Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I'm not sure when Flowers By Rita (also know as Flowers By Rita K) closed. It is listed in the February 1997 phonebook but not the February 2007 one, so my best guess would be the early 2000s.

I am curious as to what happened to the building (which is on the north side of Farrow just east of Fontaine). Google Streetview shows the building before whatever it was, so it must have been in the last few years. Fire is the most obvious guess, but there doesn't really seem to be any charred area around the damage..

Commenter MB points out that this maternity consignment shop in the "Office Suites" strip at 1055 Sunset Boulevard (across from the Brookland Baptist Church,site of the former Sub Cabin) has closed though their web site is still up for now.

(Hat tip to commenter MB, obviously)

Today's closing comes from commenter IrmoJeff who says:

Hey Ted…Junior Apprentice Closing Spotter, 2nd Class IrmoJeff checking in :D

I thought i’d toss this out there, in case you are ever out towards Irmo/Balentine again. 8027 Broad River Road is the address of a little triangular piece of land that sits at the intersection of Broad River Road and Woodrow Street, sort of just behind where Tez’ used to be. I drove by there the other day, and it looks like whatever business was in there most recently is closed up. I became aware of the building when i was just out of high school in the early 90’s when a friend of a friend opened Smokey Joe’s BBQ. Im not sure what was there previously, but i dont think Smokey Joes was the original occupant. The owner used to joke that he couldnt afford to charge me a flat rate for the all you could eat buffet, that he would have to weigh me going in and coming out :). Anyway after Smokey Joes closed, it was a catering business (or possibly a restaurant) for a while, run by the Catering By Dupre guy i’m pretty sure. I’m also pretty sure Dupre was somehow involved in Smokey Joes, possibly a silent moneyman or something. After that i lost track, but a quick Googling found all these businesses associated with 8027 BRR:

Bill Hinson Auto Sales
Clayton’s Cars
Irmo Properties
Palmetto Glass
Columbia Credit Corp (listed as 8025 BRR)

Im also pretty sure i remember a flower shop, or maybe a gift shop there at one point. I also thought i remembered a car title place there at one point, but i could possibly be confusing it with the Columbia Credit Corp.

I added this pic to clarify which building i was talking about

http://i54.tinypic.com/23izbyu.jpg

I actually did take some pictures of this place in April of 2009 (I know from the date of some other pix from the same day) but appear to have deleted them somehow. As I had no idea what the place had been, I didn't keep good track of them.. I'm pretty sure however that the roof of the building was intact at the time or it would have stayed in my mind. Likewise, the picture that IrmoJeff links above shows the roof intact (but has no EXIF date tag). Given that the roof is currently not intact, I suspect that the incoming Hickory Point convenience store will knock the building down, or at least it doesn't make sense to me to leave a building you hope to salvage open to the rain.

As to the two addresses: The lefthand door is labelled "8025" while the righthand door is labelled "8027". I don't have a guess which address goes with the existing outbuildings.

(Hat tip to IrmoJeff, obviously)

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I had noticed this building on the Sumter Highway in Hopkins several times over the past few years, usually just as I had passed it. I never really got a good look, but had it in my mind that it must be an abandoned motel as in Stratford Arms or Cornell Arms (though I don't believe that building was ever a hotel). With that mindset kind of locked in I had to do a double take when I finally stopped by and found that the "arms" were fire-arms.

The place listed in the February 2008 phonebook, but not the February 2010 one so I'm guessing it closed in 2009, though the condition of the roof-line is pretty bad for just a few years off. I'm not sure what the building would have been originally. Certainly Wateree Arms was not the first tenant (and is in fact not listed in the Feb 1997 book). It was obviously a store of some sort, but not, I think, a gas station as there is not room in front for pumps.

UPDATE 15 July 2011: Added Sister Rose, antiques and riding school to post title based on info by commenter tonkatoy.

This venerable used car lot is on the west side of Broad River Road, just South of Saint Andrews Road, and according to their sign had been there since 1970, which is definitely a good run. I'm not exactly sure when it closed, but I remember thinking that it was gone sometime in the last few months and then seeing some activity there later which made me think I was wrong. At any rate, it is listed in this year's (Feb 2011 - Feb 2012) phonebook.

UPDATE 8 July 2011: Commenter Jonathan says that they have relocated to I-26 exit 97..

This LoopNet listing says that this building on the South side of Frink Street west of 12th was originally a grocery, and that is especially clear in side views. I don't know what chain it was, but the LoopNet statement that it was built in 1995 looks wrong to me -- I would put it in the 1960s.

Since then it has apparently been a lot of things: Two different churches, a construction company, a bingo parlor and a cellphone store. It is currently vacant, but as you can see, there is a building permit in the door, so presumably it will soon undergo yet another incarnation.

UPDATE 6 July 2011: Changed the post title from "Grocery" to "Piggly Wiggly" based on the comments. Also added "Ace Hardware" to the list of tenants.

UPATE 5 June 2014: Added Red & White to the post title based on the comments.

I was having lunch at Panera in Sandhill Saturday when I heard someone in an adjacent booth talking about a clothing store that had closed shop recently. I didn't catch the name, but when I stepped outside I saw that it must have been Talbots on the other side of the street that sparked the conversation.

As I hate shopping for clothes in general, and am even more clueless about women's clothes, I really had no mental picture of where Talbots fit on the retail map. A bit of googling however revealed that it is a somewhat upscale chain largely for women over 30, and has been struggling financially for a while now.

There 's an old story, probably apocryphal, about a feed company that hired a top ad agency to design a campaign to sell its dog food. The ads were brilliant, won awards and everyone loved them, but sales plummeted. The company finally hired a troubleshooter who investigated and issued a succinct report: "The dogs don't like the dog food".

The Wall Street Journal gives as delicate a version of that quote as I have ever heard in the words of Talbots's CEO:

The predominant factors impacting our results were an inconsistent customer response to our merchandise assortments..

The article also goes on to posit a lose/lose situation:

The apparel retailer has been trying to freshen the look of its merchandise and broaden its appeal beyond its core audience of older women. But the approach may be turning them off while also not bringing in new customers.

Other papers speculate that the chain may be heading for a takeover, and mention that it is closing 110 of its 568 stores.

Talbots had three stores in the Columbia area. This one, one on Forest Drive and one on Saint Andrews Road. I drove by the Forest Drive store this evening and it is still there. I have not been by the Irmo location.

Well, Blue Sky Gallery isn't actually closed yet, but it's already in the news and I took the pictures when I went looking for Mary...

Unless you have a special interest in art, or have a friend who's an artist, Blue Sky is probably the only Columbia artist you can think of and his work has been prominently displayed around town for ages. The first Blue Sky piece I can remember is still my favorite (and probably the favorite of many Columbians): the Road-Runner-ish Trompe-l'œil Tunnel Vision.

The same parking lot off of Taylor Street has his other best known work, which people either love or hate: the giant fire hydrant. Personally, I like it.

The State article says (or implies) that he and his wife are closing the gallery to concentrate on international sales, though at 72 I wouldn't be surprised if he just wants to retire.

(Hat tip to commenter Mike D)

I had not really been aware of Mary, a small women's clothing store in Five Points until commenter Mike D pointed out that it had closed.

It's an interestingly non-descript name for a store, not even a possessive as in Mary's. For that matter, the sign is nearly impossible to see for the trees during the summer months.

It appears that another clothing store, the neighboring Wish at 719 Saluda Avenue is ready to move up the street into the old Mary location soon.

(Hat tip to commenter Mike D.)

I seem to end up taking Pinestraw to Fontaine to I-20 quite a bit, and would notice this little book and gift shop from time to time as I started angling for the left turn lane. A while ago I noticed that I wasn't noticing it..

The property is sandwiched between Satchel Ford and Two Notch just past Mr. Muffler and semi-across from Rogers Car Stereo in a hilly lot that is a little hard to get in and out of. I took a closer shot somewhere, and will add it when it turns up, but my memory is that Suite-D is the far right slot in the building.