Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Came across these pictures from 2012, and as far as I can tell, the building, just past the closed Wal-Mart & Murphy's, is still there, but it ceased being Bush River Auto Mall around 2018, moving to another nameplate, Automotive Showcase at that that time.

It's a nice little house.

I'm trying to recall the last movie I saw at Dutch Square, but I believe it was during the AMC era, and I don't believe I ever went to the Bow Tie operation.

This decade has not been a good one for theaters, and I expect it to get worse and to not ever return to previous levels. That's a shame as there is nothing like sitting in a full house during a good movie, but times move on. I know that the old Spring Valley Commons Theater went to storage and office space. We'll have to see what happens here, but I don't expect another cinema to move in.

Here are The State & The Post & Courier on the closing.

This may be flagged as a move, and hopefully the employees have relocated, but the Augusta Road location referenced in the sign has been open for quite a while, so this is actually more of a closing.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

It appears that missionary organization Operation Go International has moved to Saginaw and has put their Bush River Road building up for sale.

Looking at their area of operations, I think coming back home to Michigan is going to be a bigger shock than coming back home to Columbia!

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

Molly Maid was the follow-on in this building to its original tenant Waffle House, opening in late 2016.

It appears that they have either moved to an Elmwood area office, or consolidated with an office there. At any rate, the phone number is the same, and the company is definitely still around.

The floor looks very well swept!

I can't find out much about Soda City Art, but from these third party profiles here and here, it appears they more into the fun side of printing than brouchures and the like, mentioning

Cosplay, Helmets, Armor, Prop Weapons, Digital Printing, Custom Decals, Banners & Signs.

Looking at Google Streetview, it appears they opened sometime after 2019, being definitely there in September of 2022 and being definitely gone in April of 2023.

7 Spices was the follow-on in this building to The Villa and opened in the Summer of 2023. I ate there twice, I think, and it was pretty good. Driving by recently, I noticed that it was gone and replaced by another Indian restaurant Hyderabad House. This appears to be more than a re-branding as the phone numbers are different, and the reviews (mostly positive) suggest the new place focuses more on "Nawabi style" dishes. I'm not exactly sure what that means given my limited knowledge of Indian regional cusine, but I will try to check it out at some point.

Commenter Tom mentioned that this hotel on Bush River Road at I-26 behind Cracker Barrel had a blank nameplate on the Market Pointe marquee. He thought it had been a Travelodge, and that looks correct, but that was some years ago. Most recently it was a Quality Inn & Suites. I can see from Google Streetview that that lasted at least into June 2023, so I'm guessing the latest reflagging was this year, and the place is now operating as Suburban Studios.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

When Schlotzsky's was on Parklane I made it a point to eat lunch there once a week. It wasn't that the veggie sandwich was that good in and of itself (it was ok), but the fact that I really liked the sourdough buns, which were always a nice change from other sandwich places.

When that location closed, I noticed that some of the staff had made it to this location abuting Dutch Square, on the corner of Bush River & North Arrowwood Roads. In the event given how far it was from home, this location never made it into my regular rotation, and I probably only ate there a half dozen times over the last ten years. I liked the fact that they had a Cinnabon concession, though I think I only partook once.

Driving by lately, I had noticed that the Cinnabon part of the sign looked to have been painted over, and recent reviews suggest the place was having other problems, but it's still a shame to see them go (though Google marks the closing as temporary, so we'll see).

Looking at the other closings for the chain, it appears that at some point they dropped the word "Deli" from their name, something I just noticed.

(Hat top to commenter BrianTR)

UPDATE 16 September 2024 -- The Schlotzsky's branding is down, and the place is prepping to become Wings Co.:

This is one of those places that I was never sure if it were still open or not. It certainly appeared not, but there are reviews up until a few months ago.

At any rate, it appears to be closed now, joining a long line of former restaurants in this building on the spur of Bush River Road sometimes known as Old Bush River Road.