Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Although this Steak 'n Shake was open well past the time I moved back to Columbiana, I can't recall seeing it open at all. Indeed, I didn't even realize until it came up recently in Have Your Say that this building was the former location.

Steak 'n Shake is one of those chains I've always been meaning to try but somehow never get around to. I guess I've been closest once in LA when I used Yahoo Travel to book myself a hotel for a Van Morrison concert and found myself in an almost totally non-english speaking part of Koreatown (the hotel room phonebooks were in Korean [though the staff couldn't have been nicer!]) and it looked like a place I could understand. Somehow that didn't quite happen, and somehow I've never connected in Florida (where they have a big presence) either.

At any rate this store listed in the Feb 2008 phonebook, but not in the Feb 2010 one, so I'm saying they shut down in 2009. The building has really delapidated quickly since then, and it looks like it would take major work to get a standard second-use restaurant (Asian buffett, Lizard's Thicket etc) into there.

UPDATE 2 May 2013 -- Some of the boards have now been prised off the windows, and we can take a bit of a look inside:

UPDATE 14 March 2016 -- Somewhere I have some pictures of this lot as vacant after the tear-down, and will post them, but as of now, it is rebuilt and open as M Kitchen (and has been for a while):

As detailed here, on 11 December 2012, Mattress Firm bought out Mattress Source and all the Mattress Source stores were closed temporarily for re-branding.

I missed the buyout news, not being in the mattress market currently, but noticed the new banner over the old marquee when I was driving down Harbison recently. Since I don't have a dog in the fight, I'll say that I like the name Mattress Firm better than Mattress Source as it works (presumably intentionally) as a play on words.

I'll also say that while I have no opinion yea or nay on their mattresses, I continue to admire the Tempurpedic logo.

You wouldn't think that you could get away with plastering a shapely undraped female derriere all over your marquee and front yard, but they do. Granted they have toned down the, um, cleavage from a few years ago:

UPDATE 19 September 2022 -- As mentioned in the comments, the building has come down. Also there seems to be a lot of land clearing behind the old site as well:

Also updating tags and adding map icon.

UPDATE 7 October 2022 -- Here are a few shots from the start of the teardown:

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)

A. C. Moore was the follow-on operation to the old Harbison Bi-Lo. I never went in, but had the feeling from the name that it was probably something like Hobby Lobby. Late last year they for some reason lost their lease and had to vacate the premises. They started a sale and clearance program almost immediately, and it appears to have been successful based on how little is left inside...

I find it curious that they were let go as the plaza is not completely sold, and it will take a special store to get shoppers to brave the traffic and make it a destination, something that that apparently did not apply to the grocery store.

I thought I had some daylight pix of the store after the closing was announced, but they seem pretty well hidden at the moment.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 3 February 2026: Update tags & add map icon.

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:

I'm not when this Bi-Lo closed, but it's listed in the February 1997 phonebook and was gone by the mid 2000s. Actually, I'm not entirely sure it closed, as the Bi-Lo on Saint Andrews Road is fairly new -- perhaps it relocated to there.

It was apparently replaced by two stores, an A C Moore craft store in most of the space, and Total Wine in the rest.

There has been a fair bit of churn in this plaza (which fronts on both Harbison and Columbiana). Over the years I've featured Computer Renaissance, and Gold's Gym, but there are a number I never got around to.

UPDATE 20 May 2012: Added the store number and exact closing date to the post title based on information from commenters Andrew & Irmojeff.

UPDATE 3 February 2026: Update tags & add map icon.

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: