Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This former Waffle House was vacant for more than ten years before becoming King Smoke & Vape sometime early in 2025. To me it seemed that the Grand Opening sign had barely gone up before the place was closed, but Google reviews suggest it was open several months at least.

I have been in this store a number of times over the years, but what I recall most about is is that on the South side of the lot, there is a very vibrant stand of Wisteria which I took pictures of one year, and which, should I ever find them again, I will post here.

I am generally more of a Walgreens customer, and there is one across the street, which may have played into this closing (the Google reviews suggest other possibilities), but for whatever reason, I always found this store to easier to get into than that one so if I were coming up Saint Andrews Road I might stop in to get toothpaste, or batteries or whatever. The entrance was one of those automatically folding (rather than sliding) doors that I always found a little off-putting, but I suppose it got the job done.

(Hat tip to commenter Cats)

I came across the photo of this closed liquor store and couldn't quite recall where I had taken it. A little context and googling shows it was in Friarsgate Plaza, across the parking lot from the old Bi-Lo, and that it was probably called Unlimited Bottles.

If you embiggen the picture, you can still see the face-mask requirement, and the door sign announcing "Something Delicious", the nature of which I can't quite make out.

Here is the Colliers real estate listing for the property.

I find it a bit interesting that the sign announcing that this is Friarsgate Plaza is now gone. I'm not sure if the name remains active or not. The Colliers text doesn't mention it.

GameStop has been up and down over the last few years. I think people are playing fewer games sold on media vs downloading, but in the other direction, there was a really crazy run up on the stock price a few years ago as well.

A YouTube Short claims this one closed on 14 January 2025, which I can't verify in any other media, but it is definitely closed now.

I'm guessing this might have been the new location for the Dutch Square GameStop which closed in 2010, but I don't really know.

Save! Save! Save!

I'm surprised google isn't bringing up any media hits for this closing. For many years Nevin Broome was a ubiquitous presence on local TV, especially in a fondly remembered sequence of commercials with the late Joe Pinner. My favorite went something like this:

[Pinner enters the scene stage left to find Broome trussed in the middle of the room]

Pinner: Nevin, what happened!?

Broome: Joe, my competitors don't want you to to Save! Save! Save! so they tied me up to try and stop me!

Pinner: That's awful, Nevin!

Broome: Untie me, Joe!

Pinner: I don't think so, Nevin.

[Takes a cigar from Broome's pocket and exits the scene stage right]

If you look at the store's web page now, you will see the closing sale touted as the finish to a 35 year run, but that seems low to me and other parts of the site mention 50 years. Perhaps that's for this particular storefront only.

It's not clear to me how long the sale will run, but they're at 65% off now, so if your floor is bare this might be a good opportunity to fix that.

Unfortunately for the pictures, I got there at exactly the right time to have the falling sun directly against me on most of them. Perhaps I can get some better ones later.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

The last google reviews for this place say "9 months ago", so I'm just going with 2024 for a closing date here.

I believe this building was once a maid service headquarters, though I did not do a closing on that. I know that at one time it was an Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which did feature here.

Despite the eye-catching bright yellow trim, I don't ever recall actually noticing this place while it was in operation though it looks to have been there at least since October of 2018.

Here is the LoopNet summary of the property, and here is the actual real-estate listing: The place can be yours for $700,000.

At one time, Moseley's had a very recognizable series of radio commercials which ended with a very upbeat exclamation of Moseley's Shines!. I haven't heard one lately, but then I don't listen to much radio anymore either. I'm guessing that the closing sale won't go on too long here as the merchandise is pretty portable, and there are two other stores, so I have just put February 2025.

I'm not sure how long this location has been open, but I'm pretty sure it has been decades back into the heyday of Dutch Square. Since then, the area has gone down some, and may not be the best venue for a diamond showcase anymore. The chain's Chapin & Lexington locations are to remain open.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

I mentioned this was happening earlier, but Brooklyn Express Pizza & Pasta has now completed their move from Friarsgate Plaza to this (now upfitted) freestanding Ed Robinson building.

Commenter Gypsie notes that there is some kind of work going on here, which I also see. I wonder if it's to become a Seven-Eleven? If you google the address, that's one of the hits that comes up, though if you actually click on the link it's not available at the Seven-Eleven corporate site. Of course it's also possible it was previously a Seven-Eleven at some time.

UPDATE 16 April 2025 -- Interesting. There was work going on here as you can see in the previous pictures, but now the place is for sale:

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

I noticed this decrepit office trailer, which appears to be a car-lot type of thing on the lot next to Century Glass the other week, and I assumed that I had run across the remnants of a small used-car operation that I had never really noticed while it was operating.

However, when I checked StreetView, I can see that as of January 2024, this was simply a vacant lot, so the decrepit trailer must have been hauled there as a decrepit trailer sometime this year. The stop-work notice suggests that someone was trying to develop the spot, but it seems an odd way to start. Does anyone know what was going on here?