Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I ate at this Five Guys a number of times, probably most memorably on a group trip from work to go downtown and buy some decent office chairs. Come to think of it, that may have been the last time I ate here, and that would have been probably ten years ago now. I like Five Guys (though the price is now amazing), but tend towards Columbiana or Forest Drive.

At any rate this one was caught up in the same property buyout that Monterrey was, and is now half demolished. In fact since these pictures are at least a week old, it is probably all demolished now.

I drove through Georgetown on my way to Charleston back on 8 August, and I noticed that demolition had actually started on the downtown steel plant, most recently Liberty Steel. I was running behind, so I didn't stop and try to get closer as I probably should have (on the other hand, it's not clear there was much acces anyway), but given that it may all be gone soon, I thought I would post the pictures anyway. This has always been an interesting feature of downtown Georgetown: Colonial houses, a normal business section (now more quaint than back in the 60s - 00s) and then wham, industry. The town has taken a number of blows recently, the port closing, a big fire, this plant closing, & the paper mill closing. Hopefully the redevelopment can recoup some of the job losses.

The Department of Environmental Services has an interesting writeup on the site, which includes a good bit of history I did not know:

The Liberty Steel (Former Georgetown Steel) Property (“the Property”) is located at 1227 Front Street, Georgetown, South Carolina. The Property includes approximately 66 acres and is located in a generally commercial and industrial area near the downtown section of the City of Georgetown. The Property is currently developed as a steelmaking plant that manufactured wire rod in coils. The steelmaking plant has been closed since 2024.

Review of historical records indicates that the Property was part of the Serenity Rice Plantation, which dates to 1710 and operated until after the Civil War when industrial development and further residential development occurred along the west side of Georgetown.

In 1903, the Atlantic Coast Lumber (ACL) Company opened a large lumber mill along the north bend of Georgetown Harbor on the Sampit River, generally covering the present location of the Property. ln the 1930s, ACL was impacted by market conditions associated with the Great Depression and a downturn in demand for lumber. The plant ceased operation in 1932.

From 1932 until approximately 1969, the former ACL site remained partially or completely vacant. Prior to development of the steel mill, other site operators include Georgetown Chemical Works, a portion of American Cyanamid, Standard Oil Company, Riverside Oil Company. Georgetown Veneer, and Georgetown Plywood.

In 1970, the site was developed by the German-owned Georgetown Steel Company into its current configuration as a steelmaking plant. Steel production on the Property continued until 2024, despite a number of idles and stoppages due to economic conditions and ownership changes in the 2000s and 2010s.

Here is another article on the demolition from the recycling industry trade press and here is a Post & Courier story.

Mel's (originally mooted to be Mo's) replaced Zesto in this location which closed in December of 2024. They got going in the summer of 2025, and so lasted about a year. I had not stopped since then, but was looking forward to a soft-serve chocolate dip to close out August. In the event, they have been closed several weeks, and a (mysterious) new concept is supposed to debut here in September.

You can read about it in The State, The Post & Courier or on WIS.

I've probably seen this place one time or another, but since I get down this part of Whaley approximately never, I could not have told you it was there. It looks to have been a pretty generic place for college kids to get snacks, beer & gas or pick up an Amazon order. Unfortunately now, it is overrun with feral cats which someone is feeding.

I'm going with August for a date here since that's when I heard about it, but looking inside the place, it could have been closed earlier based on the state of cables in the roof etc. It also appears to me that the power is totally off here, including to the Amazon Lockboxes.

(Hat tip to commenter Midnight Rambler)

UPDATE 29 August 2026: Commenter Badger says this was originally Caper House, so I have added that to the post title. Not sure if that was a chain or a one-off.

This building was built as a McAllister's Deli, and most recently before Chicanas was Allena's Southern Kitchen which closed in 2023. Chicanas apparently moved into the location from somewhere on Spears Creek Church Road, something I did not know until reading the media articles, and set up in 2025, lasting about a year.

None of the stories give the exact cause of closure, but judging from the door sign, they initially had some hopes of continuing. In the event, I had this place on my mental list of restaurants to try, but with closer options during the week and usually hitting other parts of town on the weekends, never got around to it.

Although clearly a lot of the furnishings have been moved, there are still a good few remaining, and there is not yet a for-sale sign on the property, so what will happen next is not clear.

You can read about it in The State, The Post & Courier or at ColaDaily.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

I have seen a number of shows at this comedy venue in a decaying old Winn-Dixie building on Decker over they years, and quite enjoyed them. For a while I was on their email list, but that stopped at some point, probably because of an ownership change of which this place has seen several. In particular I recall that the first website for the club became inaccessible some years ago, and you had to note the new site the (then) current owners had set up from the corner sign or something like that. At any rate, it was not a smooth transition. Reviews of the place suggest another ownership change took place sometime in 2024, and the new regime never really found its footing (commenter badger suggests there were reasons for that), with a number of complaints about cancelled shows and charges for food that never made it to tables. It's not entirely clear when the last shows were, but I'm going to guess sometime early in 2025.

Currently the place's web site goes to a very sketchy looking WordPress blog that seems to date to years ago, and the interior seems to be undergoing some sort of demolition.

(Hat tip to commenter anonymous)

I meant to get back and take a better picture than this drive-by, but apparently that's not going to happen.

TakoSushi closed their original downtown location in 2019, and their Forest Acres location in 2025. They returned to downtown in 2022, occuping two suites in the Arcade Mall. Apparently there is still a location in Lexington, though I can't recall ever seeing it.

You can read about it on WIS, in The State or at The Post & Courier.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

When I went by this location on 11 July 2026, they still had the World Cup promotional signs up as if the closing caught them by surprise. I don't believe I ever ate here, so I don't have much to say about it, though I will note that the Post & Courier story on the closing namechecks Columbia Closings.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

You can also read about in The State.

I was unaware of Chayz Lounge on Meeting Street until commenter Gypsie mentioned that it is closing after nine years. Judging by the webpage, it looks like a very interesting place: A small venue with fine dining and the musicians right in front of the diners.

The WIS story is here, and from that, and looking at the schedule, you still have until late this year to pick up a show.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

I noticed going down Decker the other day that longtime Korean restaurant O-Bok was gone, and a new place called Sura was operating in the building. As far as I can tell, the new place does not have a web site, but you can get the menu on google.