Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Jimmyz moved into this former KFC sometime after 2015, and seemed to do a decent business. I think COVID hit time pretty hard though, as they never reopened for dine-in service after it hit.

I can't find any definite info on the closing date, but it was open in January, and given the still fully equipped state of the place, I think the end of March is probably the logical time to guess.

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Something is going on at the Garners Ferry Target. Just looking at all the containers parked in the lot, I would guess some kind of major remodeling, though I still think of that as a pretty new store. I suppose I could have found out by just going in, but I didn't have time right then.

Anyone know?

But it's worse than I thought!

Many of the shelves are bare, though, at the Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, picked over by bargain hunters as the store prepares to close its doors for good April 16.

Once it shutters, the number of Kmarts in the US — once well over 2,000 — will be down to three last holdouts, according to multiple reports, in a retail world now dominated by Walmart, Target and Amazon.

But it wasn't inevitable:

“It’s a study in greed, avarice and incompetence,” Cohen said. “Sears should have never gone away; Kmart was in worse shape, but not fatally so. And now they’re both gone.

“Retailers fall by the wayside sometimes because they’re selling things people don’t want to buy,” he continued. “In the case of Kmart, everything they used to sell, people are buying, but they’re buying it from Walmart and Target.”

Roadtrip?

Kmarts continue to operate in Westwood, New Jersey; Bridgehampton, on New York’s Long Island, and Miami.

I actually went to this Firestone location once some years ago when I had a slow-leak I needed fixed, and could not get in that day at the place I usually used. I was pleasantly surprised that as a walk-in, I got the whole thing over with in under an hour and was able to get on with my Saturday.

As you can see here, the branding is already down on this store, but the label scars are still clearly visible, and there hasn't been enough time to get the vending machines picked up.

(Hat tip to commenter Haley)

If you look closely at the first picture, you can, barely, see the Fuji Cafe signage still on the marquee of Suite G at Kennerly Crossing back in September of 2018. As nearly as I can tell from the Google reviews, it closed around 2019, and the suite is still empty.

Mr. PC has several area locations. This one was on the upper part of Harbison in a little strip housing a Jimmy Johns. Mr. PC itself was around the bottom corner on a lower level and not very visible from the street or parking lot. It was kind of an unpleasant rainy day, so I didn't get out to get any closeup pictures, but you can just about read the logo if you imagine the railings aren't there. In the event I went there with a broken no-name android tablet from one of my neices, but there was no way to get parts for something like that, and she would be better off with something more mainstream.

Carolina Eastern has demolished their Shop Road wearhouse and relocated their fertilizer and gypsum operations to other locations according to this Post & Courier article pointed out by commenter Thomas.

The site is noted as 9.6 acres, so I think most of what I've taken pictures of here is probably part of it, but I don't know the actual boundries. It apparently went on the market in February, so we'll have to see what's next.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

As pointed out by commener Justin S., the Advance Auto Parts store across from the Aldi at 7613 Garners Ferry Road has now moved just a little up the street to 7531 Garners Ferry. In the meantime, this, very checker-boarded, storefront is empty.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin S.)

This restaurant/club space which fronts on both Devine & Santee will always be Monterrey Jack's in my mind, but of course it has been many, possibly dozens, of other places over the years. I believe the most recent predecessor to Moosehead Saloon that I have a closing for is Elbow Room but I think I could have missed a couple in between there.

As far as I can tell, this was a country-rock bar with a mechanical bull and a somewhat rowdy atmosphere. I know they got some bad publicity back in 2018 but they apparently continued on into the COVID age until they were caught up in the Great Five Points Bar Bassacre last April.

Substation II was the follow-on operation in this storefront to Jimmy John's, and opened in 2019. I know that going there would be an issue for me because of parking, but I'm not a student without a car. Then of course there was the pandemic, which can't have helped. For whatever reason though, this storefront is now again vacant.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry).

UPDATE 14 June 2024: Update title & tags.