Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

5 Brand Ink Tattoo was in the old Godfather's Pizza location in this Parklane strip mall abuting Columbia Mall. I can't find them in any of my phonebooks, so that may not have been the official name for the place, but flipping the reversed marquee around shows that's definitely what was on the storefront.

This suite is now a church, which is a contrast to the devil-heads on the old marquee.

This is the only store I have ever been lost in.

It was probably about 1965 when my mother took me here to do some clothes shopping. Now of course the clothes displays are shorter than almost all adults, but taller than almost all four years olds, and at some point I lost track of her among the racks and panicked, racing around the floor trying to find her. Since I didn't spend the rest of my life in the clothes department, I must have located her at some point, but *that* part of the debacle I can't remember..

This store was a regular stop for us throughout the 60s and 70s. We preferred the store brand jarred roasted peanuts to Planters and in those days when Sears was still in Five Points and Dutch Square was the only mall this store was always the closest place to pick up whatever odds and ends we needed. I brought my first record album here, which I still have, the Beach Boys two record compilation set Endless Summer for which I paid $5.25. Here I also bought the Focal brand camera tripod which I still carry in my trunk today.

After I left town in 1985, I rarely visited this Kmart and I remember noting when I came back to town in the early 2000s how threadbare it looked. Since it was still close, I did visit it every now and then, but invariably noted that whatever I had gone in for, they didn't have it, and gradually stopped trying.

(Hat tip to commenter joelc)

UPDATE 30 January 2016 -- As noted by a number of people, the store is now closed:

UPDATE 7 October 2019: Add map icon.

This KFC was gone as early as the February 1997 phonebook, which is the earliest I have at home. As you can see from the ad in the 1976 phonebook, at one time this was store #7 for Kentucky Fried Chicken in Columbia, and at this remove, it's easy to forget that the picture in the ad was that of a living man who still toured the country promoting Kentucky Fried Chicken, despite being unhappy with what corporate had done with his gravy.

(Hat tips to commenters Andrew & Sidney)

I noticed this evening as I was driving by Columbia Mall that there were no cars visible in the outparcel parking lot of Caprioska (the old O'Charleys / Sticky Fingers location). For a Friday evening, that seemed odd, so I turned in.

Taking a tour of the parking lot revealed that the place is open, but as Brickhouse, not Caprioska.

The Caprioska web site is as succinct as any I've ever seen, and their Twitter feed and Facebook page lead me to believe that they closed some time between 15 and 20 November 2013.

In the beginning, I think this place was to be sort of a Brazilian spot, but reviews indicate that changed over time.

Well, it took me quite a long time to get the interior shot here, largely because every time I would come in the door of the food court, a sample tray holder from the Asian restaurant would make a beeline on me. I really appreciate that kind of hustle, but it makes it difficult to inconspicuously take a picture when you are the sole focus of someone's attention! I finally recently got a bit of a zoom from the back end of the court. You can see the boarded up section where Chick-Fil-A used to be just to the right of China Max.

I was actually in the place to look at lawnmowers at Sears, and I note that they seem to be giving up on the mall. The mall stays open until 9PM, but Sears turns out the lights at 8PM, at least during the week. It certainly surprised me.

UPDATE 13 August 2013: Forgot the hat tip to commenter Trina.

UPDATE 28 January 2021: Adding full address, tags and map icon.

Somehow I never made it to this Monterrey in all the years that it was there (and they were considerable) despite the fact that I often visited the adjacent Sounds Familiar and comic store.

I believe with this closing, the chain is down to the one in the Vista and the one on Knox Abbott.

(Hat tip to commenter J.P.)

UPDATE 12 February 2020 -- Now El Paraiso:

Staffing company Addecco has moved from Parklane Centre, but for some reason, I didn't get a closeup giving the new address.

I don't know if this was the same Awesome Mattress business that was on on Two Notch in the old Zesto building that is now Hola Mexico, or a different one. If it was the same one, it didn't last too long in its new location, wihch is not one that catches my eye often. In fact, I don't ever recall going to this little Columbia Mall outparcel strip-mall for anything, and would be hard pressed to name any store that has ever been there..

UPDATE 1 June 2012 -- It's now a Richland County Sherriff's station:

This distressed building, on Old Legrand Road just off of Parklane near the Farrow intersection, was obviously a store of some sort, judging from the marquee space above doors in front. It also appears to have had a really nice ceiling at one time, though no more. I considered taking a closer look at the back rooms which are visible here, but decided that was the kind of place where people who don't want company might stay. There's what appears to be a pump shed on the right side of the building, so I'm guessing this place was never on city water.

Google has a pretty good satellite view of the place:

View Larger Map

Looking at that, it appears there is another decrepit building on the same lot further back from the road.

UPDATE 14 April 2012: Commenter sugarbear1 provides one of the names for this place: Mr. B's Railroad Tavern. I have put that in the post title and have taken out the generic "Building". Also changed the "1970s" closing date to "1990s".

UPDATE 15 April 2012: Changed the closing date again to "late 2000s" based on the fantastic photos commenter Dennis dug up (check his link in the comments).

UPDATE 24 April 2012: OK, I did some research at the library. Interestingly, this location apparently never had a telephone listing, and I had to get the infromation from on "city" directories.

The first such listing is in the 1983 city directory, and gives the address (which is clearly *now* on Old Legrand Road) as 8444 Parklane Road. The listing is for

Mr. B's Railroad Tavern (Thos Hammonds)

I assume Thomas Hammonds was either the business owner or the property owner..

The last listing was in the 1991 city directory, and the 1992 directory lists the address as "vacant".

The Febuary 1993 Bellsouth directory is the first to list Mr. B's Railroad Tavern as being at 6531 Two Notch Road. The last listing was in the February 2000 directory. Here is a shot of what's currently at that location:

I'll note also, that it turns out "Mr. B's" is a pretty popular name for various places, and there were a number of other places with that prefix during the same time period. In fact, there is currently a Mr. B's at 3128 Two Notch Road just east of Beltline which appears to be a bar and venue.

Originally, as I recall it, this was simply the Columbia Mall Theater, and opened about the same time as the mall itself. Compared to some of the other theaters in town, I don't have any really strong memories of the place. I know I saw what was pretty much the last 70s style Disney live-action movie there: The North Avenue Irregulars as well as one of Disney's periodic re-issues of The Jungle Book and the first run of The Rescuers Down Under. (Yeah, I like Disney). I also remember trying to go there for a James Bond flick, one of the later Moore ones, and finding it sold out, a pretty rare experience back then.

At some point after I moved out of town, the Mall started to decline, and the theaters actually went under (along with the nearby Capitol Centre Theater). After that, a company called Phoenix Theaters re-opened the theater, which was sort of their shtick "phoenix from the ashes"/"new theater from old". I can't find out a lot about them because every google search turns up theaters in Phoenix Arizona, but this might be their web site. If it is, they have downsized considerably. At any rate, I don't think the Phoenix incarnation lasted too long here in Columbia. I recall seeing one movie under that regime (they had the latest showtimes) and not being too impressed with the theater (or the movie as I can't now recall what it was).

After that, I think the theaters closed again, and remodeled along stadium lines, which was the latest gimmick several years ago (and is an improvement, I have to admit). I'm struggling to think of any movie I saw there after the conversion, and I don't think there is one -- by that time, I had switched mostly to Richland Mall and Forest Drive as my default theaters.

I've lost the hat tip for the commenter who pointed out this closure, and when they said it happened, but if you look closely, you can see a poster for The Darkest Hour a movie which opens on Christmas Day 2011, so it was very recent, and we can assume somewhat unexpected if they thought they would be showing that one.

UPDATE 3 July 2012 -- As the pictures below show, the place is now open again as Columbia Place Stadium Cinemas.

Getting ready to re-open (28 May 2012):

Open again (29 June 2012):