Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I'm not sure what this building was originally, but it sits just to the right of Heartbreakers and behind the Shell Station on Bush River Road.

I do seem to recall that Apple Bottom, or perhaps the previous club in this building, was somehow connected with the former Burger Time in Dutch Square.

Interestingly, the only place I could actually see in the windows seems to have sort of an Asian theme going on. [UPDATE, see below]

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I liked Punjabi Dhaba, though I haven't been able to make it over there for several months. The restaurant is part of the old Howard Johnson motel across from Wal-Mart near the intersection of Bush River Road and I-26. I started going there after Delhi Palace moved from Broad River Road, and found I liked it better.

Here is The State story on the fire, though it is very brief. When I stopped by there on Sunday 9 February, the place still smelled stronly of smoke and burnt wood. While I certainly hope to see them re-open, it's hard to see sinking much money into this old building. There are two vacant restaurants further up the road, but of course those buildings aren't in great shape either.

UPDATE 16 April 2014 -- As commenter Andrew reports, looks like demolition is starting (pix from 13 April, it may be done by now):

UPDATE 9 May 2014 -- Well, the building is gone, and I have removed the "temporary" tag from the post title:

Well, it's old news now, but Sears at Columbiana Centre is closing, and today was the first time I was able to get out that way to get some shots. I'm going ahead with a pretty-well-in-advance closing to give us a landing page to talk about it, and because it's pretty big news. Hopfully I will get inside shots for an update at some point. Certainly the pre-printed closeout signs in these exterior shots are pretty familiar to us all by now (blurry or not..).

It appears that Belk will be taking over some, though not all of this space.

Frankly, given how hollowed-out the Columbia Mall store is at this point, I expected it to go first.

UPDATE 11 February 2014 -- Here are some interior pix from 9 February:

UPDATE 29 Februayr 2020: Add tags, address, map icon.

Independant mailing storefront National Mail Services on Saint Andrews Road by the old Fred's closed at the end of December. If you look at the Fred's post, you can see that for some reason, they were not on the shopping center marquee, but apparently enough folks knew they were back there for a 22 year run, which is good for any business!

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

I have some more pictures of this place.. somewhere.

Mudbone's was a cajun restaurant in Friarsgate Plaza on Broad River Road just North of the I-26 interchange.

Reviews were mixed, but everyone seemed to agree they had great hushpuppies.

UPDATE 16 January 2014 -- Commenter badger sends in these scans of the Mudbone's menu:

Saturn Parkway, meet the town of Elgin..

This storefront on Saturn Parkway almost up against I-26 was formerly Carolina Pools & Spas. For at least another week or so, it is Halloween Express.

Interestingly, either a very similar store or another incarnation of this one, Carolina Spas, Pools & Billiards is hosting a competing Halloween store.

Boo!

It's almost September -- got your spook on yet?

The last phonebook entry I have for Carolina Pools, Spas & Billiards (there are several different permutations of the name online) is the February 2005 phonebook. I don't have the Feb 2006 book, but it is definitely gone by the 2007 book, so I am going with a 2005 closing date. This little strip mall on Fernandina Road is now mostly known for Green's beverages, but I believe it was at one time anchored by a grocery in that spot. This unit is to the left of that, and as you can see here, is now a hot-spot for all you Halloween zombies, ghosts, ghouls, and naughty nurses.

Looks like Airport Inn in Cayce, where ironically all the rooms are ground-floor, is renovating.

I like the blue, white & yellow color scheme on the signs. The building actually looks to be in pretty good shape, at least from a distance.

UPDATE 10 August 2013: Changed incorrect 935 address in post title to correct 1935.

UPDATE 13 May 2014 --Open again:

I've always had a soft spot for Fred's. That's probably because they came to Fernandina when I was in my teens or twenties and were a nice store withing easy walking distance of my Aunt's house to get pretty much any item we might need while visiting. I also liked that they left the big spanish-moss covered oak in their parking lot (inherited from the previous store) alone:

Some years after they moved into the Fernandina area, they started a big push into South Carolina, and on the whole, I think it has not been a success. I feel that perhaps they have too much overlap with Dollar General which got here first, and would have done better to put more Fred's in areas where people already knew the brand than pushing new stores into areas where there was no brand recognition. Of course, the economic crunch can't have helped any either..

I had not expected this Fred's to close as quickly as it did, especially given the protracted proceedings at the Saint Andrews Road Kmart. When I took the interior picture above on 19 May, the store was still almost fully stocked, and the discounts weren't really that good yet, but just a couple weeks later it was gone.

I have to admit I didn't know there was such a thing as The National Fireplace Institute -- it seems, at least, that all the classrooms should be warm and toasty. At any rate they certified Southeastern Stone,the former tenant of this handsome masonry building on Fernandina Road near the I-26 & Piney Grove interchange. There are some nice pictures on their still extant website as well.

I'm not sure what is going on with the building. It is up for sale, but there is some sort of landscaping work already going on.