Columbia Closings   What’s not in Columbia anymore

I was unable to find this little thrift store (a few spaces to the left of the package store) listed in any of my at-home phonebooks, but I'm guessing it closed 2009-ish.

I had thought these two separate stores when I took the pictures, but closer inspection leads me to believe that while they may have been operated as seperately licensed businesses for ABC reasons, they shared one door (the door on the right of the Party Store side appears to be blocked off).

Both were in the little plaza at the corner of Leesburg Road and Greenlawn Drive which also housed the former Leonardo's Screen Printing and still very much open Pizza Palace.

I'd never been entirely sure if Parklane Seafood on Leesburg Road were open or closed, but judging from the fact my most recent trip through the area showed the building up for sale, and some recent comments here, I think it is now clear that the restaurant side of the business is closed while the catering side continues.

This building was the old Flamingo Club. It also appears that the back lot has recently been converted into a garden center.

I ran across this old country grocery the other day at the eastern intersection of Leesburg Road and Old Leesburg Road. I haven't been able to match the name and address in google to have any idea when it closed -- Just looking at it, it could be any time from 1970 to last week. (Although he "hours" sign on the door does look more modern than 1970). Anyway, it's the kind of place where you can imagine a barefoot kid walking in on a hot day for an RC Cola and a Moon Pie (and dropping peanuts into the soda..).

I figured I could at least get a street address by tracking down the Colliers Keenan listing for this Leesburg Road property just east of I-77, across from Greenlawn Cemetary and alongside Pringle Road, but for some reason, I can't find it on the Colliers site.

That being the case, I know essentially nothing about this building other than it is in poor shape and looks to have been a car repair garage. The trussed arched wood roof is very nice although open to the sky in most places now, and there are a couple of mysteries posed by the coat hangers and the jaunty mascot.

UPDATE 1 November 2011: Added the full street address to post title.

I was having lunch at The Pizza Palace a bit ago when I noticed that the storefront next door was vacant. Leonardo's is in this year's phonebook (February 2011) so I'm saying the move was this year (and I'm pretty sure it was still there a few months ago). I don't know anything about the custom clothing business, but I imagine that it has been another area impacted by the Internet as you can now upload your designs and get them delivered without leaving the house. (You can even have M&Ms custom printed!)

I noticed this interesting little house-store driving on Leesburg Road back in September. It's plainly a 1960s era house (though with a picturesque old shed out back) lightly re-purposed into an eclectic botique. The last version of the web site archived at archive.org is from 2007, so I'm going to use that as a closing date. According to that site, the store

was established in [2004] and had been responsible for providing outstanding African American artwork, figurines, mens and ladies clothing and an assortment of others items ever since. Our specialty is in the area of Hard to find, or one of a kind artwork and figurines.

They also had author appearances and book signings.

I kind of got lost in-between Leesburg Road and The Sumter Highway that day, and noticed that although the Leesburg Road area is still really hurting, there is also a lot of new housing back in there, so perhaps business will pick up in the area once we get out of the current slump.

This attractive little building is at the intersection of Leesburg Road and Fairmont Drive. With its vertical bisecting brick riser, it would seem to date from the same architectural era as Sunshine Cleaners and this Augusta Road service station, and in fact this property valuation gives the construction date as 1963.

I feel sure it started as a gas station, and judging from the island out front, was still one, albeit in a different format, when it closed. I'm not sure when that was. For some reason, I thought that restaurant "A" stickers had dates on them, but that apparently is not the case. At any rate, it wasn't too long ago, as the building still has some non-essential items inside with signs that it is looked in on from time to time.