Columbia Closings   What’s not in Columbia anymore

I noticed this building on the East side of Clemson Road the other day as I was heading from I-20 to The Village at Sandhill. I'm not sure when all the various businesses left, but Surgiform Technologies is listed in this year's (February 2011) phonebook, so I'll say 2011. Surgiform, at least, has moved (to Lugoff) so the others may have as well.

It's a pretty bland, warehouse-like building, but I like the fact that someone nonetheless took the time and trouble to put of a birdhouse on a power pole by the road.

I've written about this building before in a closing for D'Lites / Miami Sub Grill. Splendid China Buffet has occupied the space since then, and seems to do a good business. The door sign is a little vague about what is going on. Certainly the construction is happening (and seems quite thorough..), and I don't doubt that something with the same ownership will open here again, but it's not clear it will still be Splendid China -- It looks more like a total refit.

BTW, does anyone have the definitive name for the sidestreet between Splendid China and Lowes? I've see that I've used both "Firelane Road" and "Fire Lane Drive" in the past. Google Maps seems to think "Fire Lane Road", Mapquest goes with "Firelane Road", and I'm sure I got the "Fire Lane Drive" from some source..

UPDATE 17 October 2011 -- Wow! There's *remodeling* and then there's this:

(also added a night picture of the place still operating at top)

UPDATE 16 July 2012 -- It pains my sense of order to stick this update in the middle of the post, and above the 1 February 2012 update, but I have run across these pictures on my drive that predate the pictures in that update. (They are from 27 December 2011):

UPDATE 1 February 2012: Took the temporary? notation off the post title. At this point it is clear that Splendid China is not coming back, but that instead the place will now be known as Jasmine Buffett as these two poorly composed drive-by shots show. Presumably with that name it will still be an Asian buffet:

UPDATE 16 April 2012 -- Jasmine looks pretty close to completion:

UPDATE 15 May 2012 -- Jasmine Buffet is up and running:

Chateau Gentlemens Club was the follow-on operation for the building which formerly housed Touch of India, and you can still see the Indian motifs in the arches along the rooftop (though I suppose in this context you could see them as something else as well).

Garner Lane is the I-20 frontage road which you can only reach by taking the I-20 Eastbound on-ramp at Broad River Road. It's a somewhat difficult place to get in and out of, and somewhat difficult to figure out how to do that as well. I don't know if that had anything to do with this club lasting for a rather short period: It's only listed in this year's phonebook (Feb 2011), so I'm guessing less than a year.

It's listed in the phonebook as Chateau De Lamour, a name I'm pretty sure was on the I-20 visible sign at one point as well. I'm guessing that was too ambiguous to draw traffic.

The name of this little plaza has changed as well. Last year, it was Volaty Plaza, now it is S&B Plaza.

UPDATE 11 November 2011: Located the two pictures I took while the club was in operation, and added them as the first two above.

UPDATE 30 July 2012: Commenter badger suggests this was Julie's and then Chicago Smokehouse. I think he's right so I'll add those to the post title. I ate at this Julie's once long ago, but don't remember anything about it other than it did not give me food posioning like the one on Garner's Ferry.

When the The Sheraton on Bush River opened, it was a big deal, and for many years it was certainly an impressive landmark designating the edge of town as you came in from Georgia on I-20. (Now of course the metro area sprawls out past the Lexington exits). Of course since I actually lived in Columbia, I never found a reason to stay at the hotel, and even to visit the restaurant would have been a long drive from Forest Acres, but I always imagined it as a "swanky" place. Thinking about it as an adult, I'm not sure I really understand the concept. It's been my experience in going to conferences that conference hotels are normally built in a downtown, or at least fairly dense suburban area such that there are restaurants and nightclubs for the attendees to go to in the evenings, especially those who took taxis from the airport and want something within walking distance. That pretty much describes exactly the opposite of this spot.. Columbia as a conference destination is a pretty hard sell anyway, but this isn't exactly The Vista (which granted didn't exist as such in the 70s, but there certainly were spots with nightlife..).

Anyway, The Sheraton operated as such until, I believe, the early 2000s. Certainly it still did in 1996 when they would have bought the ad for the February 1997 phonebook pictured here. After that, the hotel reflagged and was operated as a Radisson as shown in this year's (February 2011) phonebook until June. The new flagging is for DoubleTree by Hilton, a brand that I can't really place on the hotel ladder. I'm guessing they don't have a Dance Factory.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 11 July 2011 -- Originally I led with this drawing, which I believed was the Sheraton on Bush River, but it appears instead to be another ex-Sheraton, on Assembly Street. I have edited the text claiming that, and moved the picture down here for those who already saw it and commented on it:

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This upscale massage chain had several storefronts in Columbia which, as reported by commenter Jimmy, all went belly-up by early April. This one is at the corner of Clemson Road & Sparkleberry lane, on the upper level of the same building which also housed Za's, Cafe Corner Coffee and Vino 100.

I would guess these places are a casualty of the fact that massage (unless for an actual medical condition) is something of a luxury good, and is a hard to justify expense in a down economy. On the other hand, there certainly are local massage studios that still seem to be doing well.

(Hat tip to commenter Jimmy)

UPDATE 23 May 2011 -- Added night picture of lighted sign, which is still (so far) up and working.

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I never heard G-E-X pronounced Gee-Eee-Eks as the spelling here would imply. It was always just "Gex" to rhyme with "Vex". Not that I heard about it that often. Given the 21 Dec 1969 phonebook listing (ie: for 1970) above, it sounds like it was a Costco or Sam's before its time -- certainly we did not have a membership, and I never went with anyone who did. (There are some pictures of the membership cards here.)

The building (behind Applebee's just North of I-20) is certainly massive, and it seems to have had a department for everything, including groceries and meat, which really makes it sound ahead of its time. Wikipedia says G-E-X was another label for G.E.M the Government Employees Mart and that the electronics department eventually morphed into Circuit City by way of Ward's. The December 1972 phonebook is the last one to list the Columbia G-E-X which meshes with Wikipedia's claim that the chain went under "during the discount store shakeout of 1973".

After G-E-X the spot seems to have been a number of different operations including Home Quarters and Blue Cross. In fact, LoopNet says Blue Cross has a lease on the whole building that lasts until September 2012. Currently the building seems to be empty, with the last branding on the street sign as Palmetto GBH which seems to be some sort of Medicare related operation (their sign is still on the storefront in the LoopNet listing).

UPDATE 21 March 2011: Added "Intertec Data Systems" & "Phar-Mor" to the post title. Those apparently closed in the early 1980s and 3 October 1992 respectively. (Also fixed spelling of Applebee's..)

UPDATE 6 April 2011: Added the 1970 Bellsouth Yellow Pages ad for the pharmacy department (which apparently was open to the general public).

Xtreme Customs was at the corner of Broad River Road and Briargate Circle, just across from the old location of Delhi Palace.

I'm not sure if this place closed or moved. There is a business of the same name listed in the phonebook as being in Lexington, but there are no "we've moved" signs on this location directing traffic there, so it may be another owner. I see their last promotion was 'HUG SAL'. Without seeing her, it's hard to know if $8.99 was reasonable or not..