Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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)

Well, they door signs only call out a temporary closing due to the crisis, but with the real estate sign by the road, and the LoopNet listing, I'm afraid we can chalk up another casualty of COVID-19.

I have been in this antique mall many times over the years, but not in the last several years for some reason or another. I'm trying to think if I actually bought anything there, and I can't bring anything to mind, though I do specifically recall looking for old phonebooks there (and not finding any -- they are surprisingly rare). With the closing of Ole Town Antique Mall and Columbia Antique Mall, this leaves Old Mill on State Street as the only sizable area antique mall I can think of.

UPDATE 10 July 2020: Commenter Dennis offers that this building was once a "Brown Sign With The Sewing Machine In The Corner" Factory Outlet, so I have added that to the post title. See also here for the Factory Outlets. Also adding the map icon, which I forgot.

Catherine's dates back to at least 1960 and started in Memphis in 1960 when Catherine Weaver sold her Catherine's Stout Shop to Ralph Levy..

I remember the name Catherine's Stout Shop, so I suspect they must have operated under that label in Columbia when I was growing up. Along the way it seems there were a lot of buyouts and mergers, and the chain, now more gently named, is part of the Ascena Retail Group along with Lane Bryant & Ann Taylor. The group is now apparently considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. If they go that route, they are considering selling off Catherine's and two other labels.

As far as I can tell though, the closing of this particular store, on an outparcel in the Very's strip mall, had nothing to do with COVID, as they had time to adverise and hold a 40% off sale around February of 2020.

There is a major remodel going on at Sesqui Center right now. Looking at the first picture, taken several months ago, it appears that perhaps the store next to the Professional Barbers (whose sign you can barely see behind the dumpster) might be a tattoo operation.

The "before" picture doesn't seem to show this section in any worse condition than the rest of the strip mall (which is reasonably well kept up), so I don't know if there was a fire here or what.

At one time, in a vanished building, this address hosted Mammy's Shanty restaurant.

The current building has been a number of car related businesses. Brooks Automotive and The Auto Club, Inc. were follow-ons in this spot to Prestige Hitech Autowerks. From this Facebook post, I think I can say that Brooks opened early in 2015. The inflatable Carfox caught my eye in May of 2015, which is when that set of pictures dates from. I assume, since they appear to have been co-located and presumably related, that The Auto Club dates from the same period.

I noticed on 1 March of 2020 (a rather dreary day) that they were gone as well.

I would expect another car operation to move in at some point, but not, I'm sure, until the current mess is sorted out.

As reported by commenter Andrew, the Food Lion in Polo Plaza has upped shop and moved to the old Bi-Lo in Spring Valley Commons.

This move leaves not a lot in Polo Plaza, which Domino's having moved last year.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 2 May 2020: Changed the move date from March 2020 to June 2019 based on the comments.

I'm not really sure when this Enterprise moved to 2638 Two Notch, but at any rate, I just noticed it, so I'm going to start by tagging it Early 2019. Despite the fact that a cousin briefly worked for the chain, I've never rented from Enterprise, though the car-delivery thing goes sound nice.

The first shots are from May 2015. I mostly took them for the clouds, but figured they might come in handy someday.

I never did a closing for Zale's Jewelers, but it was a long time occupant of this second level storefront, just out of Macy's going left. After that, it was Jimmy Jazz for a while, as you can barely see in the second picture above. Most recently, it was an airbrush shop for tee-shirt customization. Judging by the google reviews, they did a good job, but were gone by sometime in the late summer of 2019. I'm not entirely sure, but it looks as though they may still have a location elsewhere in the area.

Well, Victoria's Secret has sashayed out of Columbia Mall. Interestingly (or not) theirs is the second store-locator website I have visited lately that is very parsimonious about listing stores (though it is inspiring in other ways). At any rate, locally there are remaining stores at Sandhill and Columbiana.

I find the mall self-promotional poster interesting in that not only did they not take it down when Victoria's left, but in that it still touts Charlotte Russe, which has been gone for about a year now. I have not seen anything about the County plan for the property lately. It seems like whatever they are going to do, they should start it soon.

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad Egister)

I don't know anything about The Roc other than that it is across from Columbia Mall, has not been open that I can remember, and hosted poetry open-mike nights in 2014.

Presumably there were reggae acts there, but if so, they don't seem to have left any google traces.

UPDATE 7 February 2020: Added Robbie's Pool Hall to the post title based on the comments.