Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I noticed this fairly large complex not too far from down the Charleston Highway from Piggie Park last weekend.

As it turns out, it is the former home of the Midlands campus for Southern Wesleyan University, a college based in Central. In 2008 the school moved to Pinnacle Point Business Park off of Farrow Road (I'm unclear if it is still there, it seems unusualy difficult to call up an exact address or current status). At the time of the move the motivation was given as

Given the (empty) building directory board, I think the owners tried to bring in a number of businesses to replace the University, but apparently in the end it did not work out. To me it appears that the building was in reasonable shape when SWU left, but that years of neglect and vandalism have made it unusable without some major work.

There is a real-estate sign on the property, toppled over, but probably still in force, and likely associated with this 8 year old pitch for the building in better times.

Finally, here is the LoopNet summary on the property.

I would have guess this Walgreens, next to Piggie Park, was in Cayce but Google claims it is in fact West Columbia. At any rate it looks to be a newer store, built as a Walgreens and not inherited from Eckerds or Rite Aid.

According to commenter Mr. Bill, this place closed on 17 March, and the sign was down and the place basically empty when I drove by on the night of 20 March. Commenter Lavender says the building is to be demolished, which may be the only way to get rid of a Red Box, which still seemed to be plugged in & running.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Bill)

Here's another Jo-Ann location closing

This one is in the old A&P building and next to the old La Fiesta.

There's already a Planet Fitness in Parkland Plaza, so we'll just have to see what happens here.

UPDATE 1 April 2025: Changed the closing date to May 2025 from April 2025 based on the comments.

I'm not sure exactly when this smoke shop closed. Street View for November of 2023 shows the sign still up, but the place did not appear to be open. I will go with "Early 2024". I am pretty sure the chain remains in business with a shop on Saluda, at least.

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I believe it is safe to borrow commenter Larry's phrase

Well the renovations are extensive

for this Knox Abbot Drive Zaxby's.

This also appears to have entailed knocking down the Sprint building at some point.

This was probably inevitable given the chain's ongoing bankruptcy, but still it's sad to see a decades long area staple go. The ax came down rather quickly here, as CNN reported the latest closing list today, and by the time they had published, this location was already shuttered.

The State has a bit more.

(Hat tips to commenters Tom & Larry)

This Schlotzsky's looks less "closed" than the Dutch Square location, especially given that they still have their parking lot placards out, but still, given what happened there, I would be surprised to see it open again.

(Hat tip to commenter BrianTR)

As I was driving up from Henry's the other week, I passed this building, which has featured here before as Mote's Store, Frink Street Tavern & Frink Street Pub, and noticed that it looked to have been set up as a distillery, and to now be vacant.

A little googling established that it was Southern Essence Distilling, established in 2018 & operating alongside an art studio, and that during the pandemic, they stepped up with a hand sanitizer production and donation operation. You can read about that here on WLTX. I'm unclear if they were able to re-open for normal business after the pandemic, and I don't see any articles on that, or on the place closing.

One notable feature of the place (now gone) was apparently a large wire sculpture of a Star Wars Imperial Walker. You can see a picture of that here and watch a story about it here.

Here is an archived copy of their web page.

Henry's (part of a local chain) sat at the corner of State & Frink streets in Cayce, in the building which hosted a number of former restaurants, including B & B Corner Bar & Grill and 2108 Bar & Grill.

According to stories in The State & Coladaily & on WLTX, the state's liquor liability insurance regulations were a big factor in the closure. However commenter Tom points to this WIS article which may point to specific reasons their insurance might be in question.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

At one time Tandy Leather was under the same coporate umbrella as the now defunct Radio Shack, but that's all water under the bridge now. Apparently the current regime dates from 1999, and I don't see any news about them being in trouble, but nonetheless this store has closed, and apparently the next nearest is 100 miles away.