Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

The parent company of American Freight, Hilco Consumer-Retail has gone Chapter 11, and all American Freight stores are closing.

I had seen this location on Atlas Road many times over the years, but I never really grasped it was a retail outlet, the name making me think something more industrial. The parking lot is smaller than expected, meaning I couldn't really get back and get the whole store in the frame, but as you can see the Store Closing banners are already up. I guess if you need some furniture for the holidays, now would be the time to go looking...

You can read about the bankruptcy here.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

It's a little hard to say the exact name of this place. Google has it as Grand Appliances•New Sales•Scratch and Dent Sales while their Facebook says Grand Appliances & Mattress•New Sales•Scratch & Dent Sales.

At any rate, their last Facebook post is from May 2024, so I'm going to list the closing date as "Summer 2024". There was some activity in the buildiing when I drove by last Saturday, so perhaps something new is coming.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

The chain filed for Chapter 11 in August, but couldn't find a buyer, and is now winding down all stores. Looking at the linked article it appears they should all be gone by the end of the year, taking them down from 400 stores to 0.

This particular store is fairly new, being the follow-on operation in this storefront to HobbyTown USA which moved in 2018.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I think I've written that Borders Books was my touchstone for quality bookstores. They had a certain mistique as I first encountered them in exotic locales like Washington DC & Overland Park KS and often ended up coming home with a suitcase full of books I'd never find locally.

Although I never got my wish of Borders coming to Columbia, Barnes & Noble was a good second choice, and I spent many evenings at the Harbison location hanging out in the cafe with prospective purchases on the table. This one, at Richland Mall never seemed quite as nice to me, but was servicable enough and I certainly bought my share of books (and gifts) there.

You could kind of see it go down with the mall over the years though. At some point a few years before the end, they gave up on the mall and closed of the exit leading to the mall interior. You could notice a lot of maintainence that wasn't being done as well, partly I suppose because of the mall's troubles and partly because of the chain's. The mens' room especially got quite shoddy over the years, and nobody was taking care of the wobbly tables in the cafe. Finally they started dropping the hours. When I was younger and could drink coffee at 10pm, the store was open until 11pm, and I would often be on the last call out. In the end, I think, the hours had dropped to 8pm, and less on some days.

The last time I was there was on Christmas-Eve Eve of 2023, during the final closing sale, where I found some quite good bargains. Shortly after that, the store closed until the Woodhill location was ready, and earlier this year the building was finally razed during the Richland Mall demolition.

I have been to the new location once, and it looked quite nice.

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I found these pictures from April & May of 2012 -- Pretty much no change since then...

Whit-Ash has been in this location since 1974, making them a Vista stalwart before there was a Vista.

According to WIS this location was once the Murray Drug Company, and you should look at their article as it has a very nice historical picture and ad for that establishment.

Before moving to this spot, several articles mention a (non-specific) site on Saint Andrews Road as the original location for the store, and commenter Midnight Rambler found a 1973 State article listing it as at Boardwalk Plaza, which, of course was Bush River Road.

The owners are retiring, and don't have a definite end date for the closing sale, with the current plan being to sell down to the last piece of furniture.

You can read about Whit-Ash on ColaDaily, WLTX and The Post & Courier as well as the WIS link above.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

Here's the Saint Andrews Road location of Badcock. As we have seen several times recently, the chain is bankrupt and closing all stores.

St. Andrews Shopping Center lost another anchore back in 2013 and came through it OK. We'll have to see what happens this time.

As we discussed a few days ago the Badcock chain is going out of business after a bad merger and bankruptcy. This is the Lexington location in Town Square.

I'm not sure of the actual closing date, but I don't see it outlasting the month, at least by much.

During my most recent trip to Fernandina, I noticed that this eclectic antique, book & decor shop on 8th Street had closed.

Over the past seveal years, I got a number of Christmas and other gifts there, in particular some interesting cookbooks, neat umbrellas and blown glass decorations. It was a fascinating place to walk through, though it was a bit out of the way in relation to the main shopping areas of the town. That may have had something to do with the closing, as I never found that many people inside while I made my visits. That's just speculation, the closing could be a retirement or any other reason, I can't seem to find anything about it in the local media. The google reviews point to a closing date sometime around early June.

In the meantime, the shop's Instagram remains up, with some nice pictures, and this is their archived web page from February 2023.

I always thought Badcock had a Smucker's kind of thing going on: With a name like that, it had to be good.

I first became aware of the chain in Fernandina growing up, but I never got around to going into the store on my trips up and down Centre Street. Likewise, I don't believe I ever stepped into one anywhere else either.

Commenter Andrew sends this article which says that the chain was purchased seven months ago by Conn's Home Plus which promptly went bankrupt taking Badcock with it. Seems like some poor decision-making on both sides of that sale!

This store is in Fashion Place on Decker, a venue which has seen its share of closings over they years to the point that I would say Badcock was the last anchor type store in the place. We will have to see what follows.

I'm not sure why I never got around to this location of the bankrupt chain, but I believe the Harbison store (in Columbiana Station, the Target plaza) closed in June of 2023, and is still vacant.