Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

As noted by commenter Andrew and others, Stein Mart filed for Chapter 11 on 12 August 2020 and is expected to close most or all of its 281 stores across the country.

This story focuses on the Trenholm Plaza store, pictured above. A list of all of the announced store closings is here.

To the best of my recollection, I have never been inside this store, at least as Stein Mart. It is hard to say after so many years and upfits, but I believe this is the space once occupied by Tapp's Twig, a "smaller than a branch" storefront run by storied local department store Tapp's. If so, I would have been inside a number of times growing up.

Looking at the store closing list, I see the other local store is in Lexington, and I will try to get by before it is gone. In the meantime, the closing sale is already on, so we'll see if this location lasts into September.

(Hat tip to commenter Andew)

What a long, strange tryptophan it's been!

I'm sure you've all seen the video of this sinkhole that errupted on Trenholm Road in front of Mays Park on 14 October. If you haven't the WLTX clip is embedded above.

The State says it was the result of a 16 inch water main breach. As of Sunday 27 October, when I took these pictures, the road was still closed, though work was obviously ongoing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here's another Fashion Place closing. I don't know anthing about Avenue other than that they sold women's clothes. Perhaps Ross coming to the old Staples location across the plaza was a factor here.

I guess the writing was on the wall after this Staples cut their hours way back recently.

This was probably the Staples I went to most often over the years (with the Devine Street location a close second). In general it seemed to be a well stocked and run store, and I picked up my share of printer paper, hard drives, computer media, headphones, ethernet hubs, pens, post-its and other office and computer paraphernalia. The only knock on it I can think of is one that seems to be general to Staples as a whole: It always seems to take a bit longer to check out than it should.

Although they have posted a closing sign, there is not a sale going on, and the various "inventory" tags inside the store make me think they will be relocating the merchandise to other stores rather than doing a clearance.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

There seemed to be some effort in Columbia to make manhole covers flush with street level.

No more.

According to The State, today was the last day for Gwen Rawls in Trenholm Plaza. Not being a woman or in need of Italian shoes, I was only vaguely aware of this place, but it is in the same wing of the plaza that 32 Degrees was (though about as far away from Rosso as it is possible to get).

It does seem odd to have three storefronts close fairly close together in time like that, but on the other hand, plaza management continues to bring in new businesses like BLD Diner. We'll have to see what happens.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

The Cat Clinic veterinarian's office has moved from 4039 Trenholm Road (where it followed a coffee house) to 4600 Trenholm road, next door to Lollipop Lane daycare.

No word on whether it moved on On Little Cat Feet.

Well, this is a shame. Rosso was the follow-on operation in this corner of Trenholm Plaza to Tuesday Morning, and as you can see from the shots above, the space was completely gutted and remodeled in preparation for Rosso's arrival.

The place was a bit more upscale than I am, but over the years I liked to sit on the patio and have the Margherita Pizza (they didn't really have "normal" pizzas) while reading and watching the people go by. They often did have very good soups as well. If they had any weaknesses, it was that the bread was often some sort of rolls rather than something fresh baked and that they liked to monkey around with the Creme Brulee: No I don't want raspberry lemon-peel Creme Brulee or whatever, I want Creme Brulee Creme Brulee.

The place sold a few years ago, and went slightly more upscale with individual cloth towels in the bathroom. At that point, it also exhibited one of the warning signs, when the hours were changed to a significantly earlier closing. After that, I was rarely able to make it any more though I was hoping I would get a chance to revisit sometime during the Spring. Hopefully they will find a new spot.

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

There's a little confusion on the name of this place in Trenholm Plaza. First of all, it is clear that the actual name of the place includes a degree sign as in 32 °. Second the current signage calls the place 32 ° Soft Serv while the original signage (and current posted closing note) calls it 32 ° a Yogurt Bar. Also, the current marquee (which is not really readable in the night shot above) also calls out custard in a subheading, which I wish I had noticed before they were slated to close.

At any rate, 32 °, which opened in 2010, replaced Hair Cuttery which closed at the end of 2008. I believe I noticed that the adjoining storefront was papered over, though for some reason I did not get a picture, so perhaps the plaza has something new and larger in the works for this wing.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

Update 4 February 2019: The Free Times puts the actual closing date as 27 January, so I have updated the post title from "February 2019" to reflect that.