Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Bridal boutique London and Lace was the follow-on operation in this building to Kicks Shoes, and opened in the fall of 2014.

The announced on their Facebook in February 2020 that they were relocating to Ashville North Carolina. Apparently they got into full operation just as the Covid mess struck, but they seem to be coping with it now and are once again open.

I have been going through some old pictures the last several days, and ran across this set, which I had staged for uploading back in 2015. I'm not sure if I actually did do a post, and it was lost in the database crash of a few years ago, or if I just dropped the ball for some reason. (I certainly can no longer say I remember each and every post!).

Anyway, Jordan's Modern Bride & Groom was located in The Shops of O'Neil Court. After closing this store, it appears they moved to Spring Valley Commons and then decided to take the store online in 2016.

I never did a closing for Zale's Jewelers, but it was a long time occupant of this second level storefront, just out of Macy's going left. After that, it was Jimmy Jazz for a while, as you can barely see in the second picture above. Most recently, it was an airbrush shop for tee-shirt customization. Judging by the google reviews, they did a good job, but were gone by sometime in the late summer of 2019. I'm not entirely sure, but it looks as though they may still have a location elsewhere in the area.

Here's another Fashion Place closing. I don't know anthing about Avenue other than that they sold women's clothes. Perhaps Ross coming to the old Staples location across the plaza was a factor here.

This place caught my eyes many years ago for an odd reason: The name Impress.

As it happens, I worked for many years with a brand of laser printer called Imagen (since bought out by QMS). We had many of these printers from a former contract, and used to deploy them on new contracts wherever a laser printer was wanted. Unfortunately, the printers did not support HP PCL or Adobe PostScript, they only supported their own proprietary page description language called.. IMPRESS, which very little software supported. In practice, we mostly had to use them in daisy-wheel printer emulation mode.

None of which has anything to do with this store, of course. As I said, it has been here for quite a while and is now running a final clearance sale, so if you need some prom formal wear, or a bridesmaid dress, now might be the time to go looking.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

After I did a closing for Moe Levy's on Assembly back in 2014, I somehow failed to notice that the store had restarted on Laurel Street after some time off. The State has that story here.

Recently they called it quits for good, and The State has that story as well. Ninety-nine years is certainly a good run!

Traffic was slower at the new, tucked away, location, and retail is certainly a different creature than it was in 1920, but then again recent events show that huge chains don't know what to make of it either.

I was not really aware of this little place on Forest Drive, behind The Happy Cafe and in-between Tombo Grille and The Village Idiot. What I can tell from its google reviews is that it sold clothes and shoes. I believe it had the same suite as the former Tag It Art

UPDATE 12 May 2021 -- This is to become Flour Power a kids' party cooking studio:

According to Wikipedia, which has what seems to be a reasonable summary, Charlotte Russe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 4 February 2019, in the event, no rescue was forthcoming, and the chain announced on 7 March 2019 that it would be closing all its stores.

There are two Charlotte Russe stores in the Midlands. This one at Columbia Mall and another at Columbiana Centre. The Columbia Mall store is centrally located on the upper level, in between the old Dillards and Macy's above the mall's center court.

I'm not sure what's going on with the lights dangling down in center court. I guess they could be leftover Christmas lights. At any rate, I'm sure they would be more attractive if they were lit rather than hanging there dark like that.

I did not know this, but Crazy 8 was part of Gymboree, with the second bankruptcy of that chain taking out these stores as well.

According to Wikipedia:

Crazy 8 was started in August 2007. It features lower priced clothing and is Gymboree's direct competitor for The Children's Place and Old Navy.

In the event, I guess that didn't work out too well.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

Costume store Hip-Wa-Zee in Five points is closing next month. The State has the story. Most of this block has been in flux in recent years as it is apparently going to be completely redeveloped:

The developer, California based Campus + Main, has said it plans to build a mixed use space with the possibility of retail, office and residential units. Most likely a complete rebuild of most of the 900 block is in store.

The store opened in 1999, making for an impressive twenty year run. But in the end, as with so many other stores currently, the Internet was the deciding factor:

The one change that proved hardest to deal with was the growth of internet retail. When a developer who had bought up the rest of her block on Harden Street approached her about selling, she put him off for a year while she looked for a new location. But after an extensive search and seeing the changing retail landscape, Minerd came to the hard decision that it was time to sell and close up shop.

I didn't see a final closing date in The State, or WOLO stories, but the closing sale is ongoing, and you should probably get there soon.