Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I believe that of the local brewpubs, I've only hit Hunter Gatherer and the Old Mill in Lexington (if you don't count Aiken as local), but I would notice the River Rat from time to time driving by and think it might be somewhere to go on a nice evening. As usual, I waited too long.

It appears that market saturation & changes in local laws hastened the closure. As the owner told The Free Times:

You'd think that would've equated to more business at places like River Rat and, in some ways, it did. What started as a production brewery became a brewpub, offering things like trivia and Sunday brunch. But it meant that businesses like Tourville's and ones like Swamp Cabbage, which had built their facilities in less-busy areas were fighting an uphill battle to get customers to their side of town. The idea had been that they'd focus more on production and distribution and less on outfitted taprooms and food offerings.

"The Stone Bill changed everything because it just meant everyone wanted to get into the business, everyone wanted to open up a brewery. Everybody saw it as a cash cow," Tourville said. "You just don't have that revenue stream without being a restaurant and getting people in your door... it's just not a sustainable business plan to be a production brewery and a brewpub."

There have been a lot of changes on Shop Road lately -- we'll have to see what happens to this location next.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Carolina Eastern has demolished their Shop Road wearhouse and relocated their fertilizer and gypsum operations to other locations according to this Post & Courier article pointed out by commenter Thomas.

The site is noted as 9.6 acres, so I think most of what I've taken pictures of here is probably part of it, but I don't know the actual boundries. It apparently went on the market in February, so we'll have to see what's next.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

I have written about The State a number of times. For instance in this post, I note how anemic the second millennium State looks compared to the 1973 State. I am pretty sure I did a post when they started renting out parts of their headquarters when they could no longer fully occupy it though I can't find it now.

I was going to do a post when they announced they would no longer print a Saturday paper, but never got around to it. Now, however, they have completely vacated their Shop Road headquarters, and have moved printing out of the city, to Charlotte. Their headline:

tries to put a positive spin on it by putting some good news first, but the second part of that is pretty major. If the paper is printed in Charlotte, and the inserts are done in Raleigh, then as far as I can tell, that means the print edition has to be printed in Charlotte, trucked to Raleigh, trucked from Raleigh to Columbia and then put out for home delivery. Since their commitment is that delivery times will not change, that means the paper will have to be put to bed extremely early. I don't see how that can possibly compete with other news sources. I don't take the paper, so I could be wrong. I wonder if those of you who do take it have noticed a difference.

The same story said The State would move from Shop Road "this fall", but the branding is already off the building, as you can see, and it seems to me they have already moved (though I am not sure to where).

LoopNet has some more details, as well as a really nice picture of the building with the branding still up:

±3,500 to 60,000 square feet of premier office space available for lease. Close proximity to the CBD, University of South Carolina, and the booming Southeast Columbia Industrial Market. Fully secured building with on-site security and key card access throughout. Recently renovated with upgraded, modern finishes. Available space features dedicated reception at entry, which includes ample space for file storage and would allow for easy access to customers or clients. Access to two (2) conference rooms, one of which has an excellent view of Williams Brice Stadium. Cafeteria service via an industrial-grade kitchen. Large dining area and access to a state-of-the-art fitness center! Three Passenger Elevators and One Freight Elevator.

Stop the presses.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

I noticed this large brick warehouse on Shop Road last month, but haven't been about to find out much about it online. Apparently it was Colonial Warehouse. This LoopNet listing has some details, though it says the property is off the market, which I am pretty sure is incorrect. Anyway, it's a 266,488 square foot building on a 10 acre property. The listing also suggests "The site is ideally suited for a multi-family or student housing development", because heaven knows we don't have enough student housing in Columbia.

If you look at the Google Maps aerial view, you can see that, at that time anyway, the property is well supplied with porta-potties. Not sure what that is about, as otherwise there does not seem to be any work going on there.

Noticed this nice old-school brick warehouse on Shop Road the other week. They list in the Feb 2007-Fe2008 book, but not the Feb 2010 one, so I'm tagging it around 2009. This building has the stair-step facade that was very common on older businesses for some reason.

The real-estate listing says it was built in 1940, which I can believe and is 52,313 square-feet on 2 acres.

Commenter badger points out that Thermo King "[T]he smart choice for transport temperature control" has moved from this Shop Road location out to 30 Sontagg Drive in Gaston.

I actually saw the new location from I-26 on my last trip to Florida, but didn't know I should take a picture then, and didn't want to get stuck in the standard I-26 traffic jam just for that last weekend.

(Hat tip to commenter Badger)

Crowson Stone is a name that was a constant presence when I was growing up. Since nobody in my family, and in fact nobody I knew ever needed a printer's services, I can only think this was because they (along with R. L. Bryan with whom I often got them confused) advertised constantly on WIS AM.

You don't really hear much of this anymore, but it used to be that a lot of non-retail operations would advertise on the radio. I guess the theory was that while it was unlikely that any given listener would need a printer (and back in the days before digital, that was no casual purchase!) keeping the name out there was good business in the "Oh yeah, I've heard of them, they should be OK" sort of way.

I'm not sure when this building, at the east end of Shop Road, was built. The February 1997 phonebook lists Crowson Ston at 819 Main Street, while the February 2006 book lists both Main Street and Shop Road, so this location probably came online in the early 2000s.

In early 2012 they were bought by Indexx Printing of Greenville, and by the February 2014 phonebook were listing the only the Main Street location again.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)