Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed some new signage on Ed Robinson Laundry & Dry Cleaning (in the Ed Robinson building, as it turns out) on Forest Drive, and although the new name is not visible from the street, a drive through the parking lot confirmed that this location is now a Michael's Cleaners.

I have always liked the spire in front of this building, and it looks especially good at night with the blue illumination. I took a few twilight pictures on another day that I will add to the post eventually.

I had not heard of this Taylor Street wine bar and gallery / artist work space until commenter Justin mentioned that it was gone.

As it turns out, it closed in late 2019, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, which had been my first assumption for the reason. The Free Times had the story here.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

I was only vaguely aware of The Cliff Apartments when I was at USC, though apparently they had been open for several years at that point. They, along with the Bates-es were just on a side of campus I never had any reason to go to. Now USC has razed the building as part of a plan for a new "Campus Village".

The State has the story here and here. Apparently students were forced out of these dorms in the middle of the year to save construction costs by not holding off on the work. In the event, they seem to be several months behind schedule tearing this place down, and I expect the pandemic played into it. Bates & Bates West are also on the block for the next phase of the project.

I don't know. To me it seems like the campus area has been vastly overbuilt in the last several years. I just don't see enrolement continuing to grow as it has, especially with the total game-changer of remote classes during this last year. We'll see.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

I noticed the other day that this old McDonald's at the corner of Assembly & Rosewood across from the Fairgrounds is vacant. The last tenant was University Motor Company, which apparently moved in sometime around 2010, and in 2018 merged with Bluff Road Auto Sales with the combined operation at 1400 Bluff Road.

UPDATE 3 February 2023 -- Now Lyon's General Store:

When I took these pictures, I was thinking this spot was PC Corner, but it turned out I had already done a closing on that, and anyway, it was two suites over. This looks to have been The Flower Botique, which has apparently moved to 8816 Two Notch. It turns out I did have a picture of that from a different closing, it's just not a very good one:

(Click through and look all the way to the left..)

I thought about going to Norton a few times, but they weren't open on Saturday, and Best Buy was, so that was the deciding factor there. I was a bit surprised to notice that there was a closing sign on the door (which I thought I took a picture of) saying they were shutting down temporarily due to COVID-19, but when I did a google search, I found that the building went on the market in October.

As far as I know the Broad River Road location is still open.

UPDATE 22 March 2021 -- Here are the pictures of the door sign I mentioned:

According to commenter JamesR, all the Frank's locations were acquired by Tire Engineers but before they could fully convert to that branding, Tire Engineers was bought by Mavis. There is a bit more information here.

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)

I can't find out anything about this Sandhill Stride Rite shoe location except that it is no longer listed on the company's website, although I did learn that Sperry is a Stride Rite brand, which I had not known before.

Since I can find no other information, I'm going to list the closing date as 2020 under the assumption they might have been victims of the lockdowns.

When I went out to get pictures of the new PK BBQ location, and of the old Bi-Lo, I drove by Goodfellas on the way. I did not realize at the time that they had just recently moved to 630 Hwy 378 and had previously been in the current PK BBQ storefront. Judging by google reviews, the move took place some time around May of 2020 and when I went back to get these pictures, it appeared they are doing quite a good business in the new location.

(Hat tip to commenter Andy)

I can't find anything in the local media about this Jos A. Banks location in Sandhill, but going by the google reviews, it closed sometime around August of 2020. The chain has had some difficulty lately, but the parent company, which also owns Mens Warehouse has Just exited Chapter 11, so perhaps things are on the upswing.

There are two remaining Banks in the Midlands, one in Harbison, and one at Trenholm Plaza.