Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Tiffany's moved into this spot in 2019, having left another Two Notch location for the Polo Road / Spring Valley area. Before that, I believe they were on Devine Street. Originally they ran a restaurant in this location along with the bakery, but closed that side of the business in 2024.

I think I have only been in Tiffany's once, at the first Two Notch location, and in the event I had come for lunch, and they had just stopped serving, so I didn't end up getting anything. I know my sister went a number of times and enjoyed it.

Now, having been around 49 years, since 1977, the owners have finally opted to retire, and the business is now for sale. You can read about it in The Post & Courier or The State.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)

No Pepsi, Coke!

I went by the Columbia's Greek Festival on its Thursday start this year, to make sure I got there before all the Galaktoboureko was gone. I thought I might get by again on Saturday, but in the event did not. Even on a work evening, they seemed to have a pretty good crowd, and I did get my custard, some baklava, bread & seseme sticks. Outside, I tried the Greek french fries, and they were pretty good, though I still prefer the State Fair. The band was playing with some impromptu dancing, and everybody looked to be having a great time.

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I don't believe I have yet successfully eaten at a Hickory Tavern. The first time I tried, at Woodhill, they had just closed the regular dining room and were serving at hightops only. Since the last time I enjoyed sitting in a high-chair, my mother was feeding me, I declined. The second time, also at Woodhill was during the tail-end of the pandemic when nobody had any staff. I sat on the patio, and after an hour nobody had taken my order, so I just left.

Anyway, they were apparently bought-out in 2025, and the new owners are evaluating all the locations going forward. Apparently this location in The Vista did not make the cut, though with the demolition of the Five Guys building it does now have a nice view of the Capitol dome.

You can see the story at WIS or read about it in The State.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie, et al)

Basil Thai in the Whole Foods strip mall is closed "for repairs" with a projected opening date of "Early Fall", which it almost is. They have odd hours (for me), so I have never tried it out, but if & when, perhaps I will.

As I was leaving Bullet's the other day, I noticed that the Meetze Plumbing office/showroom on Beltline was gone. It had been in the rightmost suite in that building, next to the vape shop. Looking at Streetview, it happened sometime after September 2025, and I'm pretty sure I noticed them earlier this year, so I'm just going with 2026 for at date. They are definitely still in business, and I don't believe this was a dispatch location, so I don't expect any effect for customers.

This building has featured here previously as Nostalgia Antiques & Collectibles, which closed shop in late 2021. I'm not sure when Bullet's moved in, but Streetview confirms it was after August 2023. I can't find an exact date for their moving to 4839 Edmund Highway either, but it appears to have been sometime around May 2026

(Hat tip to commenter Marcel Miller)

The first time I saw The Swimming Pool Qs would have been around 1978 at the 4th of July celebration at USC's Bell Camp. If you were facing the lodge, the band set up to the right of it, at the bottom of the hill leading to the lake, and the audience was on the grass up and down the hill in the playground area. I had only discovered rock music in 1976, and hadn't made it to New Wave yet, so it was very memorable to hear these pulsing sounds & "Your baby is a big fat tractor, riding down the rows in the dust!" echoing out over the crowd & pond. I didn't quite know what to make of it, but it certainly left an impression!

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I'm pretty sure this location was one of the ones that closed during the chain's bankruptcy, though I did not get around to visiting it then, and then came back after the sale of some stores to Variety Wholesalers, but now they are closing again. A local Facebook post says that the building owners went up on the lease prompting this, but I'm not sure if that was speculation or well-founded. At any rate google reviews indicate that the place is mostly stripped, but that there are deep discounts on anything remaining. Given that report, I am using a September 2026 closing date though the end is not quite yet.

This building is a former Winn-Dixie, and you can see a picture of the original Big Lots incarnation at that post.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

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.