Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Carolina Barber Shop in Five Points is moving after being in this spot since 1937, making it about 87 years by my math, which is pretty extraordinary.

The Post & Courier reports that the property was sold in 2021, and now the owners want to make space for a restaurant. I don't see a definite date for the closing, and there is still nothing on the shop's Facebook or web site, but apparently they must be gone by sometime in July (depending on when the 90 day notice the story mentions started).

The owners want to move, but I have seen no information on a new location yet.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Crystalized Healthy Hair Experience has moved out of this storefront in Pinebelt Plaza (the Food Lion plaza), and apparently down to Midlands Shopping Center.

This block of three storefronts on Broad River Road, next to the former Tires & Beyond looks to be completely vacant now. It's interesting to take a look at Google Streetview over the years:

It appears that the A suite (on the far right) was Express Barber Beauty until sometime after August 2019.

Wonderful Grace looked to be moving into that suite around November of 2021, and was gone by September of 2022.

R & R Taxes moved into the B suite sometimes after August 2019, and was already gone by November 2021.

Moya was there in the C suite from at least August 2011 through September 2022, and has since moved down the road to 3106 Broad River Road, and is apparently still there.

I don't really have any information on this Decker Boulevard hair salon other than it seems to have been open into the spring of 2021 and got generally good reviews. I thought I might have noted previous business in this storefront, but that appears not to be the case, although several in this strip mall have featured here.

I noticed this vacant building on my most recent drive down Leesburg Road, obviously at one time it was the site of Agape Hair Salon, which google establishes has moved down the road to 1701 Leesburg Road. (Yelp puts the date as 2013).

It's tough to see anything going into this space without a major upfit. I suspect it will eventually be torn down.

I believe I first photographed this strip back in 2008 when Hollywood Video closed, and this unit was a Nationwide insurance office. Google suggests that at some point between then and now, it was
Alter Ego Hair Salon. Streetview for 2018 shows the slot already vacant, so doing a blue-sky guess (not confirmed by any phonebook) that that closed in the 2016 timeframe.

I was at Pizza Palace last weekend, and noticed that the Jolidan African Hair Braiding salon in the same plaza had closed. Given how hard COVID-19 has been on all salons & barbers, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case here.

This old-school barber shop on Taylor Street is yet another casualty of COVID-19.

It appears they tried to stick it out, but in the end could not make it through the lockdown period.

(Hat tip to commenter Frank Mancuso)

UPDATE 3 September 2020: Commenter John R mentions that this storefront used to be a Krispy Kreme, so I have added that to the post title. I knew there was one somewhere around here. It used to be that when my aunt would come up from Jacksonville on the Silver Star, we would stop here to pick up warm doughnuts to eat while we waited and then continue down to the Seaboard station to meet her train (which would arrive fairly late at night).

Google tags this spot as "temporarily closed", but there is a real estate sign in front now, so my guess is they closed during the initial stages of COVID-19 and were not able to hang on until the reopening of barber shops and salons a few weeks ago.

Looking for this address also turns up a LoopNet page which reveals it was also formerly a Chiropractor's office.

I have noticed this building on Broad River Road for two things over the years. First, there are all the mirrors (and in fact I think it used to have more mirrors on the outside walls than it does now when they are mainly confined to the roofline), and second for the fact that one address did double duty as both a used car lot and a hair salon: One on the outside, and one on the inside.

RealtyTrac says the building was put up in 1987, with seems about right, and LoopNet has a really nice picture that confirms what I was remembering about the mirrors above.

I'm not sure about 2019 for the closing date, but it seems only fairly recently have I noticed the building vacant.