Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I don't know anything about Tires Unlimited other than that they sold used tires and were located in a very neat little building that was obviously once a service station.

It appears to be of an early '60s vintage, similar in some ways to the old Bill DuBose 66 station on Covenant.

The building now seems to be an impromptu parking lot for Blue Ribbon, and looks like it could use some TLC.

UPDATE 18 March 2011: Added "Patterson's Texaco" to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 25 May 2016 -- This place is to be a gas station again, albeit with a convenience store rather than service bays this time. Cheap Way is coming:

I had noted this place at the corner of Saint Andrews & Piney Grove Roads, a good while before it closed because it disaffiliated with Citgo at some point in 2010. I don't know if this was because of the iffy publicity Citgo had over the last few years based on its Venezuelan ties, or whether it was just an expensive branding arrangement. Because the disaffiliation only worked during the daytime, until they turned on the light for the street-corner sign, I was going to do some half-hearted joke post about "Citgo By Night" as a play on Marvel's Vampire By Night, but it really wasn't that funny, and I never got around to it. These first two pictures were to illustrate that concept, and come from 25 Sept 2010 and 5 November 2010 respectively.

When I was taking pictures of Wata Wing the other day, I noticed that the place had totally closed up shop, with the shelves empty and the pumps torn up. I'm pretty sure I drove by a couple of times in February and didn't notice anything, so I'm guessing it happened in late Feb. Someone who really follows gas prices could probably nail it to within a week..

UPDATE 5 May 2011 -- Open again, but not as Nick's:

Xtreme Customs was at the corner of Broad River Road and Briargate Circle, just across from the old location of Delhi Palace.

I'm not sure if this place closed or moved. There is a business of the same name listed in the phonebook as being in Lexington, but there are no "we've moved" signs on this location directing traffic there, so it may be another owner. I see their last promotion was 'HUG SAL'. Without seeing her, it's hard to know if $8.99 was reasonable or not..

Here's another Columbia Mall closing. This is the first time I've been in the mall since Tumbleweeds and it actually felt a little livelier this time though I still see about the same number of shuttered shops. I guess this one, apparently a custom gift and embroidery shop, will be one more.

(Hat tip to commenter Dustin)

The humble tee-shirt is an American institution, and while I have never bought one myself (though, come to think of it, I do sell them), I have heard the name Eat More Tees off and on for years locally. It's one of those names that sticks in your mind because it sort of makes sense and sort of doesn't make sense.

At any rate if you want to eat more now, you'll have to go to Rosewood, as this West Columbia location (right across from the vintage WECO sign) has moved.

I never go to the Harbison Starbucks since it is in the same parking lot as Barnes & Noble, which also has Starbucks coffee, and lots and lots of books. That being the case, I was only vaguely aware of the business next to it, which google suggests was an Alltel Wireless phone store. For some reason, despite the enormous popularity of cell-phones, these places seem to come and go quite often.

I did notice the last time I was at B&N however that the next tenant in the building is to be a Chipotle Mexican restaurant. I first encountered Chipotle in the DC area. To me it is definitely a notch below Moe's (though above Qdoba), and I am not at all fond of the hard-metal-edged industrial look of the places. The contractor permit sign states that they are adding a patio to the place. It's a shame that they couldn't do that on the back side of the building. Looking out on the parking lot would be no scene of epic grandeur, but I think it would have to beat looking out on Harbison Boulevard..

UPDATE 24 Feb 2011: Added Coconuts Music to the post title based on the comments, and fixed the spelling of Chipotle.

Buck Cooper Motors is a right at the intersection where Two Notch and Shakespeare flat-iron into each other and is actually a tiny little lot for a used car place. I've noticed for a while now that there were no cars on the premises. I stopped by a couple of weeks ago, and there was a sign on the door to the effect that all cars had been moved to another Buck Cooper location. That sign seemed to be gone when I went back by today.

UPDATE 17 Feb 2011: Added Phillips 66 to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 9 April 2011 -- It's now Classic Auto, tinting and carwash:

I've held off doing a post on Uncle Sam's because I don't remember much about the place. In fact, I can't say for certain that I ever set foot inside, though it certainly was a longtime fixture on Two Notch while I was growing up. I have the feeling that it was either a shoe store, or a sort of discount department store like Rose's. Despite the name, I'm not recalling any top-hatted mascot, or red white and blue bunting about the place, but I could well be wrong at this remove.

The current bingo and thrift store operations have been there for at least ten years at this point

UPDATE 5 March 2011: Added the "Showplace of Values" to the title. Be sure to see commenter Ronna's thoughts below.

"100 great wines for $25 or less" -- it sounds like a reasonable enough idea, but the as Corked found out, the area may not be ready for wine stores. Or possibly they sold their 100th bottle and achieved their mission.

Is there another two story retail gallery in the area? I can't think of one right now.

Golf Etc. at The Village at Sandhill, just south of Panera is gone now, and is already almost another mattress store. I actually had a picture of this place as Golf Etc., but appear to have deleted it in a fit of absence of mind.

I have to admit that I personally find golf (at least the kind without windmills and dinosaurs) much more soporific than mattresses anyway.