Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I was at the Peak Exit Food Lion off I-26 recently, and noticed that the strip's gym, Anytime Fitness had closed and is transitioning to Hitone Fitness in the near future.

Commenter Gypsie mentioned that this place was being razed. As far as I can tell, it is just the showroom, shown in the main pictures here, and the rest of the dealership remains in business (although at some point the name changed to Mazda Of Columbia. I'm not sure what the issue with the showroom was. I never paid it too much attention driving by, but it looks to have been an attractive building.

Read the rest of this entry »

Main Street Home was the follow-on operation in this Broad River Road location to Floor It Now. According to their Facebook page, they moved to the new location at 1711 Lake Murray Boulevard on 24 July 2021. This is shown in the second set of pictures (though they did not come out very well).

I am not sure what is next for this building. Apparently it was listed on LoopNet at one time, but currently does not seem to be there. Commenter Andrew has noticed that some of the adjacent property has been sold, so perhaps something is in the works.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 30 September 2021: Added second picture, above, of the old location with the signage down.

This old-school hardware store on Broad River Road between Bush River & Greystone, has started its final closing sale.

I think it's interesting how this one fairly small strip has three totally different facade styles. I like this one the best; the ziz-zag roof-line puts me in the mind of the 60s.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

As pointed out by commenter Tom, Ocean View Seafood on Broad River Road is closed for remodeling. The work seems to be ongoing, so hopefully it won't take too long.

I'm pretty sure this building used to be a steakhouse, but I'm not sure what chain it belonged to.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 22 January 2023 -- Open again, and has been for a while I think:

UPDATE 23 March 2023: The sign is gone, apparently a victim to the roadwork along the I-20 exit here.

Diamond Lane used to be a moderately popular shopping destination, leading to Sam Solomons, as well as having a number of strip mall businesses facing the road. It also offered convenient back access to the Broad River Road facing businesses.

I noticed recently first that all the Broad River Road businesses' parking lot through-access to Diamond Lane had been cut off by gating. More recently I noticed that access to Diamond Lane itself is blocked from Dutch Square Boulevard. I understand that Word of God Church & Ministries has bought up the old Intersection Center complex, but I'm a bit puzzled, as I thought Diamond Lane was a public road.

UPDATE 17 February 2023 -- While Diamond Lane has been re-opened to Dutch Square Boulevard, the end which went around behind Intersection Center to connect with Statler Road has now been closed and it is now a dead-end street:

There is new construction and a new business of some sort down there which I'm sure is the reason.

This place sits beside and behind the local San Jose restaurant, and most of these pictures are from the parking lot there since it was raining. I get out this way very seldom and know pretty much nothing else about Helping Hands

This is the second time I've been here however as someone said a few years ago that this place was closing then, and I took a few pictures (which I can't now find), but they ended up staying open. This time seems to be definite, as the closing sale is being advertised and there is a real-estate sign. LoopNet has a map, showing that the property is much more extensive than I had realized.

(Hat tip to commenter Ellen)

I tried the Philly Pretzel Factory on Rosewood shortly after it opened (it was fine), but was unaware of this location in the Publix plaza on Broad River Road. Judging from the Google reviews, this place opened in February 2020, possibly the worst time in the last 100 years to open a restaurant, and the door sign pegs the closing at 30 October.

(Hat tip to commenter Ellen)

UPDATE 15 March 2022: Updating tags.

UPDATE 23 January 2023: Updating tags.

I have noticed this building on Broad River Road for two things over the years. First, there are all the mirrors (and in fact I think it used to have more mirrors on the outside walls than it does now when they are mainly confined to the roofline), and second for the fact that one address did double duty as both a used car lot and a hair salon: One on the outside, and one on the inside.

RealtyTrac says the building was put up in 1987, with seems about right, and LoopNet has a really nice picture that confirms what I was remembering about the mirrors above.

I'm not sure about 2019 for the closing date, but it seems only fairly recently have I noticed the building vacant.

UPDATE 23 February 2026 -- Well the mirrors, and almost the building are gone now: