Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I'm not exactly sure when head shop Alibaba's Pipe Emporium on Sunset closed. Commenter Brian noted the storefront as empty in December 2014. When I took the first pictures on 17 August 2014, the Sunset location already seemed to be closed during what would be normal hours though the store looked fully stocked. At that time, a sign directed customers to the Irmo store on Woodrow Street. I know they has some legal trouble in May 2014 though I am unsure if that was what finally caused the closing or not.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

I think we're all Bozos on this bus.

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As reported by commenter John R, this former Carolina Wings & Rib House is now, once again, ... a Carolina Wings & Rib House.

The rebranding as Daddy Mac's lasted somewhat less than a year.

(Hat tip to commenter John R)

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.

When I blogged the closing of the Harbison Wing Nuts back in June, commenter badger mentioned that the Lexington location on Sunset Boulevard had closed in March. Somehow it took me between then and now to get over there and get some pictures, but surprisingly the marquee is still up after six months.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

I had driven past this Firefly location dozens of times over the past year or so, and never really cosidered the "& Games" part of the Firefly name. Since it was a bit off the beaten path, I had it mentally pegged as some sort of specialty toy store, perhaps educational toys, but never really considered that the "games" might be for "gamers".

In the event, it appears that they are, and the new location at 657 Saint Andrews Road continues to host gaming events.

(Hat tip to commenter James)

UPDATE 11 January 2014 -- Here is a belated picture of their new location in the old E Z Bingo storefont on Saint Andrews Road.

Commenter James notes that the larger part of this Sunset Boulevard building is now for lease.

It appears that this is the result of Good As New Consignments vacating the left suite of the building and consolidating with Good As New Furniture in the right suite.

(Hat tip to commenter James)

Here's an older house set up as a restaurant on Lexington's South Lake Drive. I try to keep tabs on local pizza, but this one is not really local to me, and I'm afraid I had never heard of it before they closed up shop. The place kind of sits on a little hill, and I think it would have been nice to eat on the deck and look over the comings and goings on the road.

According to their sign, they are moving, but to where is not clear. Commenter Brian notes that the main chef has moved to All Star Pizza Company at 2001 Augusta Road.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

This little sandwich shop is attached to a convenience store / gas station on the West side of US-1 heading into Lexington. I had driven past it a number of times in the previous months, but had never really seen it. This time, when I stopped at the store, I noticed that it was there, and that it was closed. What reviews I see online are positive, and indicate it was open at least into June of 2013.

Commenter TahoeChic (who was not impressed) supplied the name for this business that I noticed while taking pictures of Lexington's defunct New Life Fitness. New Life was at the back of Charter Oak Court, while Carolina System Built Homes is at the front.

Driving by, I couldn't quite (and still can't quite to some extent) figure out what the place was. There is obviously a patch of building sites with a mostly constructed building, a set of foundations and then a site with what looks like part of a roof coming out of the ground. The former showroom building seems to be complete though, and from the real estate sign, you can get the whole shebang for less than the price of an upscale house.

UPDATE 5 December 2014 -- Here is the craft beer operation mentioned by TahoeChic in the comments: