Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I've made some pretty bad mistakes about Spanish language businesses here before, but I *think* Latino Express offers a variety of services including insurance, tax preparation and vehicle registration assistance.

It appears that they have relocated from this strip mall on Meeting Street, to 1735 Augusta Rd.

It appears that Always Original Bakery is setting up to occupy this spot.

While I was checking out Bi-Lo, I noticed that this Hibachi storefront in the same plaza was vacant. I can't find out much about it -- there is only one Yelp review, but I'm going to guess it was another COVID-19 casualty.

I thought I was done with Bi-Lo closings, but as commenter Andrew reminded me, I had missed this one in West Columbia just East of I-26. I can only recall stopping at this store once when it was Bi-Lo. I was driving through late at night and for some reason got a hankering for cinnamon rolls, the kind that come in the little aluminum trays with the white frosting on top. I don't think I've bought any since then, but they did hit the spot.

I get the impression that KJ's is using the IGA infrastructure to build their own brand. This one, unlike the one near the flea market, doesn't even have the IGA logo on the front, though I did see IGA products on the shelves. I didn't buy anything, but it looked fine inside, probably a notch above Food Lion.

The plaza where this store is located is unusual in that it doesn't seem to have a name.

Plainly this was some sort of fast food operation before it was a title loan place, but I can't quite identify it from the characteristics of the building. At any rate, North American was there in the last phonebook I have, Feb 2017, and I can't recall seeing the real estate sign out front before, so I'm just going to call the date here as 2020.

UPDATE 20 March 2021: Seems I was wrong about it being fast food -- adding Pearle Vision Center to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 3 march 2023 -- As mentioned in the comments, this place has been razed and is being rebuilt as a Freddy's:

I have noticed this place off and on over the years while driving US-1 between I-26 & I-20, because teal is one of the only "non-guy" colors I know, and one that I actually like.

I noticed last weekend that it was closed. The facebook page has nothing since the start of 2020, so I'm just going to use 2020 for the closing date.

To the best of my memory, I've only eaten at a Maurice's Piggy Park once, last year at the Charleston Highway location. I thought it was fine, but the chain seems to have hit a rough patch in the last few years with several locations closing. COVID-19 can't have helped, but I don't know if it were the deciding factor here.

This one is on US-1 in West Columbia to the east of the I-26 interchange and across from the Wal-Mart. I see from google maps that it is next to a Ruby Tuesday I had forgotten about, and which I did not check to see if it were open.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)

UPDATE 9 March 2021 -- Now a Take 5 quick oil change operation:

Commenter Lone Wolf notes this Free Times story on the closing of State Street upstairs loft location of The Cigar Box, which sounds like it was a bar as well as a cigar lounge. They had only moved to this location last September, and as you would expect COVID-19 was a factor.

Commenter Heath noted their move last year, and this Free Times story about it, but I never got around to doing a closing on the stores on Main & Rosewood. I do have some pictures of the wooden fox mural from the Rosewood store that hopefully I will get up sometime.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)

I noticed recently that Frank's Discount Tire on Fairlane Drive is now Mavis Discount Tire. I don't have any experience with either business, but I have to say Frank's had the nicer sign. Of course I'm a sucker for neon.

UPDATE 18 March 2021: Edited the tags.

Carolina Cafe in Westland Square on Sunset Boulevard, which had been in this location since 2014, closed in early December so the owners could concentrate on their downtown business at 925 Sumter Street in Cornell Arms, according to ColaDaily.

The new owner already had plans for the spot, so the storefont did not sit empty for long, and is now open again as Sunshine Cafe & Catering, though the marquee sign has yet to be fully adjusted. ColaDaily noted the opening:

Sunshine Café, located at 2250 Sunset Blvd. in the Westland Shopping Center, will still offer beloved menu items like fresh-baked bagels and paninis, similar to the previous restaurant. However, owner Shutondia Culcleasure said Sunshine Cafe will be incorporating a “sweeter side” to the menu.

“We’ll have a variety of cheesecakes, red velvet, German chocolate, just a whole sweeter side to the bakery,” she said.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I never ate at Saffron, but their mix of cuisines (Indian, Chinese & Mexican) intrigued me. I figure there was a family story in there somewhere. Yelp reviews indicate that the place changed hands last year, and you can see on the marquee sign, that the Mexican aspect has been elided.

Now the place has closed, and the follow-on will be a (fully) Mexican restaurant: La Cienega.