Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Curiously, this property came up in the comments just after I got some pictures of it last weekend while I was at the H. Rubin site. It looks like both the businesses here had been here a good while. In the case of Boost Mobile, that goes all the way back to when it was Suncom. As far as I can tell by looking at Google Streetview, both businesses apparently lasted into 2023. Curiously, Streetview does not have the color scheme that LoopNet has for the phone side of the storefront.

To me the building looks very much like it began life as a convenience store, but I have no memory of that.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

This spot at the corner of Two Notch & Beltline was previously the home of Hursey's Trading Post & Advance On Checks with Auto Money going in sometime between 2014 and 2016. Google streetview shows it here as late as September 2022.

I'm thinking there may have briefly been another operation after this, as the current color scheme of the building is a red & black one, completely different from the green & yellow theme of Auto Money.

I should probably also mention that at least through 2011, the side of the building closest to Burger King was a separate suite housing My'Kuls Exclusive Gift Shop.

I was getting gas at the Murphy's in the old Eckerd site at the corner of Broad & Bush the other day, looking at an accident at the stop light when I noticed that this TitleMax was apparently closed.

I didn't drive over there because the intersection was wholly blocked (which is why, I think, you see people turning around in the lot in the second picture), but the sign was definitely blacked out. LoopNet also lists the building as "For Lease" (and has a nice picture), but I'm getting a bit of a conflicting signal from the store's Facebook page, which still has posts from as late as today. Of course they're pretty generic, so they could be pre-scheduled.

Anyway, I think it's safe enough to do a closing, but next time I drive by I'll try to see what the front door says.

UPDATE 23 March 2023 -- Definitely closed:

For some reason I thought I had done this Cash-O-Matic just down from the Triangle City Zesto some time ago. In the event it appears not, though I did get to the ones on Broad River Road and Sunset Drive. As nearly as I can tell, this one closed down sometime around 2015.

I admit I still like the name.

I noticed on a recent drive-through of Boozer Shopping Center that First Credit on the north side of the plaza is vacant. I can't really find any information on it, but I'm guessing that I went by that storefront a number of times in 2021 without noticing a vacancy, so I will tentatively place it in that year.

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I believe I first noticed this storefront adjacent to Very's when it was National-something-or-other, but I don't see anything about that in google. As of the start of March 2020, Regional was in the spot. As 2020 was a bad year for people being able to finance things, I'm guessing the knock-on from Covid took them out, but I don't know for sure. At any rate the slot is now open and available.

Plainly this was some sort of fast food operation before it was a title loan place, but I can't quite identify it from the characteristics of the building. At any rate, North American was there in the last phonebook I have, Feb 2017, and I can't recall seeing the real estate sign out front before, so I'm just going to call the date here as 2020.

UPDATE 20 March 2021: Seems I was wrong about it being fast food -- adding Pearle Vision Center to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 3 march 2023 -- As mentioned in the comments, this place has been razed and is being rebuilt as a Freddy's:

Many of these pictures were originally part of my Great Flood of 2015 entry Devine / Crowson / Fort Jackson Boulevard. I have decided to break the Auto Money Title Loans building (and later the Subway) out as separate posts to make them easier to find in the future as these two building, along, and even moreso, with the TitleMax building have become somewhat iconic images of the flood. The old posts will remain, and some photos are duplicated.

Anyway, both of these buildings sat on the bank of Gills Creek and in the 1000 Year Flood were filled with water up to the roofs. In addition the creek bank under the backs of the buildings was undermined to the point that with everything, the buildings were total losses.

21 October 2015:

Here we see the buildings a couple of weeks after the flood, when I got back to town from the beach and the roads were open enough for me to go picture taking.

19 June 2018:

Here both buildings have been fenced off, but have not yet been torn down as the FEMA process was still ongoing.

13 March 2019:

Here the Subway has been taken down, and the Title Loans building is next up.

18 March 2019:

Here are some driveby photos of the Title Loans building coming down.

28 March 2019:

Here is the current vacant state of the lot. The Free Times says:

"After extensive information gathering and a lengthy application process to FEMA, the city received Hazard Mitigation Grant Program assistance from FEMA to purchase afflicted homes and the former Title Loan property," a police department release said. "In purchasing the properties with federal grant funds, the city is required to demolish the structures in accordance with FEMA’s conditions, and return the land to green space in perpetuity."

That link also has a good picture of the pre-demolition state of the back side of both buildings.

UPDATE 21 June 2019 -- Here's a picture I took for some reason in 2013 showing the place in operation:

This storefront in Garners Ferry Crossing was once Springleaf Financial Services, as you can see in the first picture (especially if you click through to the large version). At some point recently, Springleaf was acquired by One Main Financial, at which point it seems they consolidated offices leaving a vacancy here. (Actually there are two adjacent vacancies at this time; I'll do the other one at some point).

I'm forgetting what this place used to be called, but it has only been One Main for a few years. At one point, they apparently had my P.O. Box, and I still get important looking mail for them 15 years later..

They left the Forest Park shopping center (if it indeed is still called that) a month or so ago, and have moved into the old VK Nails location across from Richland Mall.