Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Long's Drugs folded their retail operation on 24 March 2020. In retrospect, it was probably good timing as their stores were not larg mini-department stores like Walgreens & CVS, and purely medical business has been hurt by the current crisis with many doctor's appointments being cancelled. The company itself remains in business, serving institutional clients. WLTX has the story here.

This particular location is at the corner of Kilbourne Road & Devine Street, adjacent to the Piggly Wiggly. It has good traffic light access, but is too small to become a convenience store, so I'm not sure what is next for the property. Looking inside, it appears that Long's has not completely finished vacating yet, and I didn't notice any real estate sign on the property.

I shoped at this store once, when I was living out of town and needed a prescription filled after visiting a local doc-in-a-box for something or other. I recall being struck by how odd it was to be in a drug store that was almost wholly dedicated to being a drug store. An era is passing.

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

The Devine Street Piggly Wiggly recently changed ownership as noted in a story in The Columbia Star, which you may or may not be able to read here. With all the churn engulfing The Pig recently, it's good to see one store hang on.

In this case, the managers of the former Garners Ferry store have bought Devine Street outright:

The 35,000-squarefoot store closed late last Sunday for an inventory, reopening Monday under the new owners. Miller says customers are unlikely to notice many changes early on. He said the store has been well maintained, but he expects some refurbishing and painting ahead.

“Piggly Wiggly has gone back to its roots as a group of independently owned Piggly Wiggly stores joined by a common brand, collaborative marketing, and the flexibility of individual ownership,” said David Schools, president and CEO of Greenbax Enterprises, Piggly Wiggly Carolina’s parent.

Put that way, it sounds a bit like IGA.

I've always thought of Huddle House as a downmarket Waffle House, which is saying something, but it almost seems like the way Hardee's and Bantam Chef used to be related -- you saw the second in places that couldn't support the first. I'm pretty sure I've been in a Huddle at one time or another, but I have absolutely no reliable memory of such an occasion right now. I am sure I was never in this one which sits at the intersection of Rosewood Drive and Kilbourne Road.

The LoopNet listing suggests that the follow-on operation, one of Columbia's ubiquitous (but not apparently very lucrative) title pawn operations, has been closed at least since mid October 2010.

UPDATE 12 April 2012 -- It's now a Marco's Pizza: