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.

While the restaurant proper was apparently not harmed, a major fire on Saturday night 26 October took down the offices, pits & distribution center for this longtime Midlands barbecue staple, forcing the chain to close at least on a temporary basis. According to the video links provided by commenters Logan, Dustin & Andrew, the cause of the fire is still unknown.

I have only eaten at Piggie Park once, but I thought it was pretty good, and figured I would be back some day. Hopefully that will still happen. The place has had a somewhat controversial history with the founder's politics being out of step with the modern South, but his heirs looked to have worked past that, and while various locations have featured here from time to time the chain has remained a local constant.

The pictures above were taken on 25 March 2012, well before the fire. You can see the news reports of the blaze here, here & here.

(Hat tip to commenter Logan)

Perry's Gourmet Flaming Grilled Chicken (there's a mouthfull by itself!) opened in this former Taco Cid building in on 29 August of 2022. WLTX had the story here.

Apparently the chicken was Portuguese style, which I am not familiar with, but they had traditional Southern items as well. The Google reviews are almost uniformly positive, though there are not a ton of them, which may be an indication they weren't getting the volume they needed.

And of course, the building is odd and old, something Taco Cid finally gave up on, so there may well be a lot of issues to be addressed as indicated in the Closed For Remodeling sign. Unfortunately I don't see any work going on, and those signs are often more aspirational than accurate. Hopefully that won't be the case here and they will be back, but we'll see.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

Koffee Koala was the follow-on in this Cayce Crossing suite to another animal themed coffee bar The Lazy LLama, which closed in 2021.

According to their Facebook, while 3 February was their last day as a storefront after being unable to renegotiate the lease, they continue doing a delivery business through their website.

(Hat tip to commenter Robin)

I never ate at La Fiesta, though I did eat in the building when it was a Shoney's. It had been here for many years however, before closing on a temporary basis in the Spring of 2022. They came back after that, but have now called it a day.

Here is their Facebook, which pretty much recapitulates the information on the door sign.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

This CVS was a fairly short & straight shot away from the one across the street from Parkland Plaza, which may have been a factor in the decision to shut it down. It also can't have helped that it is across the street from a new Wal-Mart Neighboorhod Market with a drive-through pharmacy.

(Hat tips to commenters Brandon Brown & Russ)

For some reason I thought I had done this Cash-O-Matic just down from the Triangle City Zesto some time ago. In the event it appears not, though I did get to the ones on Broad River Road and Sunset Drive. As nearly as I can tell, this one closed down sometime around 2015.

I admit I still like the name.

Like many of the old buildings with a faux stone exterior, this location on Knox Abbott Drive was once a Popeye's restaurant. However since at least 2009, and probably well before, it was the location for Vacuum Center.

Recently they moved shop to 1306 Charleston Highway, a building which was also a restaurant: Chappy's Fish & Chips:

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)