Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Folks, with today's Forest Acres redevelopment announcement, I thought I would go ahead and throw up a Richland Mall post, even though I don't have anything prepared, so we can discuss it here rather than in Have Your Say.

So have at it!

(Hat tip to commenter John for the heads up).

UPDATE 10 November 2022 -- A question from commenter Russell below reminded me that there commenter Dennis worked of a map of the original open-air mall, and I got the tenant lists for 1926, 1975 & 1985 here. (Also changed to post title to add the word 'Redevelopment' at the end, added the street address and added the map icon.)

Also a note to folks popping in for the first time due to this post -- If you will go to Alphabetical Closings, you may find your favorite vanished spot in the site index.

Beltline Grill was the follow-on operation in this Bradley Plaza storefront to long-time stalwart and pandemic casualty Alehouse Lounge. They announced on their Facebook on 29 July that they were closing up shop. Looking at that page, I think I might have enjoyed lunch there, but for some reason it was never on my radar.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

13 July 2008:

8 February 2022:

9 February 2022:

The last movie I saw during the pre-COVID era at Regal Columbia Cinema was Frozen 2, in which I was highly disappointed (though my niece liked it). I know that I saw at least one movie there after the theaters re-opened, but for the life of me I can recall what it was right now. On both occasions the experience was fine (apart from the actual movie..), but you could tell that the place was definitely an older auditorium which hadn't kept up with all the new trends.

That was not at all the case when these cinemas opened. As I have written before this location was not the first theater at Richland Mall. The old open-air mall had a free-standing duplex on an out-parcel where I saw many a "summer movie" during those old "drop off the kids & shop" promotions. It also famously had a time capsule, though commenter Del says it eventually came to naught.

When the old mall was razed and the current mall was built, the new rooftop cinema opened as part of the Litchfield Theaters chain, and it was classy. There were real cloth curtains over the screens which would be closed between the trailers and the main feature, which would start after the famous "Sea Oats" logo. I'm a little hazy on what happened to Litchfield Theaters. I think perhaps the head guy perished in a plane crash and the chain fell into hard times without him, but I couldn't swear to that.

Anyway, after that, it became part of the Regal chain, and I always looked forward to the "policy trailer" with the animated monorail riding along a track of 35mm film (and the Kernel of Doom! popcorn). The trailer was updated many times over the years with increasingly elaborate train redesigns, state of the art CGI and audio effects. Most recently, it has lost a bit of its charm as people have forgotten what "film" was, and the 35mm tracks have been replaced with actual rails.

As you can see from the 2008 pictures, in the beginning, you could take the escalator from inside the mall to the roof and walk to the theater from there, and there were also "Now Playing" & "Coming Soon" posters in displays on the walls of the mall in a couple of places. Sometime after Belk closed its entrance to that side of the mall, they stopped running the escalator, and the only way to the theaters was to drive to the rooftop.

As I mentioned elsewhere recently, my impression in years past was that this theater and the theaters behind Golden Corral had a gentleman's agreement to not book duplicate movies in most cases, and it was usually the case that if you were in Forest Acres, your movie would be at this theater or that one, but not both. In recent years this broke down, especially with so few movies available recently, and I don't think that helped the bottom line for this place. Certainly being closed for months on end during the darkest days of the pandemic did not.

During that closure, the mall management put up traffic cones and sawhorses to keep you from driving back into the theater area, and as you can see in the 9 February pictures, those are now back. However the cones were set aside today as a number of vehicles were back in the theater area, perhaps getting ready to clear it out, as was a news crew from WOLO.

With the mall currently under contract to be sold and possibly razed, I doubt that any second operation or dollar cinema will move in here, but as predictions about the mall have always been iffy, we'll just have to see.

Here are stories from WLTX, The State & The Free Times.

(Hat tip to commenter Jeannette)

Although I must have driven by it many times, I was not aware of Nostalgia Antiques on Beltline. Judging by their Facebook page, I might well have found some items there, probably more on the "Collectibles" side of things.

You can see their closing announcement on their Facebook, but you might want to check it in the future as well, as they intend to continue selling online and out of their home.

(Hat top to commenter Gypsie)

This building, at the corner of Two Notch & Beltline, was originally an Eckerd Drugs, and then a Rite Aid. After Rite Aid closed, a pediatric deltal operation called Small Smiles moved in. According to what I can find, this national chain got into trouble and went Chapter 7 in 2015.

At some point after that, Capital City Dentistry set up here, and fairly recently moved up the street into the old Enterprise Rent-A-Car building:

Looking at the outside damage, it looks to me like a good deal of work is needed before anyone else can move into this building, but according to the real estate sign, it *is* leased, so apparently somebody is going to make the effort.

UPDATE 28 January 2022 -- As reported in the comments, this building has now been razed to make way for a Murphy Express:

I got these pictures a few weeks ago, and have not driven back by since, so it is possible this Beltline pawn shop is already closed. It is in a little strip almost at the intersection of Beltline with Devine, and is really almost next to the spot where the chophouse is going if you were to walk straight through.

I'm not sure what the three cities invoked by the name are. Columbia, Irmo & Lexington perhaps? Although Forest Acres is, I think, the closest other municipality.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

Ale House Lounge (or as some listings style it: The Original Ale House Lounge) sits in a little plaza off of Beltline which, like Lake Wobegon, the decades cannot improve -- or at least to me it seems unchanged from the first time I saw it.

I can't find any media stories online about the closing, but commenter Joelc chalks it up to limited bar hours, presumably due to COVID-19.

(Hat tip to commenter Joelc)

LensCrafters in Richland Mall was on the upper level across from the barbershop, in the far left of the first picture. I had another picture of the facade, but it didn't come out, and Richland Mall is locked on weekends now, so it will be a while before I can get another.

They moved to Cross Hill Market in an outparcel across from Duck Donuts sometime in the fall. I believe that with this move, the barbershop is now the only business in Richland Mall which does not have outside access.

It seems to me this nice little building in the little group at the corner of Beltline & Trenholm has been a number of cleaners over the years. I have it in my mind it was an Arnold Palmer's once, and google says it was a Masters fairly recently as well.

UPDATE 5 November 2020 -- This place is now Il Bucato, a takeout Italian joint, where [m]enu items at Il Bucato will include pizza, salads, hot subs and pasta dishes.

The story from ColaDaily is here.

The pictures below were taken during the final stage before opening:

Also adding a map icon..

Well, I took my eyes off the old Popeye's location, and missed two closings.

South Carolina Dream Wings was the follow on to Jade Palace which closed in early 2018. South Carolina Dream Wings opened shortly thereafter, and I'm not sure when they closed.

After that, and without ever getting around to changing all the signs, Uncle Ozzy's opened. It was, in a complete change for this spot, a schnitzel operation. The Free Times highlighted it as a Bite Of the Week location, proving once again Yogi Berra's observation that It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future:

The location has had a long and varied history, but Ozzy gives you a good feeling that this could be a place that sticks around for a really long time.

[Update: Uncle Ozzy's closed suddenly after Free Times sampled its Hunterschnitzel on Sept. 12.]

Looking at Uncle Ozzy's Facebook page, it appears that the owners had a falling out.

UPDATE 12 May 2020 Fix the address. There seems to be some confusion, but I think it's 3315 Farrow Road. Certainly what I had (3115 Farrow) was wrong. Also, hope springs eternal. This place is now Noisy Wings: