Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

There seems to be some self-caused confusion about the name of this place, as the outside sign brands it Best China Buffet while the inside one goes with Super China Buffet. The last Yelp review is from late 2018, so I'm going to guess they closed in 2019. To be honest, the reviews suggest it was probably inevitable. There seems to be one food operation still in the Dutch Square food court, but it's a far cry from the days of Annabelle's, Morrison's, Chick-Fil-A and Cromers (not to mention lunch counters in Woolworths and Eckerds).

This one surprises me.

Fuddruckers closed in February 2020, and and was quickly sold to Columbia World Outreach Church for $452,500.

They worked several months getting the place gutted and rebuilt. According to LoopNet

Upgrades include a new roof, all new interior finishes, restrooms, sanctuary to accommodate 192 chairs, classrooms, children's nursery and a large outdoor area.

Unfortunately they did not have long to enjoy it, and the property went back on the market in mid-December 2020.

UPDATE 20 October 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, this is to become The Gala Event Center:

UPDATE 15 December 2021 -- Looks like The Gala Event Center is up and running, and they have leveraged the very neglected patio area of Fuddruckers with new construction:

I don't know what's going on with the Boozer Shopping Center location of Chick-fil-A, but the place is currently closed, though it is flagged as temporary.

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)

UPDATE 6 March 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments, this place is open again:

UPDATE 8 July 2022: Updating post title capitalization & tags.

I believe this building was built for the office supply chain OfficeMax, or at least that's what was in the storefront when I first became aware of it. Remington College moved in sometime around 2009, when the first picture above was taken.

I noticed about a week ago that the signage at the road and on the building had come down, but I'm unable to find any thing in the local media about it. The Facebook page for this location has entries up through Thanksgiving 2020, but no note about closing the campus. The main website for the school doesn't mention Columbia as a campus, though Wikipedia still does.

UPDATE 28 January 2021: Add Big Star to the post title based on the comments.

I used to wonder about this Walmart on Bush River Road in the old Bush River Mall location. I would be eating late at Fuddruckers or El Chico and decide I would stop by Walmart on the way home to pick up a few things when it was less crowded. The first few times I found it closed, I figured they were ramping up staffing and hours at a new store, but eventually I figured out it was never going to be a 24-hour store, as most were at that time.

The State has the story, attributing the closing to "low sales", though I suspect shrinkage and other factors played into things as well. The pharmacy will be closing this week, on 22 January.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

UPDATE 1 April 2021 -- All the signage is down, though the place still looks pretty good:

Well, here's another picture heavy closing I don't have a lot to say about other than that google suggests the actual official business name was Horton Produce. I assume that buying "The Honor System Way" means the place was generally unattended, but it seems like a pretty high traffic area for that kind of trust.

I've noticed this lot on Old Bush River Road several times over the past few months, and finally stopped to walk over and get some pictures. The site is actually quite large, LoopNet puts it at 3.5 acres, and I can believe it. If you walk back past the big oak and the remnants of the shed, there is an open meadow area that I did not expect at all.

There's also an impressive pokeberry bush, but its well over knee high, so I don't guess there's any danger of anyone cooking it up. (Well, I gues that would be a danger..)

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Well, I don't have a lot to say about this. It was a carwash; it's closed.

But it was a bright sunny day, of which we have had too few lately, and it had an interesting look, so I took lots of pictures.

I *am* a bit bemused by the idea that you wouldn't bring a dirty car there...

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I am a little surprised that this storefront has a Bush River Road address, as it clearly fronts onto Colonial Life Boulevard, and is quite removed from the part of this strip mall which does face Bush River (though that part doesn't have a turn-in from Bush River either). Anyway, that aside, I'm afraid I never visited this Blimpie, and can't recall visiting any Blimpie. I certainly like sandwiches, but to me Dagwood's in Surfside is the gold standard here, and it's more table service than fast food.

(Hat tip to commenter Barbara)

Google tags this spot as "temporarily closed", but there is a real estate sign in front now, so my guess is they closed during the initial stages of COVID-19 and were not able to hang on until the reopening of barber shops and salons a few weeks ago.

Looking for this address also turns up a LoopNet page which reveals it was also formerly a Chiropractor's office.

After the Dutch Square Theatre closed and the building was razed, Ruby Tuesday built a new store on this site, and ran it until last month. Ruby Tuesday has been having problems and closing locations in recent years in part because the restaurant has no strong identity. You go to Ruby Tuesday for what, exactly? For me it's the salad bar, but if that's not your thing, then its hard to say why you would -- Which is not to say there's anything wrong with the food.

Anyway, this store probably would have held on for a while, perhaps indefinitely, but with the temporary closure for COVID-19 and no money coming in, I guess the balance just tipped the wrong way.

(Hat tip to commenter Homer, et al)

UPDATE 28 February 2022 -- As mentioned in the comments, now Ms. B's:

I presume at some point they will get the Ruby Tuesday sign taken down..