Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

One of the congratulatory graffiti on the windows of this Murraywood Centre personalized gifts store mentions that they have been in business for 26 years, which is certainly a good run and prelude to a well deserved retirement. Their Facebook page has some of the details.

It looks like the final sale is already ongoing, so you'd better get down there soon if you want to check it out.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I first did a closing for this site when it had just finished being Nicks Citgo as can be seen in the first picture above. After that, it reopened as an Exxon without a name on the marquee at all, at least at first. At any rate, by the time it was torn down in November 2018, it was Quick Stop & Go III. Now the building has been completely razed (along, I believe, with the adjacent Seven Oaks Auto Repair & Tires) and is apparently being rebuilt as a Circle K.

UPDATE 17 April 2019 -- Construction continues:

UPDATE 19 August 2019 -- The Circle K is now open:

I believe the only time I have eaten in a Beef O'Brady's was at Pawleys Island, in the unit behind the Waffle House that became DeRoma's Pizza. I thought it was a pretty typical sports/casual dining type of place and had a decent burger.

Not only did I never eat at this one, but I'm pretty sure I have never in my life been in this spot, or near this spot before. I'm fairly sure that sites like this busy Publix plaza are a pretty new development in the area. Yelp says that this location was open at least until the end of August, so I am just tagging the closing as "Fall 2018". Interestingly, the new Yelp listing for "B's" has the same phone number as for Beef O' Brady's, and the reviews tag it as very similar, so I'm thinking that perhaps the owners just wanted to disaffiliate so they could add their own touches to the same general formula.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Well this one is a shame. Pizzera Opa was the new name for Zorba's Express which was here in the Publix plaza for many years, and was the follow-on restaurant for the crew from The Parthenon in Five Points. The Parthenon was my favorite pizza in town, and when I was living in Aiken, I would come back to Columbia on weekends and take my father to The Parthenon Saturnday evenings.

When I discovered Zorba's Express, the pizza was just as good as ever, and the manager, who remembered me from the Five Points days, would always come out and say hi. Unfortunately, the new location was just too far out for me to visit more than a handful of times; I wish it would have been more, and I wish them well.

(Hat tip to commenter IrmoJeff)

UPDATE 30 September 2021: To be Puerto Rican restaurant A Fuego:

UPDATE 15 March 2022: Updating tags.

UPDATE 20 November 2023: Fix typo.

There's not much to say about this closing except that the process of branch pruning at banks is continuing apace.

As a Bank of America customer I have used this ATM a number of times to avoid fees, but have never been in the branch itself. For now, the ATM will remain.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 28 February 2022 -- Now A-1 Transport which seems to be at least partly an ambulance company:

I was driving down the Old Bush River Road section of Bush River Road the other weekend, coming from Lexington into Irmo, and I noticed that Century Glass has moved their Bush River location to the other river road at 4059 Broad River Road. I believe they may still be using this building for non-customer space though as it is still listed in the phonebook, and Google Street View from March 2017 shows the moving sign already up.

I think the concept of Urban Cookhouse, as I understand it, is interesting: Fresh cooked meats done over a charcoal grill with fresh local vegetables and bread as well. I'm a little surprised I don't see a burger on the menu; that would seem be be a natural. At any rate, I have never gotten around to an Urban Cookhouse, either this one in the old Atlanta Bread building on Lake Murray Boulevard, or the other one in Shandon.

I still think this is an attractive building, and hope they find something that sticks.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

There seems to be a little online confusion about the address here, but I'm pretty sure it's 7735 Broad River Road, as that is what the real estate listing and LoopNet say, regardless of what google thinks otherwise.

As you can see from the first two shots (from the Ed Robinson closing) this old-school convenience store was still in operation on 20 February 2018. At some point between then and 28 May 2018 when commenter Andrew reported it, the place closed and had the pump island and canopy torn down (and excavated).

Although I have seen places with two ongoing Circle Ks across the street from each other, most likely this one closed when the more modern one at 7710 Broad River Road came online just a bit nearer to the I-26 intersection:

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 23 June: Adding Kangaroo Express & KC Express to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 25 June: Adding The Pantry based on the comments.

UPDATE 29 March 2023: This property has been sold as of December 2022 to MaxLiving which

Focuses on chiropractic and a natural, holistic approach to help people better understand and manage their current and long-term health.

Also adding map icon and updating tags.

UPDATE 9 May 2023 -- The place has been gutted in preparation for the new MaxLiving incarnation:

UPDTATE 5 June 2024 -- MaxLiving is open:

Not great pix, but here is another Rite Aid which has the misfortune to be directly across the street from a Walgreens (the one at 7412 Broad River Road). It's a decent location, perhaps CVS could move in. Their nearest store is at Saint Andrews Road, so that's really another market. Of course the Publix in the strip behind the store has a pharmacy as well, so there is still a bit of competition there.

The end here is slated for 18 June 2018.

I'm not a cupcake (or really any kind of cake) fan myself, but if you are: Don't despair. Cupcake Paradise is no longer in this old Piggly Wiggly center at the corner of Lake Murray Boulevard & Columbiana Drive, but they are still around. They moved to 7512 Woodrow Street (Irmo, not Shandon) sometime in the January/February 2018 timeframe and are up and running there now.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)