Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I believe this Speedway started off as a Hess many years ago and changed brands to Speedway when Marathon bought Hess's retail business around 2017. Despite not having a light, the location is pretty good with easy access from north-bound US-17, and a back connection to the Blockade cross street. However, for whatever reason, the place had not really been kept up, and when I went in there last year, it looked really dingy and threadbare. According to this Facebook thread, with the opening of the new Refuel to the south (which I agree with one poster there has an awful location), they weren't making any money, and the rent was going up. There's some speculation fast-food may be going in, but there doesn't seem to be anything official yet.

I believe this building at the southwest corner of Meeting & 9th streets has been a number of things over the years.

I'm pretty sure I recall an RV supply shop, but the last place there seems to have been a convenience store catering to smokers, drinkers and students of the games of chance.

The work permit expired in 2024, so I don't expect much to change here in the near future, and if there is a Pelican's on the lot as you might think from the sign, I did not see it.

The Pitt Stop convenience store and Shell station at the corner of Parkland Plaza has closed.

According to the Post & Courier story located by commenter Andrew, Cayce city government is telling people not to panic: It won't be more student housing.

What it will be is apparently currently unknown.

Interestingly, that news story shows the place branded as Express Lane, which doesn't show up in my online searches or Google Streetview (which shows the Pitt Stop branding).

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I noticed last weekend that the Shell convenience store in Five Points is closed. According to StreetView, it was open as recently as September of 2025, so I'm guessing it probably closed at the end of October. It hasn't been long anyway.

Never pay full price!

Commenter Badger points out this old quonset hut on Garners Ferry Road just east of the Old Garners Ferry Road fork. Regular google search doesn't bring up a lot of information about it, but we can get some old StreetView pictures to tie down two incarnations:

September 2007: A window tinting operation; I can't quite make out the name:

June 2008: I can't quite make out the name here either, but some sort of plant and/or produce stand:

August 2011: Still the same place I think, but with a better sign saying something like Produce & Plants Food Mart. If you move around a little the first word might be Mulligan's:

The plants and produce operation was gone by November 2014, and the place seems to have been vacant since then.

Discount Beer & Tobacco in the Luce strip mall on US-1 in Lexington is moving 1o 1600 West Main Street. This is several blocks East of the current location, and looks like it would be replacing perhaps Boost Mobile or Eagle Express at the corner of West Main (US-1) and Westside Drive.

This place was apparently also known as Day & Night Minimart. I thought it had been around forever, but the Google reviews suggest it was only since around Summer of 2023.

When I took these pictures, it was setting up to be a restaurant called The Flavor Spot, which may be open by now.

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)

Google Maps gives the name of this place as Pops Pops Pops, just as it is on the sign, but the Welcome To Pops sign inside suggests the official name is the more sedate (and simpler) one. It also appears they may have been a Pantry Express affiliate, though I did not see that branding displayed anywhere. At any rate, looking at Google Streetview, they have been closed since at least 2021. I find it a bit odd that the building has not been re-purposed by now, and that it is in such good shape.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I'm not sure what the issue was here, this location, at the corner of Two Notch & Alpine, seems like a reasonably good one for a gas station, and closing shop leaves all the traffic to the Pitt Stop on the opposite corner. The store does look like it is a little smaller than the current Circle K buildouts, so that could be an issue, or they just could have gotten a good offer for the property, I suppose. At any rate, this circle is squared.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 18 March 2025 -- The place has been sold, though there is no indication yet what is coming: