Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

2011:

August 2022:

To the best of my memory, I've never been in a Wild Wing, even to get a burger, largely because I don't like the smell of chicken.

I did enjoy their radio campaign which leveraged The Troggs "Wild Thing!". The first set of pictures above is from 2011, with night shots presumably taken while I was on the way home from the movie theater. The next set are from this month, and post-closing.

The State has the story, but I'll fancy my pictures have a more complete one.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

As reported by commenter Russell, this former AT&T location in Sandhill is to become a Substation II, the signage for which is already up. ColaDaily has the story.

(Hat tip to commenter Russell)

UPDATE 5 May 2022: Added Cingular to the post title.

Apprently this move took place sometime around June of 2020, but I never noticed it until quite recently. Rice Music House moved from their old Devine Street location to near the traffic circle at Sandhill in 2012, and have now moved an additional block or so to 486 Town Center Place, Suite 1.

As you can see above, as of yet there is nothing in the storefront they vacated.

I can't find out anything about this Sandhill Stride Rite shoe location except that it is no longer listed on the company's website, although I did learn that Sperry is a Stride Rite brand, which I had not known before.

Since I can find no other information, I'm going to list the closing date as 2020 under the assumption they might have been victims of the lockdowns.

I can't find anything in the local media about this Jos A. Banks location in Sandhill, but going by the google reviews, it closed sometime around August of 2020. The chain has had some difficulty lately, but the parent company, which also owns Mens Warehouse has Just exited Chapter 11, so perhaps things are on the upswing.

There are two remaining Banks in the Midlands, one in Harbison, and one at Trenholm Plaza.

For some reason, I thought I had already done a closing for Justice, but I don't see it, and none of the facts I just googled seem familiar, so I guess not!

Anyway, Justice was a tween girl brand with a bit of a complicated history. It was started by The Limited as Limited Too, and was then bought by Dress Barn. Ascena Retail Group, the follow-on name for Dress Barn after a reorg, went bankrupt in 2020, and this affected Catherines stores, some Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor Factory and Justice stores.

The Justice brand was then bought by Bluestar Alliance LLC but the final stores closed on 17 December 2020. The brand now seems to be owned by Justice Brand Holdings LLC, but the web site simply says to "Stay tuned" for future developments..

Apparently we have another COVID-19 casualty here. New York & Company announced on 28 July 2020 that:

store closing sales have begun at all New York & Company retail locations across the United States. The firms are conducting liquidation sales across approximately 380 store locations in connection with the recent bankruptcy filing of New York & Company's parent company, RTW Retailwinds, Inc. ("RTW").

New York & Company is a specialty women's fashion retailer which offers modern, multi-functional wear-to-work apparel at affordable prices. As part of the sale, customers can expect initial discounts of up to 60% off original prices for all in-store merchandise including women's clothing, accessories and shoes.

USA Today provides a bit more detail:

"The combined effects of a challenging retail environment coupled with the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have caused significant financial distress on our business, and we expect it to continue to do so in the future," Sheamus Toal, RTW Retailwinds CEO and chief financial officer, said in the release.

So, things weren't great before the plague, but that was the tipping point.

Frankly, I was not aware this store, or the chain, existed, so I can say very little else about it. It is definitely another hit on Sandhill, which really does not need any more problems.

I don't think Victoria's Secret is officially bankrupt, but apparently a planned buyout fell through leaving the chain in desperate straits. Of course the COVID-19 crisis didn't help any either, and they are now in the process of closing 250 some stores.

This Sandhill location apparently closed in June as reported by commenter Bethany, but when I drove by then, the signage was still up, and the merchandise was still inside -- the "Lock the doors" order must have come down very quickly. When I got back in early July, the storefront was cleaned-out and blank.

I see from the label-scar that they were neighbors with a maternity store called Motherhood which pre-deceased VS and for which I never did a closing.

(Hat tip to commenter Bethany)

I was looking for some spicy peanuts for an upcoming gathering, and decided to stop by The Peanut Man at Sandhill. In the event, I found it gone.

A little digging established that they have closed their Sandhill and downtown stores, and have consolidated into a new space on Fernandina Road, in the old Prestige Appliance location. In fact, I had seen the banner for Chocolate Factory & Coffee Shoppe from the Interstate, but I did not realize it was The Peanut Man. The new spot is a restaurant as well as a sweet & nut shop, serving a breakfast & lunch menu:

Here is a State article on starting the new location, and here is one about closing the downtown location to focus on this spot.

I'm not going to attempt the metal umlaut in the post title, but Yogen Früz is a froyo franchaise operation which is still in operation, though this closure leaves the nearest store in Florida or possibly Virginia. I guess it's not too surprising that if an ice cream or froyo shop is going to close, the start of colder weather is a trigger [this was wrong: see note below].

This location is on the same "block" with the former corner Starbucks (and in fact you can somewhat see it in those pictures), and across from the centeral traffic island/venue at Sandhill.