Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Commenter Beth noted a while back that this Chick-fil-A location was being torn down and rebuilt with double drive-through lanes.

The last time I looked at it, it was still open, though with some lot construction going on. Now they have definitely gotten into the rebuild phase.

Eat mor bef!

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

UPDATE 26 April 2019 -- Last time I drove by, the rebuild looked nearly done:

UPDATE 12 May 2019 -- Open again:

UPDATE 28 January 2021 Add tags.

Tijuana Flats closed their Forest Acres store back in March. Apparently the Greenville stores closed in March as well. This store opened after the Forest Acres one, and soldiered on for a few months longer, but with this closing, it appears the chain has totally left the state, which is a shame as I rather liked it (though their salsa policy was rather odd).

These pictures were taken shortly after the closing date, and the store was still being stripped.

(Hat tip to commenter TahoeChic)

UPDATE 22 March 2022 -- Now Shomars Southern + Fresh + Greek:

Old time hardware stores are a vanishing breed. As a kid, I remember visits to the old Forest Lake Hardware at Forest Lake Shopping Center, the old Hiller downtown, and Hiller in Five Points, and various stores at the beach and in Fernandina. They were mysterious places with big revolving bins of loose nails and odd brackets, and men behind well worn wooden counters who knew how to do stuff.

After Thanksgiving, there will be one less in Columbia, as Cedar Terrace Hardware is packing it in. The State has the story, and it's a case of the owner's well deserved retirement with nobody else willing to take the store on.

To the best of my memory, I have never been to this store. It's quite tucked away in the back of the plaza, and a case of out-of-sight-out-of-mind, but there's always something I need from a hardware store so perhaps I'll take a look before it's too late.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

This storefront in Garners Ferry Crossing was once Springleaf Financial Services, as you can see in the first picture (especially if you click through to the large version). At some point recently, Springleaf was acquired by One Main Financial, at which point it seems they consolidated offices leaving a vacancy here. (Actually there are two adjacent vacancies at this time; I'll do the other one at some point).

Here is another Mattress Firm location already cleared out and debranded (you can barely see the label scar).

In keeping with the general Mattress Firm situation, this one was just 0.8 miles (per Google Maps) from the store at 4732 Devine Street.

I did another closing for Firenza on a store on Bower Parkway that never actually opened.

This one, in the Lowes plaza in Lexington actually did open, but not for too long. The State pegs the Grand Opening as 9 January 2018, with various free pizza promotions, so that was a run of about 9 months.

I had to check online to make sure I had the right place as there is no sign on the door, and all the fixtures inside look to be at the ready for the next day of customers (It was raining hard enough that I didn't get any pictures of the inside). It appears from looking at the company web site that this was the only store in South Carolina, and that the closest location is now in Charlotte.

So far Mod is the only one of this current wave of "fast" pizza places that I have tried. It's starting to look like perhaps a number of them built out too fast.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Commenter James R notes that this Coldwell Banker is gone and that the web site indicates that Columbia is now being handled from Charlotte, which doesn't quite make sense to me as I think there is still an office at 1711 Gervais..

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I was never sure what this small building on the way into Lexington was, but it seems it was a pool hall and music venue. Based on what I see from google, I believe the owner unfortunately passed away in December of 2017.

Although I did not know it, Chocolate Monkey is a small family owned chain of candy shops. As their Facebook explains, the owners have moved to Tennessee to run the stores there, and keeping up with the lone South Carolina store from there was just a bridge too far.

That's a good looking strawberry!

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Well, here's a bit of synchronicity. Friday 24 August 2018 was the first time I had ever happened to be in West Columbia, near JackSon's Southern Kitchen at (my) lunch time, so I decided I would finally check the place out.

Pulling in, it seemed to be dark, and there was a sign taped to the door, so I was going to get out and look at it, but then I noticed that the lunch hours during the week were only until 2:30, and it was 3:00, so I figured I had just missed it and drove on. I got home that evening, and people were already posting in Have Your Say that the place had closed down due to legal woes.

Here's the story from WIS (For some reason, they seem to have trimmed most of the text that was originally there).

You may recall that JackSon's started in Richland Mall and moved to Sunset Boulevard in 2016

UPDATE 4 May 2021 -- As reported by commenter Barbara reports, this storefront is undergoing a major upfit. Unfortunately, the construction sign is singularly unhelpful in telling what is to come:

Also adding a map icon.