Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed yesterday when I took the pictures for the J. Peters post, that 2005 North Beltline is also the new location for Wild Birds Unlimited. I first noticed them when they moved from 3304 Forest Drive to this location in the Forest Park shopping center (If they still call it that) around 2010.

Now, they have moved on again, and this is the new storefront:

UPDATE 22 June 2022: Updating tags.

I'm forgetting what this place used to be called, but it has only been One Main for a few years. At one point, they apparently had my P.O. Box, and I still get important looking mail for them 15 years later..

They left the Forest Park shopping center (if it indeed is still called that) a month or so ago, and have moved into the old VK Nails location across from Richland Mall.

As above, this BI-LO opened on 15 November 2013, giving them about a three year run after taking over from The Pig.

I don't understand the rationale for closing this particular store, as it seems to have some pretty big plus factors to me. The groceries in this area are Kroger on Forest at Beltline, Trader Joe's at 4516 Forest, Fresh Market and Publix at Trenholm Plaza, and arguably Wal-Mart at Forest & I-77. Of those, Fresh Market and Trader Joe's are upscale specialty stores that are a different market than a general grocery, Publix is cramped and has bad parking, Kroger has bad parking and so-so location, and Wal-Mart .. is Wal-Mart. Against that, this spot has good parking, a large layout, and lots of built-in customers as soon as the re-purposing of Cardinal Newman is complete.

On the other hand, BI-LO is not in the most robost shape, and has presumably thought about all these issues.

At any rate, the sell-off was almost complete when I went in on Saturday 24 September. Remaining were only two endcaps of odd frozen goods, and one shelf of deeply discounted (and not particularly popular) items near the registers. The rest of the store was already a hollow shell.

UPDATE 9 August 2017 -- The teaser sign for Lowes is up on the plaza sign board and the store itself has now been designated a construction area (though I have seen no activity as yet):

UPDATE 31 October 2017 -- As mentioned in the comments, construction for Lowe's has begun, and the building is basically ripped open:

UPDATE 17 February 2018 -- Starting to look like a Lowes:

UPDATE 19 March 2018 -- Shaping up:

UPDATE 25 June 2018 -- Nearly there:

The Picture Place was for many years in the old Forest Lake TV storefront in Forest Lake Shopping Center. I know I had at least one photo framed there, and I think my mother had some art framed there as well.

As with everything else in that shopping center, the 4 October 2015 flood which roared through Nine Mile Branch and Gills Creek devastated their building as you can see in the first pictures above.

Fortunately, since since 19 November 2015 the store has been operating from their new home in Forest Park in the former Oreck / All Vacuums suite.

Mary & Martha's in Forest Park is closing shop in the coming weeks. The State Reports:

Owner Beverley Tuller has started a liquidation sale to sell most of the items as she prepares to close the shop in March if she can't sell it first.

"I've had a couple of nibbles, but nothing has really panned out yet," Tuller said of a potential buyer, adding she will keep the store open longer if she has a contract in place to allow for a smooth transition.

Given the above, I'm not exactly sure where the name of the shop comes from, but I have been in there several times. As I recall, I bought a double-boiler, and an apple peeling machine (that worked better than I expected). It's not the kind of place a guy like me needs often, but always a nice option to have when I *do* need it.