Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I knew a man Bojangles and
He'd dance for you..

But not apparently make chicken anymore.

I've had biscuits at a Bojangles's drive-through a few times in the unhappy event of being up that early, and they were pretty good. I can't speak to the chain's mainstay though, as I'm definitely not a chicken person (some are..), but the store on Two Notch at O'Neil Court seems to get pretty good traffic. Perhaps the nearby Church's Chicken at 2436 Taylor was a factor here.

UPDATE 19 September 2014 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this is now an Asian BBQ place:

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 23 February 2024 -- This spot is now occupied by a Starbucks:

Also updating tags and adding map icon.

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This should be some sort of lesson to me as I had several daylight pictures of this place, but a few weeks ago I decided they weren't very good, and deleted them with an eye to getting some better ones at some point. That's not the first time I've done that sort of thing either. I should learn!

However I did manage to hold onto the two nighttime pix of the place which are presented up top.

Commenter Joe Hinson remarks on the "old style" of the demolished building, but when I tood the night pix, I was thinking how modern it looked. In part I suspect that's because I remember at least one other version of the store here, and probably two.

The initial building sat much closer to the road than the most recent one, and was, I think, still in the classic McDonald's "walk up" style. It was something like this retro building from Starke Florida:

I believe this version was the first McDonald's in Columbia, and indeed, the 1970 phonebook lists 4801 Garners Ferry Road as "No. 1", with 1303 Charleston Highway as "No. 2", 2907 Two Notch as "No. 3", and 1729 Broad River Road as "No. 4". (4336 Wildcat Road was listed as the office location). Certainly it was the first McDonald's I had ever encountered, and it played a big part in my elementary school days at Satchel Ford. This was because, while we normally got our burgers at Bell's on Forest Drive, when report cards came out in Richland One, this McDonald's always ran a promotion such that if you had all 'A's & 'B's, you got a free hamburger.

Now, in those days, I was a pretty good student, and I always had all 'A's & 'B's, *except* for handwriting for which I always had a 'C'. In my mind, handwriting was not a "real" subject, and I always had my father make that case to the window clerk, and it always worked. In retrospect, I know he didn't relish the idea of arguing with some guy over a burger, but he was proud of me, and a great dad, so he did it every report card period without demur. I believe that mascot "Ronald McDonald" debuted in this era. Initially he was a pantomine clown with an overbearing boss whose tasks for Ronald always turned into a series of pratfalls..

The second McDonald's here, I think was a non-descript 70s building that did emphasize inside dining more than walkups, but had no play area. We didn't go to that one often because by that time, there was one more or less at the corner of Decker & Trenholm which was closer and involved fewer traffic lights. (And Bell's was gone by then). I believe it was at this point that the restaurant was set further back from Garners Ferry.

I'm not sure when the play-area, boxy looking remodel came in, but I think it was while I was living out of town in the 80s or 90s, by which time I was essentially never eating at McDonald's anymore. (Lately they have learned to make a very good cup of coffee, and provide wifi so that I finally have been back some).

(Hat tip to commenter mamarose)

UPDATE 1 September 2012 -- I found another set of daylight (well, twilight..) pictures of the building:

UPDATE 12 September 2012 -- Construction has started is moving at a pretty good clip:

And here's a yellow pages ad from the walkup days:

UPDATE 18 September 2012 -- The frame appears complete, and hiring has started:

UPDATE 9 November 2012 -- As mentioned in the comments, this store is open again:

I assume Cash Kwik was one of the areas many payday loan operations, though the sign doesn't really say anything specific. They tend to come and go fairly quickly, probably because there's a lot of competition, and they make loans to people who aren't very credit-worthy -- get the interest rate wrong by a few points and there goes your margin..

There are still a couple of this chain in town, but I am unable to find this particular one in any phonebook I have at home, so I'm just giving "late 2000s" for the closing date. Certainly it's been gone long enough to have its placard removed from the roadside marquee for Magnolia Pointe.

Magnolia Pointe is the Pig-anchored plaza at the South-East corner of Clemson Road and Hardscrabble Road. It has a few other vacancies, but still looks better than The Crossings with is just across Hardscrabble.

"Boss! The Plane! The Plane!" — Sorry, but that had to be said

I'm not quite sure what is going on with Club Fantasy Island, a tiny strip club on Two Notch Road which basically shares a parking lot with the old Shrimper restaurant and the old Atlantic Twin Theater. (As I recall, the club got a bit of notoriety some years ago when there was a shooting in the parking lot, but I'm not sure if the incident was actually related to the club itself, a neighboring club, or was random.)

Anyway, I took these pictures back in early March 2012 because I had noticed that when driving down Two Notch at times the club should normally be open, it wasn't. I almost went ahead and did a closing on it then, but one night somewhat later when I drove by, it was open once more, and I saw it open normally after that. Then, in June, I think, it was closed again, so I don't know exactly what the status is, but if they re-open again, I'll just update the post title.

UPDATE 28 January 2022 -- This building has now been razed. Hope somebody got the neon sign:

Also updating tags and adding a map icon.

Though I never went, it seems to me as though Jungle Jim's was there forever. I think I can remember seeing it when I visited The Parthenon in the 1970s.

As you can see from these pictures, it at least made the transition from the China Garden era to the Grandma's era as the front part of the building in which the bar is located changed concepts. (I believe that the whole building at 724 is under one ownership). Notice how the sign on the north side of the parking lot morphed from

China
Garden
Parking
Only
Towing
Enforced

to

Parking
Only

I'm not sure when Jungle Jim's closed, but it is listed in the February 2012 phonebook, so I am going with "early 2012". The follow-on operation, Rum Runners switches from a jungle theme to a pirate concept, supported by deck murals.

UPDATE 24 June 2019: Add tags and map icon.

I had a hard time finding this Kentucky Fried Chicken in the phonebook because they actually still listed as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" rather than KFC. Good for them! (Interestingly, other KFCs are listed some at the front of the 'K' section with the acronyms and others alphabetically after the "KE" businesses..).

Anyway, they are definitely listed in this year's (February 2012) phonebook, and I'm guessing from commenter Brandi's heads-up that they probably closed very recently. Certainly, as you can see, the store has yet to be stripped of all the equipment and fixtures, and the place doesn't yet seem to be listed as for sale.

(Hat tip to commenter Brandi)

UPDATE 19 August 2016 -- Now Auto Money - Title Loans:

Tomlinson's was the follow-on operation to San Jose Restaurante Mexicano. I'm not sure when it closed, but I did the San Jose post in January of 2010, and I can't find Tomlinson's in either the 2011 or 2012 phonebooks, so I'm guessing 2011 by default. I know I've been down US-1 a few times in the past year, but I can't actually ever recall noticing it before. The red sales-ticket shaped sign is quite nice.

UPDATE 19 August 2016 -- Now Pelican's Snoballs:

UPDATE 10 May 2021: Adding map icon and updating tags.

This storefront, caty-cornered from the Harbison Barnes & Noble, was originally an OfficeMax. When OfficeMax left South Carolina in 2006, Office Depot took the opportunity to take over the space.

As far as I know, Office Depot isn't in any trouble as neither the Two Notch nor Dutch Square stores seem to be closing, but I guess it was a hard sell to get people to brave Harbison traffic for printer paper and paper clips.

Unlike a lot of store closing sales, this one actually had some good bargains. I got an external DVD drive and a USB drive enclosure for a really good price when I went in to check it out.

UPDATE 12 September 2012 -- The place is now a liquication outlet. This seems to be similar to the kind of event sometimes hosted by the Jamil temple where you pay an entrance fee and then look for bargains on electronics and other items. When I went by a week or two ago, the door fee was $5:

UPDATE 1 May 2013 -- It's now Golfsmith:

Commenter Matt mentions that this building at the corner of Forest & Sunnyside Drives, more or less across the street from Zesto, is being remodeled from multiple suites into a single space, and now we can see that it is going to be a Matress Source.

Putting the address into google turns up a number of former tenants.

Since the web site of MBenton Personal Training still lists this address as their gym (ie: hasn't been updated), I suspect they are no longer around. Michael's Cleaners still has a number of locations in Columbia, but I don't know if one of them moved from here or if they are seperate ownership. Posh Pets had several locations, and seems to have moved this one to 3400 Forest Drive. Jackie's Uniforms has moved to Sunnyside. Ashley's Studio is not listed in the current phonebook.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 19 December 2022: Updating tags and adding map icon.