride out to the flea market fairly often in the early 1980s, but what always caught my eye in this strip was the Fat Boy burger place, and the grocery didn't really register.

UPDATE 26 October 2009: Consensus is that it was a Winn-Dixie, so I have updated the post title to that from "Grocery Store" (and updated the closing date from '1980s' to '1990s').

UPDATE 11 March 2011: Updated closing date based on information from commenter Andrew.

I've written about Kroger Sav-On before. I believe the fate of this Kroger, near the Wal-Mart on Highway 1 near I-26 came about for similar reasons.

When Kroger first hit the Columbia market (and I believe this store, like Decker & Fort Jackson, was in the initial build-out), it was upscale, but by the time these stores closed, it had been leapfrogged by other chains' new generations. This store in particular has a nice new Bi-Lo across the street from it, and a Wal-Mart Supercenter just a block or two away. So (and this is all pure speculation), they weren't as nice as the Bi-Lo, and couldn't be as cheap as the Wal-Mart. Kroger's answer, in general, has been new stores like the one near Spring Valley High School, but that requires new construction.

Anyway, I noticed the other day that the building is no longer empty -- Kimbrell's furniture has set up there now. That's good to see, and I wish something would take the buildings on Fort Jackson & Decker!

UPDATE 11 March 2011: Changed closing date to 2000 based on commenter Andrew's research. Also added full street address.