Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Here's another empty counter in Columbia Mall's food court. I don't know anything about it, but google does suggest that there was a Mano's Express in the Dutch Square food court. It seems an uncommon enough name that I suspect they were related, though the other one seems to have focused on soul food, while this one went the burgers & dogs route.

I noticed when I was in the Columbia Mall food court recently that China Max was closed. It's been quite a while since I was at the mall last, so I'm just tagging the date as 2018 for lack of anything more precise. I presume this China Max was connected with the China Max at Richland Mall, but I don't know for sure.

What I find especially interesting is the sign proclaiming that the place will soon be a King's Pizza. This pizza chain seems to be making a big splash all of a sudden, with a store on Forest Drive in the former Charlie's Wings, one opening here, and one opening in the old Chickadee's Diner on Marshall Street.

I don't know much about autoPROS Columbia other than that it was a used car dealership, and had an idiosyncratic sense of capitalization and word spacing. This space was previously Stivers Subaru, which closed in 2011. After that, I think the spot was vacant a few years before autoPROS moved in, and probably will be again now.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 11 July 2019 -- Now American Car Center:

According to Wikipedia, which has what seems to be a reasonable summary, Charlotte Russe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 4 February 2019, in the event, no rescue was forthcoming, and the chain announced on 7 March 2019 that it would be closing all its stores.

There are two Charlotte Russe stores in the Midlands. This one at Columbia Mall and another at Columbiana Centre. The Columbia Mall store is centrally located on the upper level, in between the old Dillards and Macy's above the mall's center court.

I'm not sure what's going on with the lights dangling down in center court. I guess they could be leftover Christmas lights. At any rate, I'm sure they would be more attractive if they were lit rather than hanging there dark like that.

Well, this happened sooner than I figured, and this store was completely gone by the time I got around to visiting Columbia Mall.

Of course, it appears to have been a failry small store, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. As you can tell if you click through on the mall directory, Payless was on the lower level just two storefronts down from the former Sears. The storefront to the left of it is also vacant, though I'm not sure what it was.

As a reminder, Payless declared bankruptcy on 14 February 2019 and all the chain's stores have closed or will be closing soon.

Kaboto Express was the follow-on in this storefront to Schlotzsky's Deli, and opened around September of 2011.

I notice that their initial signage did not include the phrase Hibachi Grill, and I wonder if they just weren't finished putting up the sign, or if that was a later direction shift.

(Hat tip to commenter brian)

UPDATE 13 March 2019 -- Work is on to open as Slice Of Columbia pizza:

UPDATE 7 February 2020 -- Slice of Columbia is open (and has been for a while):

I used H & R Block when I was living in Aiken, and finally gave up on doing my own taxes (which is a sad commentary on something). They seemed pretty good, and the process wasn't too painful as long as I had my ducks in a row. I never used this office, but I expect it was about the same.

The pictures are awful, both shot against the sun, and through the windows. Sorry about that!

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

I tend to end up at Roof about once a year, as it it my go-to place for watch batteries and watchbands. According to The State they will be moving to Four J's Plaza on Forest Drive sometime this month.

From my point of view, this is about a wash, location-wise as both addresses are fairly convenient for me. It is another hit for Dentsville though.

UPDATE 28 June 2018 -- The new location:

Here's another Harveys, this one on Decker. As with all the other Harveys, this one used to be a Bi-Lo, and I did a closing for that here.

The strip mall anchored by this storefront is High Point On Decker, and it is about at the top of the hill. Just down the hill from here is another strip mall with both a Food Lion and a Rite Aid, so I'm not sure another grocer will want to locate here.

UPDATE 17 May 2018 -- This store is now closed:

Havertys recently moved their Colonial Life Boulevard store to Harbison. I think the move added a bit of size to that store, and perhaps they think one larger store is enough, but whatever the reason, the Two Notch Road store near the I-20 interchange in Dentsville is now closing.

As a side note, the old Ramada Inn property almost directly across the street remains vacant after almost eight years..

(Hat tip to commenter Mike)