Columbia Closings   What’s not in Columbia anymore

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.

It appears from their facebook page that a commenter saw this location as Pancho's on 8 March, so I'm using that as a date, though it would have been a bit earlier.

I never ate at this location, but in general do like the one on Beltline. From the name, I suppose this is now a second location for Pancho's on Forest Drive in the old Redbone Alley building.

(Hat tip to commenter TahoeChic)

Commenter Brian says of Miss Mattie's in Lexington, Her red velvet cupcakes were the best I ever had.

The shop is in McCauley Square on Sunset Boulevard, north of Hudson's. This is the same strip mall that housed Yumilicious.

Commenter Brian also notes that the closing was originally flagged as temporary, but that was some time ago. All the furnishings are still intact, so that could still be the intention, but the flat Closed on the sign doesn't offer much hope.

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Here's an old-school, single island service station in Lexington. Just looking at it, I suspect it predates the BP era and probably goes back into the (original) Gulf age. This is the kind of place that used to exist to service cars -- which needed almost constant attention. Any thought to customer restrooms or any vending more elaborate than a soft drink machine was pretty much non-existent. Now, one by one they fall by the wayside as that generation of owners retires or they just can't compete against the new convenience store stations that use all the space that could have been bays to sell people stuff.

This one will be selling people Thickburgers soon.

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This Aaron's on US-387 in Lexington just west of the US-1/US-378 split listed in the phonebook as Aaron's Furniture Rental, though clearly judging from the wall blazons, they also did appliances. Given that the South Lake Drive operation already existed, I think this is more a consolidation than a relocation. Basically they have just folded this branch's operations into that one's.

(Hat tip to commenter James)

Well, the post on the Irmo location seems to have gotten a bit of traction today, so why not make a clean breast of it and post the final one?

The Lexington New Life Fitness World is off of Charter Oak Road, which connects US-1 and US-378 which are more or less parallel at that point. The gym is on a little court that seems to have some sort of failed building showcase on it, which I may post another day, though it is well behind the set of empty foundations.

This building is done in a completely different style than the other two, and seems to have had at least one other business co-located inside. There is something rather sad about the forlorn swim-noodles.

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The latest Carolina Wings to close is this one in Lexingtion near the Regal theaters.

As you can see here, things are alreay in-train to reopen this building as Daddy Mac's of which, their facebook page says:

Daddy Mac's Restaurant was created by three brothers as a tribute to their Grandfather, whom they affectionately called Daddy Mac. This restaurant brings back childhood memories filled with laughter, fun, larger-than-life stories and wonderful aromas of great meals being cooked by Daddy Mac in his kitchen.
The grandsons' vision is to open their kitchen and share with you, those comforting and delicious meals that invite laughter and good times with friends and family. We hope that you will take home fond memories of your own.

and their Help Wanted ad on CraigsList says:

We are a full service restaurant that will specialize in hand cut steaks, pastas, burgers, speciality appetizers & desserts. We also offer one of Lexington's largest craft beer selections as well as an extensive wine and liquor list.

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

Based on the available evidence, it appears to me that Monday 6 January was the last day of operation for the Lexington Wild Hare, on US-1 north of I-20. This closing leaves the chain with two restaurants: one in the Vista and one on the Western segment of Bush River Road near the former Irmo Kmart.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

After the Forest Acres location closed in the fall of 2012, this Sunset Boulevard location was the chain's only remaining Midlands (or indeed South Carolina) location. In fact, looking at the Yumilicious website, it appears that all the remaining locations are in Texas.

I'm afraid I never stopped at either location, having more or less given up on anything yogurt related years ago since it all seems to be non-fat, or low-fat today. If I'm going to have a frozen treat, it's going to be full-fat..

(Hat tip to commenter mike)

UPDATE 6 March 2014 -- Some daylight pix:

I mentioned a few days ago that the Forest Drive Cartridge World had moved.

I'm not sure which happened first, but in the same general time frame, the one on Sunset Boulevard in Topspin Plaza closed, although it is still listed on the plaza marquee. (Interestingly, everything on that marquee is a store, except Eggs Benedict..)

(Hat tip to commenter James)