Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

According to the Lexington Patch, Goody 2 Shoes is a family owned and operated shoe store that specializes in children's footwear.

As commenter James mentioned a while back, they have been holding a very coloful going-out-of-business sale in recent weeeks. It appears that they went to the bare walls, and are now closed.

(Hat tip to commenter James)

I noticed last month while eating with relatives on the sidewalk at Yesterdays that Good For The Sole has moved from the corner suite at 631-D behind the sculpture to the old Leon's Books / Five Points Nails & Spa location at 631-C.

(And, yes, we did get panhandled..)

D's Shoe Warehouse was one of the very few stores left in Capitol Centre, the strip mall behind Columbia Mall which once held Capitol Centre Theatre, MOvies Behind The Mall, Circuit City, Cucos Mexican Cafe, Aliens & Alibis, and Jim's Discount Mall.

As of 31 January 2013, they have moved to Parklane, in the old site of Awesome Mattress.

This ladies' shoe store in Boozer Shopping Center apparently set up shop in July of 2011. I'm not sure exactly when it closed, but the storefront was papered over by the time of this 31 May 2012 shot.

As far as I can tell, the opening of I-77 hasn't really helped Landmark Square much. It's nice they got one of the new Krispy Kremes, but the rest of the place still could use a good makeover.

Looking back in the Feb 1997 phonebook, says that this little shoe storefront was founded some time after that (though there was a "Shoe City" on Garners Ferry back then..) and lasted until this year.

I don't know how I suffered this mental lapse, but somehow I convinced myself that on the day after Christmas, the Christmas rush would be over, and it would once more be safe to hit the Harbison area. Bad call!

I came up Harbison from Saint Andrews Road, and that wasn't so bad. Neither was getting into the circle for Columbiana Centre. Getting out was the hard part. It took me half an hour to merge into the counterclockwise outbound traffic and work my way to the Columbiana Drive exit. In between arriving and leaving, the mall itself was as packed as I've ever seen any mall. I guess I have been "spoiled" by the nearly empty expanses of Richland Mall, Columbia Mall and Dutch Square. I guess that makes Columbiana Centre Columbia's success story, but it doesn't make me want to go there again any time soon..

At any rate, Payless Shoe Source were in their final few days and were selling everything down to the store fixtures in preparation for clothing store Forever 21 to expand into their spot. In years past, it's always seemed to me that shoe stores are the most over-representated category in malls, but perhaps that's now changing.

UPDATE 27 February 2019: Add tags and map icon.

(Hat tip to commenter Dustin)

Well, it's back to the Shops At Columbiana Crossing today. From their web site Fleet Feet Sports appears to be an athletic shoe and running wear store, which pretty much rules it out as a place I would ever visit, but they had quite a nice little space in this Columbiana Drive storefront. I particularly like the curvy wood (or faux wood) flooring and the somewhat canted counter.

In late September they relocated, fleetly, but probably not on foot, to a much larger space at 945 Lake Murray Boulevard next to Bruegger's.

Well, it's back to Park Centre at Two Notch & Polo Roads for this former Pic 'N Pay Shoes. You can pretty much make out the label-scar with the name if you look at it with charity, though there seems to be some issue with the street address. The Feb 1997 Bellsouth phonebook lists the Pic 'N Pay at 9714 Two Notch while the pasted letters clearly mark this unit as "9710 STE 5". However, Park Centre apparently encompasses 9710 through 9714, so it's all the same property whether they may have moved down a unit at some point.

They won't have moved after 2000 though, as the whole Pic 'N Pay chain filed for bankruptcy in March of that year. Apparently this was their second trip into Chapter 11, after one in 1996, and this one ended up in liquidation (and selling a lot of assets to Shoe Show).

Google says that 9710 #5 was also Top Nail nail salon at some point. I would say after Pic 'N Pay as nail salons seem to specialize in making a go out of failing properties.

I'm not much of a clothes shopper, so I've never made it to Weathers of Columbia on Devine Street at Woodrow Street, but it looks as if you want to do so, you should do so soon.

Of course, I thought that in 2008 too, and in fact almost did a closing on them then..

This year's sign is a bit more definitively worded, though their web site doesn't have any mention of it.

Carzzz is yet another vacant used car lot on Two Notch Road. The name makes me think of those rip-off movies you find in the cheap bin at Wal-Mart or at The Dollar Store where you're supposed to think you're getting a Disney movie, and instead it's some Eastern-European knockoff. Lightning McQueen it's not..

This building, on the northwest corner of Two Notch Road and Beltline Boulevard, was once, in the not too distant past, a Payless Shoe Source, despite striking me as a very odd location for such. In fact, the location is awkward for most uses as it is fairly hard to get into and out of.

The Carzzz web site is still online (and copyright 2010). It's interesting that the picture they use there does not have the old UK style telephone booth on the corner of the store sidewalk. I wonder what the story of that is? I have a dim memory that the nearby Chappy's Authentic English Fish & Chips may have had such a thing, but even if it that were true, I'm not sure how it would end up there.

UPDATE 23 December 2011 -- Work is ongoing here, but no indication of what is coming next:

I have some pictures of the sad fate of the British phonebooth I need to upload too.

UPDATE 10 January 2012 -- As mentioned, here are some pix of the demise of the phonebooth, from 1 October 2011:

UPDATE 25 January 2012 -- As reported by commenter Andrew, this is to be a dental clinic. In fact, as I was in the area yesterday, they were preparing to replace the banner type sign for Family Dental with a permanent sign -- something that was accomplished the next time I drove by (though I did not get a picture of it). With the opening of this clinic, the corner of Two Notch and Beltline will have two dental operations, as the old Eckerd on the opposite side of the street is now Small Smiles dental clinic.

UPDATE 28 January 2012 -- All the signage is up:

UPDATE 27 February 2019: Add tags and map icon.