Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I have noticed for the past few months that Tire Kings on Two Notch near Fontaine is preparing to move.

Their new location will be 2230 Two Notch Road, which is by the AARO Rental Center. I hope they keep the crown logo sign which is nice.

UPDATE 13 June 2018 -- The move is complete:

UPDATE 29 August 2018 -- The new location:

UPDATE 14 August 2024 -- The original building has been razed as part of the ongoing work on the railroad bridge at Two Notch & Fontaine:

Also adding map icon.

I noticed last weekend that this old-school used appliance store at the corner of Two Notch and McFadden was closed. Kind of a shame because the old stuff was better made than the new stuff in many cases.

As you can see from the sign, this Church's Chicken at the foot of Gonzales Gardens and in the location of the old Drake's is now closed, or colsed, if you prefer.

I would guess this means a little more business for the KFC on the next block up, but *this* bird has flown the coop.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 19 December 2018 -- As mentioned in the comments, some sort of construction is going on here, though there is no signage indicating what might be coming next:

UPDATE 21 February 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, to be an Asian Express:

Havertys recently moved their Colonial Life Boulevard store to Harbison. I think the move added a bit of size to that store, and perhaps they think one larger store is enough, but whatever the reason, the Two Notch Road store near the I-20 interchange in Dentsville is now closing.

As a side note, the old Ramada Inn property almost directly across the street remains vacant after almost eight years..

(Hat tip to commenter Mike)

As mentioned in the comments by several people, Burlington Coat Factory is closing their Columbia Mall store to relocate to a newly built building at Village At Sandhill. The final sale has now started.

Burlington occupied the first floor of the former Columbia Mall J C Penny location after Penny's itself moved to Sandhill (I don't appear to have done a closing for that for some reason). The second floor was never repurposed and remains vacant. This move will leave that side of the mall without any semblance of an anchor store. In fact, all of the former anchors, save for Macy's are now gone, and Macy's as a chain is having its problems as well. The idea has recently been mooted for Richland County to buy the whole property for offices. I don't know -- I think at this point, razing the buildings, plowing the parking lot and planting trees might be the way to go. Charlton Heston could ride through on a horse..

UPDATE 7 February 2018 -- Here is the new Sandhill building (not yet occupied):

UPDATE 18 June 2024 -- There is some kind of construction happening at the old Burlington. I suppose it's related to the county buying the mall, but I haven't heard anything specific about it:

Also added map icon, and updated post title from "Moving" to "Moved", and gave the mall street address instead of just "Columbia Mall".

How have the mighty fallen..

This Dentsville Best Buy across from Columbia Mall used to be my go-to place for quick buys of computer and networking equipment when I had my previous job. It was also a good place for DVDs & CDs, back when those were a thing. Lately I have had much less need to test various networking configurations or throw together new linux & Windows installs, so my visits had become much more rare. I did feel that the merchandise was starting to rattle around in this huge building a bit as they kind of thinned out the inventory. I also felt it was becoming much more common to find unstocked gaps on the shelves where tags indicated your item *should* be, and for finding items which seemed to be completely untagged or priced..

Of course the root cause of all of those symptoms is the ongoing "creative destruction" of retailing as we have known it. It's simply the case now that I will only hit a Best Buy if I need something *today*; otherwise it's Amazon. That said, I'm still surprised they didn't stay open through the holiday shopping season.

Here's The State story announcing the closing.

UPDATE 22 March 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, this place is being converted into a church:

(Also adding a map icon).

Here's another abandoned branch bank, this one at Midlands Shopping Center which, as far as I know, is still for sale.

The real estate listing says it's a 2240 square foot building on a 1.46 acre lot, which is bigger than I would have guessed. They also say:

The site has high visibility as 18,400 vehicles per day pass the site.

which is undoubtedly true, but leaves out the fact that *stopping* at the site is another matter entirely.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 20 October 2022: Updating tags & adding map icon.

I noticed the other week that this almost-outparcel by Columbia Mall (and almost across from Best Buy) was vacant again. Verizon was a follow-on in this building to Coconuts Music, though I think it may have had several other businesses in between those two. Apparently this store has moved to Woodhill at 6118 Garners Ferry.

You can see the store with the Verizon signage still up . There is a dumptster outside now, so perhaps something else will be moving in soon.

It's not entirely clear to me if Farm Bureau occupied two suites in this building and remained for part of the time that the west side of the building was being outfitted for a restaurant, or if they left when that started, but at any rate they are gone entirely now, and their signage is off the building. (They are of course still in business and have other locations in the midlands).

I pulled a real estate flyer from a box at the location, and it seems that the restaurant (First Class Bar & Grill) which never opened was very far along, as the flyer mentions that all the hood work and venting is complete and that even televisions and a sound system are installed.

Other offices in this building remain in operation.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

UPDATE 14 May 2020 -- The Farm Bureau and doctor's office spaces are now Smart Laundry. The space that was setting up to be First Class ended up being the new location for Pho Viet:

Sara's Produce was the follow-on operation in this spot to Wood Produce. It seems to have had a fairly short run, opening in May or June, and closing probably in August.

The main shed is now empty, but there is a new ice depot.

UPDATE 15 May 2018 -- Well it appears that commenter Carl is correct, and that this business is seasonal. They are now open again: