Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

According to commenter Mr. Hat, Lita's Treats dessert bakery, in what's left of the food court at Dutch Square is moving to 800 Lake Murray Boulevard. This is the old Piggly Wiggly shopping center, now home to Stars & Strikes. Interestingly (or not) there was previously a cupcake bakery in that complex.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 22 June 2021 -- Here is the new location:

There seems to be some self-caused confusion about the name of this place, as the outside sign brands it Best China Buffet while the inside one goes with Super China Buffet. The last Yelp review is from late 2018, so I'm going to guess they closed in 2019. To be honest, the reviews suggest it was probably inevitable. There seems to be one food operation still in the Dutch Square food court, but it's a far cry from the days of Annabelle's, Morrison's, Chick-Fil-A and Cromers (not to mention lunch counters in Woolworths and Eckerds).

As I drove past Dutch Square the other day, I noticed that the Goodyear location across from the cinema side of the mall had changed to a Tire Choice. Looking at pictuers on google, I see that as late as April 2018 it was still Goodyear, so it changed sometime after that.

I believe that closest I came to using this place as a Goodyear was once when I needed a headlight replaced (sealed beam) and they couldn't fit me in to the remaining time of the day. I think I ended up going to Pep Boys on Broad River and getting it done.

After the Dutch Square Theatre closed and the building was razed, Ruby Tuesday built a new store on this site, and ran it until last month. Ruby Tuesday has been having problems and closing locations in recent years in part because the restaurant has no strong identity. You go to Ruby Tuesday for what, exactly? For me it's the salad bar, but if that's not your thing, then its hard to say why you would -- Which is not to say there's anything wrong with the food.

Anyway, this store probably would have held on for a while, perhaps indefinitely, but with the temporary closure for COVID-19 and no money coming in, I guess the balance just tipped the wrong way.

(Hat tip to commenter Homer, et al)

“Our business is doing extremely well, so it’s a funny time to be getting out of the business,” Sanderson says. “I’m starting to work on my 80th birthday and it’s beyond retirement time.”

I suppose I'll be featuring all the former Sandy's locations here before too long. This is one I actually ate at at least once, and probably a few more times after shopping expeditions to Dutch Square. This store is part of the row of restaurants and other businesses that fronts on Broad River Road and backs on (or has access to) Diamond Lane in the former Intersection Center. I see now that (presumably) the church which bought all the back property has put gates cutting off through access to Diamond Lane, which I can understand -- it was kind of an odd setup.

The State has more details on Sandy's history and closing.

UPDATE 4 February 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, this building is to become Asian Express:

UPDATE 24 June 2021 -- The Asian Express appears poised to open:

Read the rest of this entry »

As far as I can tell, Accessible Mobility Center was a Concord NC based chain for selling wheelchair accessible vans, and lately as the sign notes, mobility scooters. They were bought out earlier this year by Akron based MobilityWorks and the storefront for the combined company is now at 3624 Fernandina Road.

It remains to be seen what is next for this Dutch Square area storefront.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I noticed this empty storefront recently when I turned into the parking lot here to fiddle with the stereo.

Distinguished Gentlemen was the follow-on operation to Baskin Robbins in this outside-access-only Dutch Square storefront. I believe they were setting up shop here in 2011 when I made that post. Now, if I am drawing the right conclusions from what google is telling me, they have moved to the church complex in the old Intersection Center as Frontliners at 118 Diamond Lane, Suite 17C.

The first picture amuses me a bit when I see how small the Planet Fitness sign is compared to the behemoth Belk's building they moved into.

As reported in The State as the plan was announced, West Marine, has moved from Dutch Square to Columbiana Station.

I have not yet gotten a picture of the new location, but here is the company announcement of the opening and ribbon cutting at the new store on 19 March 2018.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew, I believe)

Furniture stores are generally kind of invisible to be, so I'm not sure exactly how long Havertys has been across from Dutch Square, but cerainly for decades. Now, like everything else, it is moving to Harbison.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 21 March 2018 -- The Harbision location is now open: