Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This is another former Shoney's which has been converted into a Lizard's Thicket.

I'm a little hazy about the time period, but it was still open in the 1976 phonebook, and closed in the 1985 one, so I'm going with "1970s".

Our preferred Shoney's location was the Two Notch one, but we did go to this one from time to time. For most of that period, it was still Big Boy affiliated, and we always got the "Big Boy & Dolly" promotional comics, and if we were lucky, the "Hot Fudge Cake". Mmm!

UPDATE 10 September 2020: Update tags, add map icon.

Well, this one is a shame as I used to go in here all the time back when I was shooting film, and always found the staff friendly and helpful. (I'm sure they would have told me to never shoot against the sun as I had to in the front-on daytime picture!)

Of course, I found that after I went digital, I went in there much less often, and I think that applied to many other shutterbugs as well.

I would still go in to use the nice large format printer if I wanted to have something framed, but generally that was only a couple of pictures a year, which is not enough to offset the loss of the film business.

UPDATE 26 Feb 2013 -- As reported by commenter Justin, this place is to become an Ace Hardware (though it seems a bit small to me):

This thrift shop was at the corner of Beltline and Edison Street just down form the former Kim's Beauty & Variety.

I'm not sure exactly when it closed, but long enough ago that the building is now up for sale.

Here's another payday loan operation. This one was almost at the corner of Beltline and Devine, next to the Maurice's location. I don't know exactly when it closed, but since it is still listed in this year's phonebook (February 2012), I am going to say early this year.

As a special added bonus, simply because I like the sign, here is a shot of one of their neighbors:

I'm afraid I'm well past prom age, so I wasn't really aware of this little formal-wear shop in the plaza which houses the Forest Acres location of D's Wings until I saw the storefront empty the other night.

Dazzles is listed in this year's (February 2012) phonebook, so the closing seems to be fairly recent. I wonder if the economy is cutting into prom spending -- it certainly has affected everything else.

UPDATE 21 May 2012: Commenter Larry notes that Dazzles has moved to Boozer Shopping Center, so I have added "moved" to the post title.

UPDATE 2 June 2012 -- Here is their new Boozer Shopping Center location:

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This State story from 29 January 2012 says that Bath & Body Works

[I]s in the process of closing as its lease expires.

Which makes me fairly comfortable listing the closing date as 31 January 2012.

I've never stepped into a Bath & Body Works, as I don't have a lot of requirements for a bath other than soap, but I always had an impression that it was kind of a scrappy chain since the only two I was aware of were this one in Richland Mall and one in Inlet Square Mall in Murrells Inlet. Neither mall could be called prime real estate, but the stores hung in there for years.

The Richland Mall store was at the edge of the food court (which is down to one restaurant) and just past the old S & S Cafeteria.

Luckily, there are alternatives:

On my way to the Fairgrounds Monday to pick up some artwork, I noticed that this Midlands Tech area dry-cleaner had closed. The building is one of Columbia's surprisingly many stone facade structures. From the outlines of a bay doors on the back, and the gull-wing lights at the corner of the lot, I suspect the building may first have been a gas station.

UPDATE 28 June 2017 -- This building has now been razed:

I'm not actually sure what Encore did or sold. One online directory lists it in the following, not very helpful, categories:

Categories: Home & Garden | Furniture | Used Furniture | Retail Shopping | Clothing | Vintage & Used Clothing

At any rate, it was in the same Forest Drive and Beltline location which used to house Jackson Camera, Ritz Camera and Brequoj, and is now gone.

This interesting little building sits on the left side of Beltline, just past Farrow if you are headed towards Forest Acres, right where those two streets with the stoplights that aren't synchronized to *anything* are.

Obviusly it wasn't orginally a liquor store, but I'm not sure what it would have been. The exaggerated 'A' frame shape suggests some type of branding, and is somewhat reminiscent of this building on Airport Boulevard, at least in the back part, but I don't know what that one was originally either.

At any rate, I noticed on a recent Saturday evening, when you would expect a liquor store to be hopping, that the lights were off and the place was deserted. It's in this year's phonebook (February 2011), but the phone has been disconnected.

UPDATE 17 October 2011: Commenter jhill supplies the name for this building's incarnation as a fast food and ice-cream restaurant, Mr. Swiss.

UPDATE 12 Marck 2012 -- Open again as OneLove Food Mart: