Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

There is a beachwear store in Surfside Beach that has been Going Out Of Business since about 1985, and it seems sex-toy store Taboo in the former Taco Bell on Devine Street has been promising the same for almost as long. In fact, the closing signs have gone up two or three times before this latest, seemingly final, iteration.

I have a certain amount of sympathy given that the store originally complied with the city's intentionally difficult siting rules to open only to have them changed to specifically target Taboo -- something the store fought all the way to the Supreme Court.

Here is my 2014 false-alarm Closing for the store, followed here by another 2018 false-alarm. Here is a WIS story from 2016 touting the imminent closing, and this State story from December 2019 apparently finally calls it correctly.

UPDATE 21 June 2021 -- Razed:

Update 2 February 2023 -- Clutch Coffee is now open here in a new building:

Happy Valentines, Columbia!

Well, I guess things were supposed to get hot, but not *that* hot.

Strip club Platinum Plus suffered a roof fire on the 17th. According to The State:

Around 5:30 a.m. the Columbia Fire Department responded to a fire at Platinum Plus, located in the 300 block of Jacob Road, which is not far from Greystone Boulevard and visible from I-126.

The club was not open at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported.

An off-duty training captain saw a glow coming from the club’s roof as he was driving on I-126, according to CFD Capt. Ernest “Brick” Lewis. The training captain investigated and reported the fire.

It was a heavy fire on the roof and spreading rapidly, Lewis said.

The blaze at Platinum Plus was classified as a two-alarm fire because it required extra manpower to fight it, and also because of the unusual type of structure of the building, which was so split up inside, according to Lewis.

That's an interesting point about the building. Does anyone know what this was built for? I'm pretty sure before it was Platinum Plus it was another strip club, called something like Tom Kats, but it's a pretty big building, and I doubt it was bespoke built to be a strip club.

The "evacuation plan" referenced on the corner sign is the former Southern Gentlemens strip club location on Old Dunbar Road which was re-opened as Platinum West a few years ago (though I think it was a move and re-branding of Heartbreakers rather than a wholly new operation). Interestingly, that club also abuts a graveyard.

UPDATE 23 January 2018: Added previous names to the post title based on the comments.

I don't think I've ever seen another setup like the one Thee Whiskey Tavern had: A strip club running inside a former hotel suite, in a hotel which was still a going concern. Of course it's not exactly unusual for hotels to have active and sometimes rowdy bars (see for instance The Wicked Witch Lounge or The Pirate's Cove), but those are generally in facilities designed as lounges and part of the hotel business proper (whatever it says on the business license).

However the situation came about Thee Whiskey Tavern survived the reflagging of the hotel from Budget Inn to Hawthorn, and an associated major remodel. It also survived an onsite stabbing in 2016. In fact, going by the closing story in The State, it's not crystal clear exactly what *did* close the place down. The article and linked RCSD twitter cite aren't very forthcoming other than operating illegally as a sexually oriented business. If anyone was arrested, or if there was a particicular incident that triggered things, it's not mentioned.

In these two shots, you can see the sign now crumpled behind the hotel, and the sign that used to sit by Bush River Road:

(Hat tip to commenter palmettoconnection)

As I believe I've said before, I think the name of this Two Notch couples' store is about a syllable short..

This place was for many years a risque book, magazine and video store, which rebranded in 2012 and was open at least through Cinco de Mayo 2016 (NSFW).

Taboo is the follow-on operation to Taco Bell in this little store that sits beside Gills Creek on the tail end of Devine Street.

Like the taco cart downtown, the place is something of a victim to the City of Columbia's zoning zig-zags. Regardless of what you think of the place, they followed the rules in place at the time to open, and ever since then the city has been trying to undo that -- which they finally have done. The place has been in court fighting, but lost their last battle at the end of September.

With the upscaling of the area, I don't see a future for this building, and would not be surprised if the next tenant took it down.

UPDATE 7 January 2020 -- This post turned out to be a false-alarm (one of many for the store). Here is a 2018 false-alarm, and Here is the final 2019 Closing. Also adding a map icon.

Jobs destroyed? Check!

Suite rent no longer being paid? Check!

Local custom driven to The Internet? Check!

It's a trifecta!

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I'm sure someone will mention what this building was originally, bu the first specific memory I have of it is from when it was Club Cabaret. Like Heartbreakers, Club Cabaret was a strip club, but it had a much nicer roadside sign. It was a neon sign, and I wish I had taken a picture of it. As I recall, it was a very well executed portrait of an attractive woman's face underneath an elaborate and colorful hat. It was not, in fact, something that leapt out and said 'strip club', but on the other hand, in Columbia you probably couldn't put up a similar sign that did. I'm not sure when Club Cabaret closed. It was still listed in the February 1997 phonebook, so I'm guessing in the early 2000s.

After Club Cabaret, the place became Heartbreakers. I'm not sure if it was affiliated with the Platinum Plus chain from the beginning, or if it was bought out sometime later, but clearly by the time the owners made their deal with the City to close this club in order to be able to keep Platinum Plus in its current location, they were sister businesses.

The original plan announced was that Heartbreakers would move to the old Diamond Disco / Southern Gentlemans location on Old Dunbar Road. In fact, if you look at that post, you can see the new neighbors namechecking the club on their signs. At some point though, that plan went by the wayside, and the Dunbar location will be called Platinum West and will be a BYOB/full-nude club. I suppose that location is far enough from the other Platinum location so as not to cause confusion using a similar name. At any rate, I suspect the plans for the Heartbreakers staff and equpment aren't affected by not carrying the name over.

But as of now, this is Where the girls aren't.

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This little building, the parking area limited and hemmed in by the hill rising to Shakespeare Road behind it, has been many things over the years -- mostly in the Bar / Social Club category. What I first recall noicing it as, however, was a long run during the 1970s when it was an adult book store, one of several then along Two Notch (two of which, I believe, remain from that era).

The last time I noticed it in operation was as Moonlight Bar & Grill as shown in the first set of pictures from 24 January 2012.

UPDATE 10 February 2021 -- It appears that somebody plowed a car into this building recently:

Also adding map icon and added "Chateau" in front of "Adult Book Store" in the post title based on the comments.

I don't think the post title is quite right. At one time, this place was Video Magic & Mags. That incarnation closed for a few weeks, then re-opened, apparently under the same ownership, but with a new name and more emphasis on lingerie than videos or "mags". That new name eludes me now.

Anyway, I noticed earlier this month that that operation has closed or re-flagged, and the place is now a second location for longtime Broad River Road "Couples store" Nancy's Nook (which name it always strikes me lacks a syllable).