Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I've made some pretty bad mistakes about Spanish language businesses here before, but I *think* Latino Express offers a variety of services including insurance, tax preparation and vehicle registration assistance.

It appears that they have relocated from this strip mall on Meeting Street, to 1735 Augusta Rd.

It appears that Always Original Bakery is setting up to occupy this spot.

This building, in a former Clusters Of Whitehall outparcel, is a former TD Bank. After the bank moved, Insurance Masters set up shop and painted the building a nice cheery Blue Cross blue. For some reason, after they left the building was repainted with drab green, and currently sits empty.

Although LoopNet is not currently offering the property, they do state it was built in 1970, which means it certainly did not start as a TD Bank, as they only came to town within the last ten years or so. They also state the vault is still inside, which is not surprising, as those can be pretty hard to get rid of.

I wasn't really aware of this small, tucked away strip mall in Lexington until commenter James R mentioned it. Unfortunately when I got there, the sun was against me, so the shots aren't great. It appears that Allstate was the middle unit, and the sign (which you can read on the click-through version) refers customers to 3920 Augusta Road.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I think I have a picture of this building standing.. Somewhere. Anyway, apparently the buildings at 2801 & 2835 were originally owned by Continental American which was bought out by Aflac in 2009. At some point after that, Aflac moved their all their operations to either Laurel Street or Huger Street depending on which report you read.

In 2016, the property was sold to Devine Station LLC, apparently for

mixed-use development that includes apartments and retail space

I guess they are now getting started on that.

It's not entirely clear to me if Farm Bureau occupied two suites in this building and remained for part of the time that the west side of the building was being outfitted for a restaurant, or if they left when that started, but at any rate they are gone entirely now, and their signage is off the building. (They are of course still in business and have other locations in the midlands).

I pulled a real estate flyer from a box at the location, and it seems that the restaurant (First Class Bar & Grill) which never opened was very far along, as the flyer mentions that all the hood work and venting is complete and that even televisions and a sound system are installed.

Other offices in this building remain in operation.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 14 May 2020 -- The Farm Bureau and doctor's office spaces are now Smart Laundry. The space that was setting up to be First Class ended up being the new location for Pho Viet:

I didn't know the South Carolina Association of Counties was a thing, but it is, and apparently they have moved from this Fernandina Road location to 1919 Thurmond Mall, near Richland Street.

Capitol City Insurance whose marquee you can almost see on the building and whose name the LoopNet listing puts to the building, seems to have moved north up Fernandina to the other side of Piney Grove to 1 Fernandina Court.

I did a previous closing for this building when it was Lexus Of Columbia.

Insurance brokers Cutler & Associates were the follow-up business in this location. Sadly, it appears that Mr. Cutler has passed on after what sounds like a full and fruitful life.

UPDATE 10 May 2016 -- This building is now Pool Tables Plus:

Here's a nice little brick building in Lexington at the point where US-378 transitions from North Lake Drive to Columbia Avenue. That transition and interchange makes this site a bit iffy to get in and out of, but at least on a Sunday it wasn't too bad.

I like the blue shutters, which give it a nice Greek touch.

UPDATE 23 October 2014 -- Added interior shot.

This agency seems to be gradually moving to Camden.

They moved to this location from here, further up Two Notch around 2010, and have now moved out to just across from Big Lots near Spring Valley:

This address on the North side of Shakespeare Road near Columbia Mall and almost across from Wood's Wonderland was once, according to the Secretary Of State's office Howard & Riley Real Estate & Insurance. That would have been back in the late 1960s and 1970s.

However, LoopNet says the current building wasn't built until 2005, so there must have been an older structure there at one time. (This would have been the Pink House era on Shakespeare). I don't know what the property was used for in the interim, but the last tenant was Heritage Elictrical, which has apprently moved to Elgin.