Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Every now and then, I go down Afton Court for the theater at the bottom of the street, which sometimes seems to have slightly different selections from most in town. Nonetheless, I was pretty much unaware that there was a Restaurant/Pool Hall just a little up from there. According to their closing sign, Bailey's had been there 18 years, which is a pretty good run, especially with all the turnover on Columbiana Drive.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

Well, that didn't last too long. On the other hand, I suppose it wasn't intended to since similar exhibitions zip in and out of Jamil Temple fairly often. (Not to mention temporary stores like Giant Book Sale in other unused Harbison storefronts).

Anyway, this liquidation center went into the old Office Depot location across from the Harbison Barnes & Noble a month or so ago, and offered bargins on fashion and electronics. I've gotten some good deals on computer equipment at the Jamil sales, but the trick is to remember that you only go if you actually think you'll buy something, as there is a $5.00 fee just to walk in the door. In this instance, there was nothing much I needed, so I never did.

I see from a sign that the building is still available for short-term leases, so perhaps the lidiquation company (apparently out of Ohio) will lease it again sometime.

This storefront, caty-cornered from the Harbison Barnes & Noble, was originally an OfficeMax. When OfficeMax left South Carolina in 2006, Office Depot took the opportunity to take over the space.

As far as I know, Office Depot isn't in any trouble as neither the Two Notch nor Dutch Square stores seem to be closing, but I guess it was a hard sell to get people to brave Harbison traffic for printer paper and paper clips.

Unlike a lot of store closing sales, this one actually had some good bargains. I got an external DVD drive and a USB drive enclosure for a really good price when I went in to check it out.

UPDATE 12 September 2012 -- The place is now a liquication outlet. This seems to be similar to the kind of event sometimes hosted by the Jamil temple where you pay an entrance fee and then look for bargains on electronics and other items. When I went by a week or two ago, the door fee was $5:

UPDATE 1 May 2013 -- It's now Golfsmith:

LifeWay is a commercial outreach of the Southern Baptist Convention and their stores sell Bibles and church supplies. This one moved from the Barnes & Noble plaza on Harbison to Bower Parkway sometime in the 2000s. I know it's been more than a year ago as the first picture is from October 2010.

The little corner area where LifeWay was is kind of interesting as it has sort of an entrance corridor set off by a rather snazzy, filigreed girder. On the downside, being in the corner means that people have to park farther away from your store than most other stores in the strip.

After being vacant for a good while, the suite is finally re-opening as Anna's Linens

UPDATE 11 November 2011: Updated the moving date in the post title from "2000s" to "May 2010" based on commenter Andrew's research.

Here's yet another phone store gone or moved -- the places seem to come and go overnight.

I wonder if at some point we reached saturation with everyone who's going to get a cellphone having one and business now is in upgrade and maintenance mode..

UPDATE 13 March 2017 -- This place is to become a Persona Pizza:

I first wrote about this building when it was LulaBelle's:

and before that, it was a Roadhouse.

Since it became a Hudson's, I had reports of its closing a couple of times, apparently because it does not open on Mondays or Tuesdays, and people would drive by and see no cars there.

As WIS reports a fire broke out on 6 April, closing the place for real, if presumably only on a temporary basis, though interestingly when I went by, there was no signage estimating a re-opening date, or indeed noting anything -- even the chalkboard noted only normal hours.

UPDATE 17 May 2011 -- Well, they have a sign up now with a little more information:

UPDATE 24 October 2013: As commenter Andrew points out, the property has been sold and the closing is clearly no longer "temporary", so I have taken that tag off the post title.

UPDATE 13 December 2013 -- Well, this place has been demolished:

When I heard about the closing of the Harbison O'Charley's, my first thought was that I hadn't remembered one was over there, and my second thought was: Why Would I Go To O'Charley's?.

In fact it's always seemed to me to be a pleasant enough place without any real "hook" to get me in. I went to the one at Columbia Mall several times, and the one in Augusta at least once, and basically recall only that they had pretty good chips & salsa and burgers.

Interestingly (or not) this one closing made me try the one on Two Notch again -- I got in there, and found that a) they didn't have the chips & salsa anymore, and b) they were out of hamburgers. I had never heard of that before!

The State says that this one shut when the company

closed 16 underperforming stores Monday.

and that

The Harbison location was the only one in South Carolina to close.

(Hat tip to commenter William)

UPDATE 17 July 2011 -- work on the building and facade for the conversion to a Buffalo Wild Wings is ongoing:

UPDATE 24 September 2011 -- They're getting close.. and have certainly changed the look of the building!

UPDATE 31 October 2011 -- As commenter Andrew has already noted, it looks like they're set to open on 7 November 2011:

UPDATE 19 August 2022: Updating tags and adding map icon.

This storefront is in the same plaza as the Harbison Barnes & Noble and is right next to Rita's Ice Custard Happiness (a place that I had picked to last less than a year, but which seems to be going strong).

I can't ever recall it actually being occupied, but google turns up three former tenants. First was a business called Trade Unlimited, Inc, which was incorporated in 1994 and dissolved in 1998. That's a fairly generic name, so I suspect they also would have had a catchier DBA name.

Next, I think was Sesame Inn JJ, Inc which applied for a beer, wine and liquor license in 2004. Again I suspect they did business as a shorter name. In this case, I'm gussing it was probably Sesame Inn, which sounds like an Asian restaurant.

The final name I have is Jiang Asian Bistro which I take to be the most recent tenant as it is still in some online restaurant guides.

UPDATE 15 March 2013 -- It's now (or soon to be) Wing Nuts:

Fernandina Road seems to have been pretty volatile lately with a number of closings and moves. This particular storefront is between the Piney Grove and Harbison exits, and is pretty visible from I-26 though I had never driven down that stretch of Fernandina before. It appears that The Sportsgym has moved to 5000 Fernandina Road, behind Home Depot. This building still houses a thrift store for a very worthy sounding charity.

UPDATE 29 September 2011: Finally add Ebert Sportswear Manufacturing to the post title. (Although my Feb 1997 phonebook gives that as 5000 Fernandina Road).

Rugged Warehouse never really caught my notice while it was in the Barnes & Noble plaza on Harbison Boulevard. I hit B&N fairly often, and Outback and Chili's from time to time, but I guess I never go over to the back part of the plaza. I'm not even sure how long it was there. For some reason I can't find my 2009 phonebook, but it's not in this year's, and it's not in 2008. However, I can't find the Forest Drive store in there either, so maybe I'm somehow looking in the wrong place.

(Hat tip to commenter RM.)

UPDATE 4 April 2012 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse is in the offing: