Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Stronghold Gym took over in the Woodhill outparcel which used to be Hampton Hill Athletic Club sometime late in 2016.

On my last visit to Jimmy Johns, I noticed that they were no longer there, and the space had been taken over by an expansion of Life Storage.

It turns out they have moved to Trenholm Road, into the former location of The Cat Clinic (which itself moved in 2018).

The building, below, sat, partially converted, for so long, that I had started to thing plans for a gym there had fallen through due to the pandemic (and I suspect that *was* a factor in the delay), but, as you can see on their site, the move was completed on 16 August, and the facility is now open.

I go to this Groucho's fairly frequently for the BLT (which has a whole lot of B), and like to sit out on the patio, weather permitting.

I hadn't been in a month or so, and noticed no cars and a sign on the door as I was driving by the other day. My takeaway is that they are remodeling, though I would have said the place was in reasonably good shape, with comfortable booths. (Not at all fancy, but servicable and about what I expected from a Groucho's.)

The sign and web site are a bit vague about exactly what is happening, and how long it will take, and I'm not sure what's up with all those books, which I don't think were there before, but hopefully they will be back soon.

I remember growing up, when this store was White's, the book department at the top of the escalator was one of my favorite places to browse as they would usually have a selection of Tom Swift, Jr books as well as random other interesting tomes. The escalator itself was cool because it was so narrow that you could grab each handrail and hoist yourself off your feet while you made the trip, all the while listening to the floor-caller making coded announcements like Five Nine, Five Nine!.

When they knocked the original Richland Mall down, they skipped this building, and it stayed on as White's until the chain went under, or was bought out -- I forget which.

After that, it became Belk, but honestly, this store has been getting ready to close for the past five years or so. It seemed as though every time I went inside, the place had been more hollowed out and threadbare. It started most notably on the second floor, especially after the doors to the far side of the mall were permanently closed and gradually continued up there until finally the escalator was shut down and the whole floor closed off. This is basically the path the Dutch Square store walked down. I can still recall how spooky it was to go up to the men's room there after the rest of the floor had been vacated.

Ahthough I haven't been in since the closing was announced, things were looking pretty sparse on the ground floor as well, the last time I went by. I'll try to get some inside pictures at some point during the process.

Here are stories on the closing from The State, WLTX, and The Post & Courier.

(Hat tip to Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 6 September 2023: Commenter Andrew notes that the place closed today, so I am updating the post title to note that.

It looks like there are some issues, dating to May at this Forest Drive diet center. Since the posted date has passed, and the office is still there, things may be in the process of resolution, but for now at least they remain closed, and google has marked it as permanent.

I noticed that a gym has moved into the corner space at The Shoppes At 4600 and realized I never did a closing for the previous storefront Consign It!. If I have a picture of Consign It! I can't locate it right now, but you can see the marquee on there Facebook page here.

According to this State story, they closed shop here on 1 October 2021, and according, again, to their Facebook, opened a booth at Red Lion on Hampton Street not too long after that, though I'm not sure if they are still there as there.

I believe that Arena Athletic Club is the first tenant in this slot since Consign It! left.

One of the very early closings I did on this site way back in January of 2008 was for this location of Tuesday Morning when it closed in Trenholm Plaza. At the time I called the store concept Big Lots by Martha Stewart, and I stand by that. After they left the Trenholm Plaza location, they did not come back immediately, but when La-Z-Boy closed in 2009, they moved into the current building.

Commenter Andrew sends this CNN link indicating that the whole chain is closing down after a second descent into bankruptcy. The article traces the immediate problem back to lost traction during the closings of 2020, but also indicates that the chain had no Internet strategy.

The final sale has started at his location, and has been going on at least a week, so if you want a bargain, you'd best not wait much longer; their Facebook says everything is 40% off.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

Forest Lake Place is the street which connects Trenholm Road with Lakeshore Drive, running behind the Forest Lake Shopping Center, the former Forest Lake Park, Cava, and Tuesday Morning, and in front of Forest Lake Gardens. Over the years, it has been an open question if the road, in fact, goes all the way to Trenholm, or at some point was mearly the parking lot for the shopping center. It mattered because if it was part of the parking lot, the city didn't have to repair it, and in fact, that stretch got pretty dire over the years.

The bridge spanned Gills Creek, and would surely have been underwater for a while during the Great Flood of 2015, and it was closed for a while in the aftermath of that. In more recent years there had been concern about its integrity with another closure at one point, and an ongoing load restriction. In December of 2022, the span was knocked down, and is currently being rebuilt (with a footbridge for workers the only crossing there now). Along with this, the city is building an ampitheatre & park in the low-lying area on the Cava side of the bridge, and it appears work on that has started as well.

For the duration, don't expect to be able to get to Cava or the other businesses from Trenholm.

This is a shame as this Baskin-Robbins was my go-to for milkshakes & ice cream. Not that I went that often, but it was pleasant on a summer night to get something cold and hang around in the warm evening outside for a while.

I believe this closing leaves Forest Acres without an ice-cream parlor for the first time in my life. There is still Zesto for a chocolate-dip, but as much as I like soft-serve now and then, it's not really the same thing.

I'm not sure what's up with the construction, but apparently someone jumped the gun a bit.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Ivy & Leo in Trenholm Plaza is moving leftwards a few suites into the slot formerly occupied by Simply Mac. This lateral move will let Publix expand their store into the vacated adjacent space. This has long needed doing, as that Publix was crammed into a former A&P slot, and is much smaller than their typical store. I like Publix in general, but have always felt cramped when I shop this one.

The Post & Courier has the story here.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Update 20 July 2023 -- This storefront is now gone:

This Burnette's moved from its longtime Trenholm Road home a few years ago, and now this location has closed as well as the whole chain shuts down.

The announcement was on their Facebook page without a specific reason given other than "the time has come", but I have to think big changes over the years in the way we dress and wash have to be a factor. Burnette's had been in business since 1964, so a 58 year run is pretty good!

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)