Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I'm pretty sure this location was one of the ones that closed during the chain's bankruptcy, though I did not get around to visiting it then, and then came back after the sale of some stores to Variety Wholesalers, but now they are closing again. A local Facebook post says that the building owners went up on the lease prompting this, but I'm not sure if that was speculation or well-founded. At any rate google reviews indicate that the place is mostly stripped, but that there are deep discounts on anything remaining. Given that report, I am using a September 2026 closing date though the end is not quite yet.

This building is a former Winn-Dixie, and you can see a picture of the original Big Lots incarnation at that post.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

Dollar Tree moved in here sometime in 2011, a year or two after Eckerd's closed shop.

It's a decent enough location, with stop-light access to Saint Andrews Road & Broad River Road, but the area has struggled in recent years, and the catty-cornered CVS closed last year.

It's a good sized building and still looks to be in reasonable shape, but I don't have high hopes for a new tenant. Perhaps a gym?

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

This Dollar General at the corner of Taylor & Barnwell streets had actually closed once before, on a temporary basis. In September of 2023, they apparently experienced severe staffing issues, and the store was closed for a number of days. After working through that, they are now caught up in the chain's downsizing as it sheds a number of, largely urban, stores. The Post & Courier has the story.

According to that article, the store will be open until 25 April, but it was already looking pretty picked over when I stopped by on the night of 20 March, more than a month out.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

This Big Lots has had the closing sale going on since December, so I'm just guessing at the final closing date here, but I did go inside last weeken, and they are pretty much down to the walls. All the merchandise has been moved to the front rows with the back of the store completely empty, and even the restrooms closed down.

Where Ya Bin took over from a similarly themed store, Crazy Cazboys in the fall of 2022.

They have now shuttered this storefront, and are in the process of moving to 817 Saint Andrews Road, which would be the old Kroger plaza. You can read about the move on their Facebook. Currently they expect to open sometime this month (March 2024).

(Hat tip to a commenter Matt)

I was going down to the Greek Festival last weekend, and noticed this Dollar General (in a former Eckerd) on the corner of Taylor & Barnwell streets. was closed.

The sign doesn't give any reason, but assures us that it is temporary. If I had to guess, I would say staffing issues, but of course I don't know.

Tuesday Morning had a bad time during the Covid crisis and entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May of 2020. After coming out, they continued to do poorly and refiled on 14 February 2023. As of today (2 March 2023), their bid to get refinancing from Invictus has failed and they are in talks with Gordon Brothers Group, and I take it from the linked article, are still planning to come out of Chapter 11, although Gordon Brothers have "liquidators" in the description given of them.

At any rate, they are closing around half of all their stores, and this one is part of that group. The closing sale has started, so get there soon.

UPDATE 15 June 2023 -- Gone:

(Hat tip to commenter Todd Miller)

I was unaware of this bin based discount operation in East Forest Plaza until commenter Kody mentioned that it was gone. According to The Free Times they closed due to the high cost of fuel as shipping was eating into their small margins. I suspect there may have been more to it than that, but at any rate, they shut down at the start of June.

Interestingly, the same guy who started this chain started the Zoe's Kitchen chain.

(Hat tip to commenter Kody)

UPDATE 26 September 2022 -- Now the conceptually similiar Where Ya Bin:

As you can see in the first picture above, barely, and only if you click-through, the closing of PIggly Wiggly and the opening of Roses in that space left Edens Plaza with two discount stores literally right next to each other. In the event, it looks like Dolar General has decided the situation wasn't tenable and closed shop. Of course, this also aligns with their current strategy of moving away from strip-mall stores to stand-alone locations, so I wouldn't be surprised if that were a factor as well.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

Well, the story here is the same as for the the Lexington Kmart: It's a Kmart. It's closing.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to go inside, and I was shooting against the sun for the exterior shots, but it looks pretty much as you would expect.

There have been a good number of closures in this general area in the past few years. All of Ryans, Rite Aid, Taco Cid, and Toyota Center come to mind. On the other hand, there is a new plaza around the Walmart at the top of Knox Abbott, so there is some new growth.

(I continue to be confused by the boundries between West Columbia & Cayce. I would have guessed this location to be Cayce, but it seems not.)

(Hat tip to lots of folks)

UPDATE 22 April 2020 -- Commenter Mr. Bill sent in these interiors from the Kmart a while ago, and I managed to misplace them. Here they are now: