Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I think the only time I have ever stayed at a Super 8 was once when I drove to Florida not knowing it was Daytona 500 weekend, and ended up driving hundreds of miles looking for a place to stay. Given the circumstances, it was OK.

This closing puzzles me a bit as this property was renovated just a few years ago after it closed as The Cambridge Plaza Hotel in 2014 (before which it had been a Best Western). I don't see why it should need a re-working just 5 years later, but apparently that is the case. Of course plans change, and LoopNet says the property is on the market, so any upfit would be on the buyer. It also notes that only 84 of the 115 rooms are "rentable", so I guess it definitely does need some work. This site also notes the availability, and has a nice aerial shot of the property.

In passing, I will note that I really dislike frontage roads like Cherokee Lane which get double-duty out of an Interstate on-ramp.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 6 June 2023 -- Now open as a Motel 6:

Well, the story here is the same as for the the Lexington Kmart: It's a Kmart. It's closing.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to go inside, and I was shooting against the sun for the exterior shots, but it looks pretty much as you would expect.

There have been a good number of closures in this general area in the past few years. All of Ryans, Rite Aid, Taco Cid, and Toyota Center come to mind. On the other hand, there is a new plaza around the Walmart at the top of Knox Abbott, so there is some new growth.

(I continue to be confused by the boundries between West Columbia & Cayce. I would have guessed this location to be Cayce, but it seems not.)

(Hat tip to lots of folks)

UPDATE 22 April 2020 -- Commenter Mr. Bill sent in these interiors from the Kmart a while ago, and I managed to misplace them. Here they are now:

Some time ago commenter April Blake reported that this former drycleaner in West Columbia was setting up to be a King's Pizza location. Like the one slated for the former Chickadee's location, that seems to have fallen through and the place is currently for rent.

What I can find out is pretty scant, but it has been a dry cleaner, a used car dealership (how many cars could they actually fit under that canopy?) and a locksmith. The locksmith does have a (good) review from 2017, so I'm using that as the overall date.

Clicking streetview on the map icon is interesting, as it shows a now demolished glass-box office on the canopy side of the building.

UPDATE 10 AUgust 2019: Adding Amoco to the post title based on the comments.

K-9 Coature is a dog grooming business that moved into this building following the the closure of Conumdrum in late 2015. I noticed today when I drove by that the the building was empty again (and that the facade is undergoing work).

It turns out that K9-Coature outgrew the space and has moved down the street to 832 Meeting Street in late April.

As far as I can tell, this space is not on the market. I don't know if that means that something is already lined up, or if they want to work more on the building or what.

UPDATE 22 September 2020 -- Now Weco Bottle And Biergarten:

Wristwatch Doc used to be in Forest Acres where Marco's Pizza is now, but moved to Knox Abbott in April of 2014.

When the old Oscar de la Renta watch my father gave me in the 1980s started losing time, I took it here and they fixed it pretty quickly. (Well, I think they just replaced the guts, but that's fine with me, I'm a George Washington's Hatchet kind of guy.)

Unfortunately, I dropped it again a few months ago, and it's losing time again. Not sure where I'll take it this time.

Several folks in Have Your Say talking about watch batteries. If I'm in town, I take mine to Roof's on Forest Drive, and have never had a problem.

The wierdest time I ever had replacing a battery was when my watch stopped while I was spending a week working in DC. There's a big mall on the, um, blue, I think, line, Pentagon City or Crystal City, something like that. I metro-ed down to that and found a jeweler who told me: No problem! We'll send it off and have it back to you in two weeks. I asked if anyone had, in fact, ever taken them up on that, and apparently the answer was no.

Looking further there, I found something like the Watch & Sunglasses Hut, which did not inspire confidence, but I was there and didn't have any better options. The guy took the back off easily, and replaced the battery fine. Then he was having a dickens of a time getting the back on again, and I started to worry that he was going to bend it, or break the crystal with all the pounding he was doing. Finally he turns around to his counter and says, I guess I'm going to have to use this thingamajig that puts the puts the backs back on. He puts the watch in it, works a screw and presto: the back is on. I'm like, well, I dunno, but if I had a device for putting the backs of watches on, that might have been my first option..

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

Here's another Wells Fargo branch closed, this one by the Lexington Medical Center on Sunset Boulevard.

My sister is a WF customer, so she got word early and I took these pictures before it actually closed. Commenter JB later confirmed that it had taken place. Eventually I will get some pictures of the empty building if I can remember.

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Well, I would rather not take pictures through the passenger side window just to keep the camera semi-dry, but those are the conditions that prevail lately..

This Bi-Lo is on Emanuel Church Road in West Columbia in a spot where I am fairly sure I have never been before. In fact, I drove out there last week, headed down that branch of Emanuel Chruch Road, decided that things were petering out and turned around and went the other way.

This store is part of the latest round of Bi-Lo & Harveys closings, and presumably will be gone by the end of the month as these closeouts don't usually take too long.

UPDATE 10 May 2021 -- Now open as a Food Lion:

I noticed this vacant house/office on Sunset a few months ago. It seems that Chandler Chiropractic moved from this location sometime after April of this year to their new office at 3681-D Leaphart Road.

This building was obviously a ranch style residence when it was built, and was on a nice little plot of land. Of course that was probably when US-378 was a sleepy two lane road, and I don't see a family moving back here any time soon. The building is for sale, so we will see what happens next.

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