Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This legacy motel on US-601 at the Sumter Highway interchange has been here many years, and had a certain amount of fame as the Coronet Motel, which was the home of the The Circus Room -- A nightclub in an old circus bigtop tent.

In more recent years it has been a generic family run motel with a convenience store added in the office to bring in a bit more business (which has been in decline ever since Interstates became a thing). The only time I ever stopped was for a much needed comfort break on my way to the beach. I had previously been to the gas station on the other side of the intersection, and had been well less than impressed. In the event I probably should have take that option again. It turned out that the bathroom was unisex, and despite the fact that it had a perfectly good door lock, the exceedingly large woman on the pot when I opened the door had not engaged it. It was an encounter which I don't think did either of us much good..

I noticed a year or so ago that the place had finally given up the ghost and took these pictures a few months ago. Unfortunately many were taken against the sun, but since I doubt I will ever get by there in the morning, so it is what it is.

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I stopped at this Bi-Lo on Sunday, and while it was rapidly emptying out, there was still a good bit there, and they hadn't started randomly consolidating the shelves. I picked up some long lasting sundries like shampoo, hot sauce & spices at a 15% discount.

According to The Post & Courier, this store is not going to be converted into a Food Lion and there are no current plans for a new tenant in the building.

(Hat tip to commenter Alan, and possibly others -- there has been a lot of talk about Bi-Lo).

UPDATE 13 December 2021: Now a Food Lion:

See here for the story.

According to The State Adrenaline trampoline park opened on 26 May 2018 in the old Piggly Wiggly building. I used to love trampolines, always trying to visit King's Funland when at Pawleys, but I have to admit the thought of getting on one now would scare me to death. That's gravity and middle age for you!

I know my niece went to this location at least once, and actually had another free pass that she never got around to redeeming. Now, of course, it's too late. Adreneline has been closed since the start of the lockdown, and sometime in the last month or so, they announced they would not be coming back.

I'm not sure what the deal with the tiger was.

(Hat tip to my sister)

Here's another Long's Drugs, this one in Hopkins not far from Lower Richland High School.

The story is the same for all Long's locations: The chain decided to exit the retail pharmacy business.

I had not realized there was a branch of Richland Library in this strip. I believe it must be the smallest location in the county.

I noticed when I was at Shoney's today, that the adjacent Interstate Battery Center had closed, and was being gutted. The signage is off the building, though for now the road sign remains.

You can't tell it from these shots, but if you look at google maps, you can see from the drive-through on the east side of the building that this was pretty clearly a bank at one time, though I don't know of what stripe.

UPDATE 4 March 2020: Added Standard Federal Savings & Loan to the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 2 September 2020 -- This place is about to open as a Nick's Gyros & Seafood:

While I was getting the Save A Lot pictures, I noticed that the pizza joint in the same strip has now been (partially?) reflagged as a King's Pizza.

Their (officially claimed) Yelp page gives the name as King's Planet Pizza and has a link to the main King's web site, which curiously does not list the place as a location (though it does still list Marshall Street, which I think has fallen through). Does anyone know if the Columbia Mall location has come to pass?

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Elite Pawn & Gun moved into this space after Ole Timey Meat Market. They last listed in the February 2017 phonebook, so I am going to mark the closing date as 2017.

The new tenant is SMP Phone Doctor, a cellphone sales and repair shop. I'm not sure what is going on with all the trucks.

UPDATE 11 July 2019 -- I'm updated the post title with "Moved", as I saw the new location for this place, which is in the old H. Rubin Vision Center closer to town:

I think my dermatologist would prefer I dig a tunnel to the mailbox and not come out into the sunlight at all, so I have never really understood the allure of tanning studios, but there are still a number of them around. This one is next to the former Springleaf Financial Serveices at Garners Ferry Crossing, and you can see it in operation in the first picture above. They listed in the Feb 2016 phonebook, but not more recently, so I'm guessing this storefront has now been vacant for at at least two years. (And the same plaza Hibachi Grill P&G Buffet has now been vacant over five years.)