Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Sylvan's has been in this spot on Main Street approximately forever, or accurately since 1905. I was today years old when I learned that the official name is no longer Sylvan Brothers, and that the Sylvan family has not been involved since 1985. Still, it remains a family store, now owned by the Schiffman family.

The Sylvan clock, along with the now vanished Standard Savings & Loan clock has always been a key part of my memories of the area, and I am happy to learn that it will remain where it has stood since 1906.

The store will be moving into the former Wet Willies building on Gervais Street sometime this fall. A non-specific October date is mentioned a few places, but I have not seen an exact one. Likewise, I believe I heard something about a moving sale, but have not seen anything in print about that.

In the meantime, you can read about the move here & here.

The Corner Blend at the corner of Main & Blossom Streets has been a number of things since the building went up. Most recently, I believe, it was Yoghut, and my understanding at the time was that The Corner Blend is essentially a reflagging of that operation to signal a new focus on Boba and Acai bowls.

The Post & Courier reports that the space has been taken by the owners of the Rosewood Market who want to make it a mini-outpost of that brand. It sounds as though there is still a good bit of work to do, but the projected timeframe is "this fall".

(Hat tip to commenter Cats)

According to WLTX Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary merged with Hickory North Carolina's Lenoir-Rhyne University back in 2012, in a move which locals expected to strengthen the Columbia campus, but which in the end has resulted in it merging with the new parent and moving to Hickory itself. One local pastor quoted by WLTX expects the move to exacerbate an ongoing local pastor shortage especially as graduates will now tend to end up in the North Carolina synod.

According to The State, the move was to be made by 1 January of 2025. When I drove through on 9 February there didn't seem to be anybody around though clearly the buildings had not been emptied and there was still a quirky vehicle on the grounds.

Also according to The State as of mid-December the property had not yet been listed, though Lenoir-Rhyne does expect to sell it.

(Hat tip to commenter george011210)

To follow up on the Pelican SnoBalls post from 11 February: That store apparently started here, and moved up the street a few years later.

This Free Times article says it opened on 23 June of 2017, and looking at StreetView, it appears it probably moved after the 2021 snow cone season.

Here is the LoopNet information for the building.

I like snowcones, but not enough to pay ice cream prices for them, so I have never sampled one of the several local Pelican's locations. Technically this store has been closed since the season ended, but the fact that it would not re-open was announced on 17 January. No specific reason was given in that story or this one, but I presume the volume was just not there.

I believe this is the second Main Street location for the franchaise with the former one being further down towards Eau Claire.

The chain maintains a number of other locations in the Midlands, so when things warm back up, you will be able to get your fix.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I noticed this place, in the Mast block, driving down Main Street the other day while I was looking for something else.

The latest google reviews are just dated "a year ago", so I can't say more than they probably closed in 2024.

I never made it to this building in any of its other incarnations besides Swensen's, but I did make it to Hunter Gatherer a few times. As I recall, I had pizza and some sort of porter or stout, both of which were pretty good, but not enough so to become a regular and deal with driving down there and parking.

I have been pretty skeptical about the ongoing work on South Main which sounded to me like it was designed to make the street even less convenient to drive and park on, and the news that Hunter Gatherer lost their lease, presumably due to plans for the area does not make me any less so. (And also makes me worry a bit about Cool Beans which is in a similar situation).

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO)

As I go to add this to the Alphabetical Closings, I notice I did a post on HG before, when it shut down for the Pandemic. I think this final closing is newsworthy enough that I'm not going to merge it into that earlier post.

UPDATE 22 January 2025:

Wells Fargo has been de-branching for a while now, a trend which has finally reached their iconic Main Street mirror building, which I always thought of as their local headquarters, though apparently their admin offices were on Greystone. Part of this is the trend of more online access to accounts and less need to interact with a teller, and probably part is Wells specific as they haven't exactly covered themselves in glory over the past ten years or so.

The State says that the firm will maintain an office in the building, so perhaps the sign on the west side will not be coming down. They also say there are no plans for the branch space other than to put it up for lease and see what happens (which they strike an optomistic tone about).

In the meantime, enjoy the mirror building:

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As we discussed a few days ago the Badcock chain is going out of business after a bad merger and bankruptcy. This is the Lexington location in Town Square.

I'm not sure of the actual closing date, but I don't see it outlasting the month, at least by much.

Which Wich was in this Main Street storefront which was the last location for The Basil Pot.

I never went to this location, but my experiences in two other locations for the chain were subpar. The fact that my order was wrong is a one-time thing, but not having fresh-brewed ice tea is a deal killer. Anyway, the place is now setting up to be a Substation II, which is also not one of my favorites.

The street is currently torn up all the way from the Capitol to Blossom street because apparently it was to easy to drive on and had too many parking spaces, so they are fixing that.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)