Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This one has been mooted about in Have Your Say for a couple of days now, but Circle K on Bethel Church Road closed today.

This store was once a Kangaroo Express and went to Circle K a few years ago when Kangaroo was bought out. The building is smaller than the new Circle K concept you see in recent construction like Forest Drive & Harbison, plus another convenience store recently opened across the street in the old Ravenwood Pharmacy, neither of which can have helped.

The gas prices were not particularly low here, but I enjoyed the fact that if I filled up here, I didn't have to go out on Forest Drive or elsewhere out of the neighboorhood. I also generally found the ladies at the counter here to be very friendly, and the new coffee machines (as at all CKs) made a quite decent cup.

(Hat tip to commenter Matthew)

UPDATE 12 November 2020: Adding The Pantry & Kangaroo Express to the post title.

UPDATE 18 November 2020 -- As mentioned in the comments, the gas tanks have been excavated as seen in these 17 November pix:

UPDATE 29 March 2023: Updating tags.

I've featured this little walk-up restaurant on Two Notch at Covenant under, I believe, four different names in two different posts.

Apparently the last incarnation was The Picnic Table.

Judging from the new lettering on the marquee, it was apparently trying to become an ABC store, but ran, at least for now, into a zoning snag of some sort.

Here's another abandoned branch bank, this one at Midlands Shopping Center which, as far as I know, is still for sale.

The real estate listing says it's a 2240 square foot building on a 1.46 acre lot, which is bigger than I would have guessed. They also say:

The site has high visibility as 18,400 vehicles per day pass the site.

which is undoubtedly true, but leaves out the fact that *stopping* at the site is another matter entirely.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 20 October 2022: Updating tags & adding map icon.

It looks like this old gas station at the corner of Two Notch and Germany Street is vacant again.
T T & B was the follow-on operation to Auto Selection, which was the follow-on to K & C Radiator Center, so the car theme has been pretty consistent.

This small urban clothing botique is in the storefront that was the final location for Forest Lake TV. It's listed in the February 2015-2016 phonebook(*), and I think I would have noticed it being vacant for many months as I drive by there several times a week, so I'm going to peg the closing as "late 2015".

(*) For some reason I still have not received a February 2016-2017 phonebook..

I've written about this little walkup in the Lil' Cricket outparcel at the corner of Two Notch & Covenant before here.

Since then, it has gone through two more incarnations, one as Wright's Eatery (first two pix) and most recently as K-Wayzz Corner Grill (last two pix). I don't really have an opinion about K-Wayzz, but I enjoy the use of Eatery for Wright's. It brings to mind old Fleischer Popeye cartoons, and the whole diner era.

UPDATE 23 November 2015 -- That was quick! Open again:

UPDATE 1 June 2018 -- Closed again, and for sale:

Hopefully I can add some commentary tomorrow, but for now I just want to get these pictures out there.

UPDATE 16 October 2015: Ok, I was under the weather for a few days, but let me add a little text here now.

First, I am happy to say that even as these pictures were taken, on Sunday 11 October 2015, recovery work was in full stride. All the flooded and gutted buildings on Forest Drive had evidence that of ongoing work and cleanup, and I noticed today (15 October 2015) that the Garden Center in Forest Lake Shopping Center was once again stocked and open for business.

Read the rest of this entry »

Auto Selection was the follow-up operation to K & C Radiator Center in this old gas station building on Two Notch at Covenant, and I believe it lasted about a year.

I have to say I liked the building better in white. I do like the curved facade on the roof, and would like to see the building restored as the sister building on Devine has been.