Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Virginia College was the follow-on operation in this Columbia Mall outparcel to Toys-R-Us. As you can see in that post, the college did some major work on the building before opening in 2010.

The whole chain ran into trouble in 2016 when the Federal Department of Education withdrew recognition of its accrediting body. (As I recall the feds were in a bit of a snit about for-profit schools in general at the time). They tried & failed to find another body that would accredit them, leading, as far as I can tell from the Wikipedia article, to the whole chain shutting down in 2018.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I read recently that Richland County had totally dropped the ball on redevelopment of Columbia Mall, and had no idea what they were going to do, despite already buying all the anchor locations. Certainly on a brief partial walk through last Sunday, many shops were shut during regular mall hours, and the number of vacant spaces continues to grow. Stocking even looked a bit sparse in Macy's.

When I visited the food court, it appeared to me that only one vendor, Cynthia's Soul Food, was actually open at the time, though I think at least two other storefronts looked to still be populated and would probably be open on weekdays. I don't know anything about Sarku Japan, but google suggests that there is still one at Columbiana Mall.

I think the King Pizza sign can come down now..

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

Well, I could be wrong, but it appears to me that despite the banner Submarine Crab, the follow-on in the old Pho Viet, Zesto, Burger King location on Decker is gone. I have driven by there a number of times in the past week or two, and have never seen the place open, so I suspect they have succumbed to the COVID-19 curse, though I suppose the current over-crabbing of Columbia didn't help.

UPDATE 26 August 2020 -- It's official now, the banners are gone, and there's a realty sign:

UPDATE 28 February 2024 -- It's setting up to be a Mexican restaurant. The name is a bit fuzzy, but looks like Metlaltepec:

Catherine's dates back to at least 1960 and started in Memphis in 1960 when Catherine Weaver sold her Catherine's Stout Shop to Ralph Levy..

I remember the name Catherine's Stout Shop, so I suspect they must have operated under that label in Columbia when I was growing up. Along the way it seems there were a lot of buyouts and mergers, and the chain, now more gently named, is part of the Ascena Retail Group along with Lane Bryant & Ann Taylor. The group is now apparently considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. If they go that route, they are considering selling off Catherine's and two other labels.

As far as I can tell though, the closing of this particular store, on an outparcel in the Very's strip mall, had nothing to do with COVID, as they had time to adverise and hold a 40% off sale around February of 2020.

Footaction was on the lower level of Columbia Mall at the foot of the winding staircase, underneath the old Lowery Organs location, across from the former Radio Shack and adjacent to the former JC Penny.

According to their door sign, Footaction had initially closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, but rolled that into a permanent closure at some point, and they have already stripped the store. As reported by commenter Rashaad, the other Footlocker brands have also left the mall, and will probably feature here in due course.

As an aside, social distancing is not an issue at Columbia Mall:

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)

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.

Back in the day:

I did a closing for this building when I referenced that it had at one time been Andy's Deli. I ate there once that I can recall, and while it was OK, it was never going to be one of my regular stops. The current owner is not "Albert", but Adrianne Davidson, and according to this ColaDaily article, she has decided to sell the building and concentrate on catering from the 1901 Main Street location, which I was not aware of.

(Hat tip to commenter Homer)

Well, Victoria's Secret has sashayed out of Columbia Mall. Interestingly (or not) theirs is the second store-locator website I have visited lately that is very parsimonious about listing stores (though it is inspiring in other ways). At any rate, locally there are remaining stores at Sandhill and Columbiana.

I find the mall self-promotional poster interesting in that not only did they not take it down when Victoria's left, but in that it still touts Charlotte Russe, which has been gone for about a year now. I have not seen anything about the County plan for the property lately. It seems like whatever they are going to do, they should start it soon.

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad Egister)

I don't know anything about The Roc other than that it is across from Columbia Mall, has not been open that I can remember, and hosted poetry open-mike nights in 2014.

Presumably there were reggae acts there, but if so, they don't seem to have left any google traces.

UPDATE 7 February 2020: Added Robbie's Pool Hall to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 17 September 2021 -- Here are some more pictures of the property: