Columbia Closings   What’s not in Columbia anymore

Here's a bit more bad news from Richland Mall, and this in one of the most high visibility areas, just across the corridor from Barnes & Noble.

Sulley's was the follow-on operation to D's Wings after that moved out to Sparkleberry. They opened in late June or early July of 2013, so they were there for about a year.

This was another place that was on my "eventually" list, that I never got around to visiting in time. I don't know why that is, as it is fairly close to me, and when D's was there, it was a comfortable spot for a leisurely meal.

(Hat tip to commenter John)

If you look closely at the three pictures above (especially the last one), you can see China Max in operation at the (second) Richland Mall food court.

Commenter MrBO sends in the next two pictures, showing that China Max has now moved shop from the food court to Harden Street. I believe this leaves the food court completely empty, possibly leading some of the call center folks to actually try the pizza at the Barnes & Nobel cafe.

This is another in a long series of blows to the mall, which would be bad enough, but management adds to the problem by adopting an air of defeat, as in, for instance, turning off the elevator fountains and pool, retiring the Christmas singing bears and more recently, closing off the upper level entrance and walk-through for Belk's:

(Hat tip to commenter MrBO)

15 July 2014 -- added an additional picture, though it doesn't really add much value.

Commenter Dennis scooped The State in reporting that Cafe Caturra in Trenholm Plaza would be closing to reopen as a Tazza Kitchen, and in fact the place has now closed, and is in the process of being revamped with the marquee letters being taken down today. I first knew this spot as Ed Robinson cleaners, and most recently it was the location of the UPS Store before it moved across the plaza.

I don't know exactly what it was, but I never warmed to Cafe Caturra. It seemed like the kind of thing I would like, and was conveniently located, but on the few occasions I went there, I didn't find anything that really hit the spot. The menu for Tazza Kitchen has some promising items (the guacamole sounds good!), but it also seems to have a number of similarities to Rosso by the Post Office.

(Hat tip to commenter Dennis)

UPDATE 11 July 2014: Tazza Kitchen is now open as partially seen in these rather bad pictures:

Well, I see I've already done a somewhat confused post on Wristwatch Doc when they opened a workspace on Fort Jackson Boulevard, but I'm going to make this a new post anyway.

As of yesterday, they have moved from the storefront on Forest Drive in the Brueggers building and out to 534 Knox Abbott Drive in Cayce. This, of course, is the former Signs 2 Go location.

I wish them well, but it was very convenient for me to have my watch batteries changed and get new bands at the Forest Drive location.

UPDATE 28 April 2014 -- The Forest Drive storefront and message:

Well, if you've been reading Have Your Say, then you know commenter joelc scooped The State by a week on the news that Books-A-Million in Trenholm Plaza is closing.

I've spent many an hour in the Trenholm Plaza store. When I was younger, and the store was open until 11pm, I would often grab a late-night latte there as I browsed the shelves and magazine racks. In more recent years, I've found a good night's sleep more and more important, and the store has stopped opening so late anyway.

Of course in recent years, I've also done most of my reading on a Kindle and have had less and less need for an actual, physical, bookstore. I still look for comic strip collections, which work better printed, and technical books, but it often seems that given my technical needs, and humor tastes, I'm more likely to find those online as well. I'm definitely not alone in this, as evidenced by the closings of the Harbison Books-A-Million, the Harbison Barnes & Noble, The Happy Bookseller and the list goes on..

The State article suggests that rather than the chain keeping the space and re-working it as they did on Harbison, new clothing retailers will be moving in.

For all us Millionaire's Club members,

there's still Sandhill, and Lexington.

For now.

(Hat tip to commenter joelc)

UPDATE 4 March 2014 -- Here are some pix from back during the snow of the place with the Store Closing sign deployed:

14 March 2014:

16 March 2014:

29 March 2014:

UPDATE 31 March 2014: Added 14 March 2014 pix, 16 March 2014 & 29 March 2014 pix.

I just noticed yesterday that Forest Acres Pet Supply & Grooming, next door to the old Powers 60 Minute Cleaners in Ravenwood had closed. This was an independant pet accessories store which had been there a good few years (and outlasted some big box stores like Superpetz).

You can see it in operation in the background of this shot:

UPDATE 21 January 2014 -- Interesting. Commenter Bryan notes a new pet store at 4230 Bethel Church Road, and when I took a look at it, I saw that the name is different, it's Super Starr Pets, but the phone number is the same as that for Forest Acres Pet Supply. That certainly argues for some connection -- perhaps one owner is carrying on after another retired or something like that. Anyway, here it is:

It's not clear to me how a play area could be "out of order". I suspect its more like the area didn't get enough traffic to make paying to keep it clean worthwhile.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

I noticed the other night that K & M Uniforms in the bulding with Forest Lake Travel and South Carolina FCU is having a closing sale. I believe that includes St. Anthony's as well.