Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

LoopNet says this nice little building on the corner of Laurel & Sumter streets was built in 1950. Given its rather art-deco look, with rounded corners and inset glass blocks, I would have guessed earlier myself. These drive-by pictures, taken through the windshield, aren't great, and the color scheme in the LoopNet picture is better as well, so take a look there if you are curious.

The last tenant was Print House Plus who have moved to 1519 Taylor Street.

I was going through some old pictures and noticed that I never did a closing for Carolina Window & Millwork on Laurel Street. I don't actually know anything about the place other than Google suggests it was an auto glass place (although, just from the name that sounds wrong..), and that the storefront is now Distinctive Surfaces kitchen and bath store.

They listed in the February 2014 phonebook, but not the February 2015 one, so I'm putting the closing date as 2014.

After I did a closing for Moe Levy's on Assembly back in 2014, I somehow failed to notice that the store had restarted on Laurel Street after some time off. The State has that story here.

Recently they called it quits for good, and The State has that story as well. Ninety-nine years is certainly a good run!

Traffic was slower at the new, tucked away, location, and retail is certainly a different creature than it was in 1920, but then again recent events show that huge chains don't know what to make of it either.

Al-Amir is on the move again. They have had locations on Devine Street (twice), South Main, Saint Andrews Road, Sparkleberry Crossing and Sandhill.

Now they have left the old Elite Epicurean location at 1734 Main Street, and are relocating north to the old Taste Of China Hut at 2431 Main Street.

The State has two relevant articles. The first mentions the challenges of running a restaurant at that location:

"At night, the lighting here is bad and there are homeless people, and people doing drugs (along Laurel St.)," he said.

It feels unsafe, but he hears that Columbia Police are putting a substation in the former United Way location at 1800 Main St.

"After 18 years (in the business overall, Al-Amir has been on Main St. since 2014) and pouring every penny we have into the place, we've had to maneuver to keep the restaurant," he said. "We have loyal customers ... there just isn't enough to sustain the business."

To draw a bigger lunch crowd, they added some Southern specialties, but I have to think given they can't season with pork, that would be a pretty limited endevour.

The second article continues the story, with its outcome: the move down the street.

I like Al-Amir, but for me the biggest issue with this location was parking. The old Taste Of China Hut does have its own parking lot, so hopefully that will be better. I also wish that it was easier to get what I want sometimes. The way the menu is set up makes it difficult to put together my favorites.

I'm not sure when the new location will be ready. It looked very much still in progress when I drove by a few weeks ago.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr_hat)

UPDATE 20 June 2019 -- Here are some pictures from 2014 apparently not long after the opening:

UPDATE 4 February 2021 -- The move is complete: Al-Amir is open in its new location, and this building is now home to Moms Bistro & Bar:

I did not know that a consignment shop had gone into the Cromer's location until commenter JamesR mentioned that it had closed. Looking at the web site which is still up for now, it seems to have been several steps up from Goodwill.

This is an interesting looking building and I wonder what it was built for. I'm guessing not for Cogdill since they are not in this front section at all.

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)

Moe Levy's Reliable Loan Office was sort of a portmanteau operation with the signs promising Gun Shop, Coins Jewelry, Army Surplus & Camping Supplies under the Pawn marquee. In this spot since 1950, they looked poised to close entirely after the main Moe Levy's closed.

In fact, they did close in February 2016 with no definite plans announced as this State story details.

In the event, they found a new space at 1727 Laurel Street, and decided to continue with changes as related here. They are no longer pawnbrokers and will concentrate on the Army surplus side of the business as Moe Levy's Army Store. This State video has pictures of the new location and remarks by the owner which are interesting on their own because people just don't talk like that anymore and I miss it.

I believe the first operation I can recall in this space moved here from the old Woodhill Mall, and may have been called Jonathan's. The reason I recall that specifically is that it featured in a story The State did on the best hamburgers in Columbia. For several years I had that story clipped and in my glove box as I tried out various of the places mentioned. Jonathan's (if that was the name) was one that somehow I never connected with at either location.

Stopping by on a fairly crisp fall day, the terrace space seemed as though it would be a nice spot to eat lunch al fresco.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

UPDATE 6 October 2016 -- Well, I noticed in the closing for Jefferson Square Theater, you can see that the restaurant spot was then Cavanaugh's Deli, "The Deli For Your Belly", so I have added that to the post title and a picture here:

I have also added The Lunch Box to the post title based on the comments.

Two Notch stalwart Westside Ice has now moved to 1001 Idlewild Boulevard off of Bluff Road.

This building has that classic "ice house" look, with the long open deck. Their web site says the business dates from the 1930s -- I wouldn't be surprised if horse drawn ice wagons once pulled up here..

(Hat tip to commenter Frank Mancuso)

As I was driving down Laurel Street the other day, I noticed that American Business Machines at the corner of Laurel & Sumter had moved. According to their sign, they are now at 406-D Williams Street, which seems to be somewhere down by the new USC baseball stadium.

Their sign and google suggest that ABM is a typewriter shop, but I doubt there is much business in that now, and the one time I stopped by, I was looking for bulk shredding services.

Compared to your usual auto parts store, this warehouse space on Laurel Street is huge (the property listing says 20,000 square feet). It's also kind of out of the way. I don't know if the business model was that this is where garages got their parts (vs retail customers) or if they had their own machine shop in the warehouse space. Or perhaps Bumper to Bumper and All Pro split the space. At any rate, it's all available now.