Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Interestingly, I had discussed this place with my sister just a week or two ago. I was unsure what it was all about, and she said she had tried it once and didnt' like it at all, so it wasn't on my to-do list.

Apparently, Verde is a Charleston based salad chain, which still has a number of locations in Charleston area. The Trenholm Plaza location opened in May of 2020, replacing 32 Degrees Yogurt Bar, and lasted until mid-December of this year, making about a 4 and a half year run. For now the Facebook is still up, though it looks not to have been updated for three years.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

I didn't know for sure when I made arrangements to spend the weekend in Fernandina that I would hit the Dickens On Centre festival, though I figured there was a pretty good chance of that. In the event, I did, and it was quite nice. They close off Centre Street starting at, I believe, Fourth Street, and also a block of 4th, 3rd, 2nd & 1st on either side of Centre and line the entire thing with craft booths, performance stages and outdoor eateries, the most visible one being the bubble enclosed tables on 2nd Street.

Players in period costumes (well-to-to period costumes to be sure) circulate for photo ops, and there are music and theater events on the stages. There was also a drone show over the harbor, which I was not expecting and was not in a good position to see, but which was nonetheless quite impressive. Centre Street merchants and restaurants stay open during the event as well, and do, I'm sure, quite a good business. Things wrap up Sunday at 3:00, and you can see a good bit of the teardown in the pictures following that.

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Barrio Tacos was in the former location of Sports Talk Barbershop and a number of other businesses in this little strip of Devine Street which were moved out for the new development.

Originally the plan was for the building to become a second location for Griffen Chophouse, but that fell apart at some point, and Barrio came in on the rebound, opening, apparently, sometime early in 2024.

I had only just become aware of the place and never got a chance to visit. The State has the story here.

I never made it to this building in any of its other incarnations besides Swensen's, but I did make it to Hunter Gatherer a few times. As I recall, I had pizza and some sort of porter or stout, both of which were pretty good, but not enough so to become a regular and deal with driving down there and parking.

I have been pretty skeptical about the ongoing work on South Main which sounded to me like it was designed to make the street even less convenient to drive and park on, and the news that Hunter Gatherer lost their lease, presumably due to plans for the area does not make me any less so. (And also makes me worry a bit about Cool Beans which is in a similar situation).

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO)

As I go to add this to the Alphabetical Closings, I notice I did a post on HG before, when it shut down for the Pandemic. I think this final closing is newsworthy enough that I'm not going to merge it into that earlier post.

My trip to this year's Nights Of A Thousand Candles was one of the coldest in quite a while. Last year the Smores setup seemed like one of those things you do at the Fourth of July because the kids like it, but the chocolate is melting everywhere -- this year that was not a problem, and the heat from the firepits was very welcome! In fact, my fingers were going numb on the camera controls, something which hasn't happened for a good few years now.

I wasn't expecting the traffic to be particularly bad for a Sunday show, but in the event it took an hour to make my way from the start of the lineup on US-17 to the parking lot. There were a few visible changes this year: The Garden Of The Muses is under construction, so there were no lights at a spot which has has some quirky setups over the years, the indoor model train setups have added a Hooterville layout, and the main Christmas tree is lighted again after giving it a few years off to recover.

The event runs weekends through New Years, so if you happen to be in the area, but sure to check it out!

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Tiffany's moved to this spot in 2019, and took advantage of the larger footprint -- I would often see the billboard there mentioning evening events in the summer, and always wanted to go have supper there to see what it was like, but in the end did not and they have now closed the restaurant side of the bakery business (which still remains). I'm not sure exactly how this has shaken out as there is apparently still a cafe there with the bakery, but apparently that is now focused more on breakfast, coffee & pastry.

Here is The State story on the changes.

The parent company of American Freight, Hilco Consumer-Retail has gone Chapter 11, and all American Freight stores are closing.

I had seen this location on Atlas Road many times over the years, but I never really grasped it was a retail outlet, the name making me think something more industrial. The parking lot is smaller than expected, meaning I couldn't really get back and get the whole store in the frame, but as you can see the Store Closing banners are already up. I guess if you need some furniture for the holidays, now would be the time to go looking...

You can read about the bankruptcy here.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)