Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This Lawyer Lisa office, in the former N-Graphix building has moved, or consolidated to Sunset Boulevard. Commenter Larry speculates that the location may be caught up in the Carolina Crossroads I-26 project the same as a number of properties on both sides of the highway.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

Last time I drove down Fernandina Road, I realized I missed seeing the colorful mosiacs on this building at 3202. Doing a little research shows that local design shop N-Graphix moved down the road to 4046 Fernandina Rd, Suite F sometime after mid-2015.

I wish Lawyer Lisa well, but will miss the distinctive look of the building.

UPDATE 12 March 2020 -- I found some better pictures. Also adding the map icon I forgot:

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I was looking for some spicy peanuts for an upcoming gathering, and decided to stop by The Peanut Man at Sandhill. In the event, I found it gone.

A little digging established that they have closed their Sandhill and downtown stores, and have consolidated into a new space on Fernandina Road, in the old Prestige Appliance location. In fact, I had seen the banner for Chocolate Factory & Coffee Shoppe from the Interstate, but I did not realize it was The Peanut Man. The new spot is a restaurant as well as a sweet & nut shop, serving a breakfast & lunch menu:

Here is a State article on starting the new location, and here is one about closing the downtown location to focus on this spot.

Well, a number of people have mentioned this place recently, and for that matter going back a good while, but for some reason, I just recently got around to visiting. It's quite a large and interesting property that is currently going to pot. I see from the real estate sign and LoopNet listing that it *is* on the market, but for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to be moving. Maybe $2,000,000 is just too much, though as I said it is a big property.

As nearly as I can tell based on this Facebook page, Hampton closed at some point between December 2013 and February 2014. In fact, we can corroborate with the Internet Wayback Machine, noting that the Hampton web site was up on 24 December 2013 and gone by 22 February 2014. (As an aside, it seems that phonebooks are less and less help for this sort of thing lately. For some reason the current Feb 2017 phonebook still has an active listing for Hampton..)

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I blogged the relocation of Prestige Appliance from Sunset Boulevard to Fernandina Road in November 2014 when they moved into the former Fireplace Center.

Around the same time, they were building and opening a new store in Augusta. I'm guessing that they tried to do too much at the same time and got overextended. At any rate, as reported in The Augusta Chronicle, they declared Chapter 7 (simple liquidation) bamkruptcy on 7 September 2017.

I say "simple" liquidation, but apparently it is actually a bit more complicated than that since as you can see here, the merchandise and fleet are still intact at this location.

(Hat tip to commenter John)

UPDATE 15 January 2018 -- Drove by on 13 Jan 2018, and they were having a liquidation:

UPDATE 9 July 2018 -- Not a great picture (shot from I-26), but now Chocolate Factory & Coffee Shoppe:

There was a lot of back and forth in the comments about this move, but I believe commenter James R was the first to mention that Prestige Appliance on Sunset Boulevard was gone.

In fact though it was a move, not a closing, and they have set up business at 3905 Fernandina Road in the old Fireplace Center / Southeastern Stone building:

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

It's almost September -- got your spook on yet?

The last phonebook entry I have for Carolina Pools, Spas & Billiards (there are several different permutations of the name online) is the February 2005 phonebook. I don't have the Feb 2006 book, but it is definitely gone by the 2007 book, so I am going with a 2005 closing date. This little strip mall on Fernandina Road is now mostly known for Green's beverages, but I believe it was at one time anchored by a grocery in that spot. This unit is to the left of that, and as you can see here, is now a hot-spot for all you Halloween zombies, ghosts, ghouls, and naughty nurses.

I have to admit I didn't know there was such a thing as The National Fireplace Institute -- it seems, at least, that all the classrooms should be warm and toasty. At any rate they certified Southeastern Stone,the former tenant of this handsome masonry building on Fernandina Road near the I-26 & Piney Grove interchange. There are some nice pictures on their still extant website as well.

I'm not sure what is going on with the building. It is up for sale, but there is some sort of landscaping work already going on.

The original Columbia Hooters was on Broad River Road near to Dutch Square and Intersection Center. Keeping abreast of trends, the chain relocated from the distressed Broad River area to Harbison, and moved into the site of the former Hops brewpub at 5195 Fernandina Road. (Curiously, when Columbia got a second Hooters it also set up shop in a former Hops, this one on Two Notch Road).

After Hooters moved, the Broad River Road building (which was not built as a Hooters, but some other restaurant I can't recall right now) was knocked down, and rebuilt as a Taco Bell which itself was a relocation for the original Broad River Road store.

Also, as an aside, I just learned today that Hooters is part of a whole market segment, the name of which I just have to stop and admire: Breastaurants.