Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I remember when this store was on Main Street, and actually did a closing for that location, but kind of forgot about it and lost track after it moved to Capitol Square in West Columbia, though I must have seen it many times in passing as I drove by.

Seventy Five years is one heck of a run.

As I mentioned in the closing for Jin Jin, this plaza is now entirely vacant.

When I went to do a closing for Swiff, I noticed that it was in the old Strictly Running location, and I had never done one for that, so let me do that here as well.

Athletic gear retailer (and event sponsor) Strictly Running moved to 2515 Devine Street some time ago -- Google Reviews suggests around 2016.

Swiff started as a popup store various places around town such as Soda City Market and opened this storefront for locally designed fashion in February of 2022 as reported in The State. The Free Times reports a bit more about the motivation and background for the brand.

Although the store is closed, Swiff remains online.

(Hat tip to commenter Deanna)

This is fairly near to me, but if you'd asked me where it was, I couldn't have told you. I guess I get tunnel-blindness when I'm not in the market for whatever I'm drving by.

Anyway, commenter Andrew reports the retirement sale and upcoming closing, so if you are in the market for some casual & patio type furniture, you should probably head on down there before too much longer.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I was driving by this weekend, and noticed that the S-Mart convenience store & gas station on the Southwest corner of Blossom & Huger was closed. I didn't notice until I was sitting at the light, so I didn't have a chance to park and look around, but from the pile of dirt and scuff marks, it looks like they have already taken out the tanks.

Normally I would expect something to go into this high-traffic spot quickly, but I proved to be wrong about the catty-cornered lot with the former Columbia Antique Mall / Chic Antique & Co., which closed in 2016. That struck me as a prime site, but now six years later, the space is still vacant.

I was going down to the Greek Festival last weekend, and noticed this Dollar General (in a former Eckerd) on the corner of Taylor & Barnwell streets. was closed.

The sign doesn't give any reason, but assures us that it is temporary. If I had to guess, I would say staffing issues, but of course I don't know.

Whitehall TV was an old-school television repair shop across from the former Clusters Of Whitehall just about where Bush River Road turns into Tram Road. I don't really know anything about the place, but I do know that people rarely get TVs fixed today as they don't have tubes or really any replacable parts at all anymore, which can't have helped things.

Google reviews suggest the place has been closed at least seven months, and commenter JohnR thinks it's about a year, so I'm just going to put 2022 as the date.

(Hat tip to commenter JohnR)

UPDATE 8 September 2023: Change reference "Tram Street" to "Tram Road".

UPDATE 9 October 2023 -- Here are some post closing shots:

I remember growing up, when this store was White's, the book department at the top of the escalator was one of my favorite places to browse as they would usually have a selection of Tom Swift, Jr books as well as random other interesting tomes. The escalator itself was cool because it was so narrow that you could grab each handrail and hoist yourself off your feet while you made the trip, all the while listening to the floor-caller making coded announcements like Five Nine, Five Nine!.

When they knocked the original Richland Mall down, they skipped this building, and it stayed on as White's until the chain went under, or was bought out -- I forget which.

After that, it became Belk, but honestly, this store has been getting ready to close for the past five years or so. It seemed as though every time I went inside, the place had been more hollowed out and threadbare. It started most notably on the second floor, especially after the doors to the far side of the mall were permanently closed and gradually continued up there until finally the escalator was shut down and the whole floor closed off. This is basically the path the Dutch Square store walked down. I can still recall how spooky it was to go up to the men's room there after the rest of the floor had been vacated.

Ahthough I haven't been in since the closing was announced, things were looking pretty sparse on the ground floor as well, the last time I went by. I'll try to get some inside pictures at some point during the process.

Here are stories on the closing from The State, WLTX, and The Post & Courier.

(Hat tip to Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 6 September 2023: Commenter Andrew notes that the place closed today, so I am updating the post title to note that.

I noticed that a gym has moved into the corner space at The Shoppes At 4600 and realized I never did a closing for the previous storefront Consign It!. If I have a picture of Consign It! I can't locate it right now, but you can see the marquee on there Facebook page here.

According to this State story, they closed shop here on 1 October 2021, and according, again, to their Facebook, opened a booth at Red Lion on Hampton Street not too long after that, though I'm not sure if they are still there as there.

I believe that Arena Athletic Club is the first tenant in this slot since Consign It! left.

Here's another Tuesday Morning caught up in the chain's bankruptcy. This one is in Lexington in the Food Lion / Books-A-Million plaza, just done from the former Stein Mart

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

. This will leave the plaza with two rather large vacancies.

One of the very early closings I did on this site way back in January of 2008 was for this location of Tuesday Morning when it closed in Trenholm Plaza. At the time I called the store concept Big Lots by Martha Stewart, and I stand by that. After they left the Trenholm Plaza location, they did not come back immediately, but when La-Z-Boy closed in 2009, they moved into the current building.

Commenter Andrew sends this CNN link indicating that the whole chain is closing down after a second descent into bankruptcy. The article traces the immediate problem back to lost traction during the closings of 2020, but also indicates that the chain had no Internet strategy.

The final sale has started at his location, and has been going on at least a week, so if you want a bargain, you'd best not wait much longer; their Facebook says everything is 40% off.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)