Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Well, there has been speculation for a while, what with Gymboree's Chapter 11 filing, but the other shoe dropped today:

SAN FRANCISCO – Children's clothing seller Gymboree Corp. is closing 350 stores as its works to restructure in bankruptcy.

The San Francisco-based company said Tuesday that it's mostly closing Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores. It also operates Janie and Jack stores. The company will have more than 900 locations after the stores are shut down.

The full closing list is here, and includes, unsurprisingly, this Richland Mall store, as well as the one at Sandhill. The closing sales are supposed to start on 18 July.

I took these pictures back in early June and even then, the whole store was 50% off -- I don't think this is a big surprise to them.

I have to admit I had never heard of Janie and Jack or Crazy 8.

UPDATE 3 February 2021 -- Here's another picture I just came across apparently from 26 April 2013:

Also adding a map icon.

Today's closing comes from commenter Mr. BO, who says:

A strange eclectic shop right across where I enter the office in the Richland Fashion mall. Wine & Design apparently was a place where you can tip a few glasses and do some painting. (odd combo). Some of my fellow workers noted that there were times when the paint would be tracked outside of the door. (Guess things got messy there) I was suspicious about a month ago when I mall maintenance taking out a sink.

Now I see this in pic # 2.

At least it's a move and not a closing.

I admit I was entirely unaware of this place though I have walked the whole Mall at least once or twice in the last year.

What wine goes best with abstract expressionism?

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO, obviously)

Since S & S moved out of this Richland Mall slot, nothing has stuck, with both Sadie's and now Jackson's moving on.

In this case we have a move instead of a closing, and JackSon's should now be open at 1213 Sunset Boulevard, which is, of course, the former location of Ms. B's Southern Kitchen and The Southern Skillet.

Man, this wing of the Mall is creepy empty now!

And

I think they want you to go left.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO)

UPDATE 23 January 2017 -- I got by the new location on Sunset last weekend. Apparently they are still not quite open:

It looks like this Peruvian restaurant, the only one in Columbia as far as I know, opened in April 2016 and closed sometime in August 2016. In general the Yelp reviews were quite positive as was this review from The Free Times

Paraiso del Inca brought some much-needed ethnic food to the North Beltline side of town when it opened earlier this month. The menu is brief, but full of Peruvian dishes that cannot be found anywhere else in town. Some of the offerings include a creamy chicken dish featuring a thick, yellow curry-esque sauce, boiled potato, and ground walnuts; ceviche; and an appetizer called papas rellena, a deep-fried mashed potato ball stuffed with beef and onions.

(Hat tip to commenter KC)

The Seafood Academy was the follow-on operation to the much lamented (by me, anyway) TGI Friday's in Richland Mall.

Since I'm not a fan of seafood, I never partook of this new incarnation, which, according to their sign, is now relocating to East Point Plaza at 7535 Garners Ferry.

Getting inside the mall for some of these pictures was kind of sad. More than half the doors to the interior were marked as out-of-order-use-next-door. If they can't afford to fix the doors already, losing a front facing store is just adding insult to injury.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby)

UPDATE 9 August 2017 -- Looks like the new location is finally about ready to open:

Well, after mailing out the flyers in May, the Richland Mall Bank Of America is finally closed. As you'll recall, they closed the drive-through in March 2015 at which point the writing was probably on the wall.

I don't know why, but I had it in my mind that the ATM would remain, though in the event that turns out not to be the case. At any rate, I believe that Trenholm Plaza is now the only Forest Acres BOA location.

UPDATE 8 May 2018 -- This building has now been sold, though there is no indication of what is planned there:

UPDATE 30 August 2018 -- As commenter Dennis Craighead notes in Have Your Say, this building is being razed. I guess building something there demonstrates some belief that the whole Richland Mall property will not just be plowed under at some point..

Well, I thought we had reached pigqulibrium, but I gues not. The Edens Plaza Pig on Beltline is in the process of closing now.

I went by today, and the place is at that interesting sweet spot of not too picked over but already pretty good discounts. Perishables are mostly gone, but there are still plenty of canned goods, baking supplies, laundry detergent, toothpaste and other sundries..

The location seems fairly viable to me and the area is not over-grocered. It would not surprise me to see an IGA or Sav-A-Lot go in here.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO via email)

UPDATE 27 August 2017 -- Roses will be opening here on 31 August 2017:

I remember at one time having to figure out whether this little Latin Dance club behind the D's on Beltline was in fact a Mexican Restaurant or a nightclub. In the event, it proved to be the later, which was a little disappointing to me. As far as I know they were not affected by the 2011 fire at D's or the October 2015 flood, but I could be wrong.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 13 February 2017 -- Here's an instructional video from the club:

I've been misplacing and finding these pictures ever since commenter Rick sent them, but here they finally are. Commenter Rick says:

Ted,

Attached are a few photos of my store at 2941 Two Notch Road when our new sign was going up. It does not show the building very well but in the back ground just past the McDonald's sign, you can see the old Chappy's Fish and Chips sign that you mentioned in your Carzzz 2941 post. You can also see my old 1976 blue corvette that was in the middle bay of the picture I sent from my Five Points location.

I would also note that in the background of the first picture, you can see the old AMC dealership, where I bought the worst piece of junk ever assembled: the 1983 Renault Alliance. Man, was I ever glad to see the last of that marvel of Franco-American technology.

The building on this lot is now a dental office.

I had not noticed until recently that Sato on Beltline took major flood damage and is closed for repair. In retrospect it makes sense as the restaurant is located at the low point of Beltline as it comes down from Forest Drive and before it starts back up towards Trenholm Road. Looking at google maps, it appears that the nearby creek which presumably did the damage is called Orphanage Branch, a name I can't ever recall hearing.