Columbia Closings   What’s not in Columbia anymore

Commenter Bobby notes that this McAlister's Deli at the corner of Sparkleberry Lane and Graces Way will be moving down Two Notch soon to set up shop by Hobby Lobby.

If I am reading this historical listing right, then the property has been sold once in the last couple of years already. (If there's a more current listing, google is not making it obvious to me).

As I think I have mentioned before, I have never really warmed up to this chain, possibly because you have to go to the counter to beg for drink refills.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby)

I wrote about this building a while ago while it was in the process of becoming It's All Good Grill. As of now, it looks like that operation is on temporary hiatus.

Well, that didn't last too long.

Spunky's Auto Sales was the follow-on operation to Prestige Hitech Autowerks which moved down the street into the old Dick Dyer bodyshop. They opened sometime last fall (the picture I have is from October 2013) and lasted, I'm thinking, until last month (April 2014).

I continue to like the gull-wing lights at these old service stations. The roofline is nice too.

I would never go back to one, but there is something magical about a typewriter: the rhythm of the keys, the ding of the bell, the tactile sensation of the platten ratchet advancing while you slap the carriage back over.. Even the smell of one is distinctive, a unique combination of metal, stale air, oil and ink. And for something ubiquitous so recently there are few other things (the phonograph is one..) that illustrate the generational divide so clearly. Set a high school student in front of a typewriter today, and you might as well have supplied a blank cuneiform tablet and chisels.

The Typewriter Exchange had been on Two Notch for as long as I can remember, probably going back into the '60s. I often wondered in recent years how they continued on, but a look through their window suggested they had moved into computer repair as typewriters became paperweights. Although the building had been up for sale since at least 2010, the business continued until recently, but last time I drove by, I noticed the place is now a church.

UPDATE 29 April 2014 -- Here is the place today as Fruit Of The Spirit Love Ministry:

I need to go back and get come better pictures, but the Manigault-Hurley Funeral Home closed down in mid March. This funeral home had been a fixture in Columbia since 1923, and provided respite for grieving families in Columbia's Black community starting in the Jim Crow era when other places would have turned them away. 91 years is a pretty good run by any standard! The State says the home's historic record books will be donated to USC's South Caroliniana Library.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 4 April 2014: Added hat-tip to commenter Sidney.

This little storefront is right beside the Dentsville Best Buy and right across the Two Notch entry to the Columbia Mall perimeter road. In fact, this strip mall shares stoplight access to Two Notch with the perimeter, and it always seemed to me that when they built Best Buy they should have figured out some way to connect their parking lot with this one.

I think Tru Cutz was the last tenant here, as you can still see the word "Barber" superimposed on the window. On the other hand, I can't find a phonebook listing for them, and I can for Anointed who seem to have moved to Decker around 2011.

I noticed the other day that this car service center just east of Midlands Shopping Center was no longer in business.

The real-estate write up calls it "downtown Columbia", which seems a bit off to me.

Melanie's was in the little strip mall by the railroad tracks on Two Notch just across from the Big Lots shopping center. As far as I can gather from their web page, it was a beauty parlor and hair salon.

Although the suite numbers don't match exactly, I'm pretty sure looking at the pictures that Melanie's was the follow-on operation to The Crate.

UPDATE 3 March 2014 --Commenter Steve points out that Melanie's has in fact moved to Sparkleberry, and with that info I'm able to google up a new address at 111 Sparkleberry Crossing, Suite 6, and a Facebook page. Looks like they just had their relocation Grand Opening.

Also, driving by again and specifically looking, I agree with commenter badger that this is not the old Crate unit in that complex.

UPDATE 12 March 2014 -- Here is their new Sparkleberry Crossing location:

This little building, the parking area limited and hemmed in by the hill rising to Shakespeare Road behind it, has been many things over the years -- mostly in the Bar / Social Club category. What I first recall noicing it as, however, was a long run during the 1970s when it was an adult book store, one of several then along Two Notch (two of which, I believe, remain from that era).

The last time I noticed it in operation was as Moonlight Bar & Grill as shown in the first set of pictures from 24 January 2012.

I first wrote about this lot in the closing for North 1 Drive-In, a location that had a certain notoriety amongst teenage boys. Interestingly, the address given during the theater days is 8757, which is two blocks off of the current number. But then this was pretty much the boonies back then.

Not being a big exercise fan, what I constantly noticed about the New Life incarnation was the electronic banner on the top of their roadside sign. This normally ran a digital temperature reading, and it was never right -- Generally it wasn't even close.

Like Columbia Athletic Club before them, New Life has apparently lost the local battle against the (very fit) 500 pound gorilla that is Gold's Gym. Curiously, apparently the only New Life location remaining is in Cedar Rapids Iowa.

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