Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I'm not sure what's going on at Village At Sandhill, but quite a lot of it is cordoned off for construction with Enter At Your Own Risk signs. The blocks still having shops have walkways to the doors, but some buildings look completely encased...

I'm pretty sure I've shopped at Rack Room Shoes a time or two, but never at this location, just down from Belks. The signage is already down and the place pretty throughly stripped, so I'm guessing it was probably gone by mid-April at the latest.

(Hat tip to commenter Local Reader)

Apparently Bobby's has been closed for about a year, but I never noticed it because the signage is still up, both on the storefront and the plaza road sign.

I used Bobby's several times for minor repairs on various pairs of Sebago Docksides, which I tend to hang onto (especially as they are no longer available), and was satisfied with the work. I believe that with the recent closing of Jimmy John's, this little plaza (which does not seem to have a name) now has three vacancies.

(Hat tip to commenter Dan R)

The last reviews I see date from the start of 2021, so I'll put that as the closing date. Whatever happened here though, seems to have happened in two phases, judging by the door sign. I know they were open during the pandemic, so it wasn't that, but apparently they had to close temporarily for some reason, and it just segued into a permanent closing.

(Hat tip to commenter Bethany)

It looks like Tootsies on Forest Drive will be closing soon, as they are currently running a 30% off retirement sale. It might be a good time to pick up some summer shoes before the beach..

I can't find out anything about this Sandhill Stride Rite shoe location except that it is no longer listed on the company's website, although I did learn that Sperry is a Stride Rite brand, which I had not known before.

Since I can find no other information, I'm going to list the closing date as 2020 under the assumption they might have been victims of the lockdowns.

D's Shoe Warehouse moved to Columbia Plaza from Capitol Centre at the end of January 2013. They replaced Awesome Mattress in this endcap location, and apparently remained there until around June of 2020.

At this point, the the storefront has been completely gutted, and it is unclear what, if anything, is on the way.

I find it curious that this plaza is 7201 Parklane, and Columbia Mall is 7201 Two Notch. I think someone made that happen on purpose somehow.

UPDATE 2 September 2021 -- Now Money Barbie cosmetics store:

I've always admired this interesting building on upper Knox Abbott. I'm not sure if it was originally built as a Red Wing store, or something else started here, but it certainly catches the eye as you drive by.

Recently the owners have disaffiliated from Red Wing, saying:

Formerly Red Wing Shoes, we have changed our name to CB Forrest Workwear, and will have a larger variety of safety shoes!

and

We have been serving the Cayce area for over 30 years. (Formerly Red wing shoes) We have changed our name to CB Forrest Workwear, but will be managed by the same staff. Same service and custom fit as always, but now with more brands to choose from.

Footaction was on the lower level of Columbia Mall at the foot of the winding staircase, underneath the old Lowery Organs location, across from the former Radio Shack and adjacent to the former JC Penny.

According to their door sign, Footaction had initially closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, but rolled that into a permanent closure at some point, and they have already stripped the store. As reported by commenter Rashaad, the other Footlocker brands have also left the mall, and will probably feature here in due course.

As an aside, social distancing is not an issue at Columbia Mall:

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)

I was not really aware of this little place on Forest Drive, behind The Happy Cafe and in-between Tombo Grille and The Village Idiot. What I can tell from its google reviews is that it sold clothes and shoes. I believe it had the same suite as the former Tag It Art

UPDATE 12 May 2021 -- This is to become Flour Power a kids' party cooking studio:

Well, this happened sooner than I figured, and this store was completely gone by the time I got around to visiting Columbia Mall.

Of course, it appears to have been a failry small store, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. As you can tell if you click through on the mall directory, Payless was on the lower level just two storefronts down from the former Sears. The storefront to the left of it is also vacant, though I'm not sure what it was.

As a reminder, Payless declared bankruptcy on 14 February 2019 and all the chain's stores have closed or will be closing soon.