Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Mary & Martha's in Forest Park is closing shop in the coming weeks. The State Reports:

Owner Beverley Tuller has started a liquidation sale to sell most of the items as she prepares to close the shop in March if she can't sell it first.

"I've had a couple of nibbles, but nothing has really panned out yet," Tuller said of a potential buyer, adding she will keep the store open longer if she has a contract in place to allow for a smooth transition.

Given the above, I'm not exactly sure where the name of the shop comes from, but I have been in there several times. As I recall, I bought a double-boiler, and an apple peeling machine (that worked better than I expected). It's not the kind of place a guy like me needs often, but always a nice option to have when I *do* need it.

Well, it's been all over the news, but this is the first Radio Shack I've driven past since the bankruptcy announcement.

This store is in Woodhill strip at the top of the lot, parallel to Garners Ferry. I've actually been inside several times over the last year, once for a AC adaptor, once for some CD-R media and once for something that currently slips my mind. The product mix is now a far cry from the old parts & kits era, or even the TRS-80 era, but still I can't see that another Sprint store is really an improvement.

What can I say?

The curse of 2630 Decker Boulevard continues.

UPDATE 18 August 2015 -- But hope continues to win against experience. This place is to now become Bosheen Mediterrean Cusine

I generally like my steak in ground-beef form, but I have certainly noticed Steak Mart on the corner of Rosewood and Maple since it has been there for my entire life. As commenter Robert S pointed out though, they have closed up shop as of Christmas Eve after a 54 year run.

(Hat tip to commenter Robert S.)

UPDATE 19 October 2021 -- Now Koru Group Fitness:

Also adding map icon.

The Devine Street Piggly Wiggly recently changed ownership as noted in a story in The Columbia Star, which you may or may not be able to read here. With all the churn engulfing The Pig recently, it's good to see one store hang on.

In this case, the managers of the former Garners Ferry store have bought Devine Street outright:

The 35,000-squarefoot store closed late last Sunday for an inventory, reopening Monday under the new owners. Miller says customers are unlikely to notice many changes early on. He said the store has been well maintained, but he expects some refurbishing and painting ahead.

“Piggly Wiggly has gone back to its roots as a group of independently owned Piggly Wiggly stores joined by a common brand, collaborative marketing, and the flexibility of individual ownership,” said David Schools, president and CEO of Greenbax Enterprises, Piggly Wiggly Carolina’s parent.

Put that way, it sounds a bit like IGA.

I first became aware of Gamecock Stop when it moved into the old Chippendolls location on Rosewood, and in fact I did a closing on it when it did a semi-move within that space.

After that, they they moved up Rosewood to 2701, a location for which I have done a number of closings. At some point after they moved, both Mrs. Monogram and Boykin & Co started sharing the space. I guess it's clear enough what Mrs. Monogram did, but I am unsure exactly what Boykin & Co, which had top billing in the final configuration, was.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

I've posted this building before, but for a store which was actually in Boozer Shopping Center. Now that the building has been completely remodeled and is open as Auto Zone, I'm taking the opportunity to make a post which more correctly describes its history.

You can look at the comments on this post (which I need to totally revamp and correct) for some of that history, and this article describes the sale of the property to Auto Zone and mentions the call center tenant (which was not Spherion, which commenter Adder tags as a temp contractor).

There was a lot of back and forth in the comments about this move, but I believe commenter James R was the first to mention that Prestige Appliance on Sunset Boulevard was gone.

In fact though it was a move, not a closing, and they have set up business at 3905 Fernandina Road in the old Fireplace Center / Southeastern Stone building:

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Commenter Patrica Lewis points out that Cycle Center in Spring Valley Commons is closed.

The sign explains that the location was rendered infeasible by the fire last October (2013) which did a lot of direct damage to the East wing of the plaza and indirect damage here.

Rebuilding is continuing on the east wing and Tripp's Cleaners and the storage facility have reopened.

(Hat tip to commenter Patricia Lewis)

Taboo is the follow-on operation to Taco Bell in this little store that sits beside Gills Creek on the tail end of Devine Street.

Like the taco cart downtown, the place is something of a victim to the City of Columbia's zoning zig-zags. Regardless of what you think of the place, they followed the rules in place at the time to open, and ever since then the city has been trying to undo that -- which they finally have done. The place has been in court fighting, but lost their last battle at the end of September.

With the upscaling of the area, I don't see a future for this building, and would not be surprised if the next tenant took it down.

UPDATE 7 January 2020 -- This post turned out to be a false-alarm (one of many for the store). Here is a 2018 false-alarm, and Here is the final 2019 Closing. Also adding a map icon.