Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Locker Room was the follow-up operation in this suite to Corma's Nutritional Supplements & More, which closed in 2015. With both Locker Room and Ed Robinson now recently gone, the building is completely vacant, and I have to wonder if it is long for the world. The building was clearly built as an old-school service station, and I have to think that property on this stretch of Forest Drive leading to the Interstate interchange is too valuable now to leave something like this taking up a lot. (Though I personally like the canopy look).

I'm forgetting what this place used to be called, but it has only been One Main for a few years. At one point, they apparently had my P.O. Box, and I still get important looking mail for them 15 years later..

They left the Forest Park shopping center (if it indeed is still called that) a month or so ago, and have moved into the old VK Nails location across from Richland Mall.

Hmm. When I saw the signs being changed out at this NBSC driving by Trenholm Plaza today, I assumed that the bank had been bought out recently and I just had not heard of it (I don't bank there, so in general, I wouldn't).

As it actually turns out, according to Wikipedia, NBSC has always been a local nameplate for Synovus (nee: Columbus Bank and Trust Company), which operated under different names in different states and

In early 2010, Synovus consolidated their thirty separate state charters into one Georgia state banking charter and is transitioning to operate as a more centralized single bank.

I guess they are doing South Carolina now.

UPDATE 21 June 2018 -- Check the comments for some details, but apparently the Wikipedia info about is, at best, imcomplete. NBSC was apparently originally a local bank and not part of Synovus until (historically speaking) recently.

My memory is a big vague, but I believe this restaurant (in the former Redbone Alley/Corky's building) actually started out as a San Jose, but that was causing some heartburn at the old Forest Drive San Jose which is now Pasta Fresca, so it was reflagged as Pancho's while still being in the San Jose family.

For whatever reason, that was undone on 7 March, and it is now officially a San Jose again (though some of the signs have yet to be changed).

My sister mentioned that she had heard this place was closing, so I was able to get some interior shots in advance of that last week. I wish I had gotten the hot sauce bar, which was an impressive array of pumps.

Initially, I wasn't quite sure what to make of Tijuana Flats (and kept thinking it was Tortilla Flats for some reason..). It wasn't like a Moe's or Qdoba building hand-held burritos, and it wasn't really a sit-down Mexican restaurant, but somewhere in between the two. I finally figured it out though, and liked the place pretty well. In the summer, the front sidewalk was generally in the shade by the time I would get there, and it was nice to eat outside. In the winter, I liked to go the the back of the store and sit in the sunshine coming through the back windows. My only real criticisms are that I thought they needed a drink stand so you didn't have to go begging for refills (which they were happy to provide, but it's a quirk of mine) and I thought they should go with the sit-down Mexican restaurant concept of free salsa with the chips.

I'm pretty sure this is the first closing for the fairly new Jackson Square strip mall, though of course the whole former strip mall on the site was closed and razed years ago. The Tijuana Flats Lexington location remains open.

(Hat tip to my sister)

I noticed the other day that the Forest Acres location of Ed Robinson is gone. They were sidelined by the great flood but did come back after that (though the co-located Corma's did not).

I'm not exactly sure when this happened, I think I would have noticed sooner had it been too long ago. At any rate, google maps has them open as of March 2017, with a nicer picture than mine here.

I'm guessing from the extended canopy and islands that this building was originally a gas station. Does anyone know what kind?

UPDATE 12 July 2018 -- Added the door sign to the pictures above.

Apparently a grease fire which got way out of hand.

UPDATE 17 February 2018 -- Apparently still in the process of getting the premits straight and getting to work:

Well, here's the latest McDonald's to undergo the chain's current style makeover. This one is at East Forest Plaza, the Wal-Mart anchored strip at the Forest Drive/I-77 interchange.

In general these upgrades have been going pretty quickly, so I don't expect them to be shut for long.

I do have to say that I have found this store to be hard to get in and out of from Forest Drive. I've gotten coffee there a few times, but have kind of crossed it off my list.

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I noticed last weekend that there no cars at this 24-Hour fitness center at Four J's Plaza, and decided to take a closer look. It turns out that the center in fact had three of the four units at the plaza (an Allstate office has the other), and all are now for lease though the equipment is not yet gone.

As you can see here, the rightmost unit was originally Ela's European Market & Deli, with a Sprint and quick cash stores to the left. (The insurance office was already there then)

I noticed the other day as I made my coffee run that this H. Rubin Vision Center at the corner of Forest & Gamewell Drives is relocating, or maybe consolidating with the Garners Ferry location. I believe they, along with Brueggers were original tenants in this small strip. The middle unit, on the other hand, has turned over several times since the place was built.

UPDATE 17 April 2018 -- It's to be a Marco's Pizza:

UPDATE 13 July 2018 -- Marco's is open: