Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Longtime Leesville barbecue landmark, Jackie Hite's will be closing down on 23 September 2018.

According to The State's encomium for Jackie Hite on his passing in 2016, the roots of the restaurant go back to the 1950s, and

On Hite’s passing, High said it is not necessarily the end, but “it’s sad to lose the old hands that did it right, the old fashioned way ... whole hog over coals. There’s a big difference between whole hog and butts only.

“Jackie Hite was (one of) the last in all of South Carolina to barbecue a whole hog over wood. He would start the pig on Thursday and lay it out on Friday for a pig picking at the restaurant,” says High. “And when I would go out for barbecue on my own, I would always choose Friday night for Jackie Hite’s pig picking.”

Now, according to WLTX the family has elected to wind the buisness down on the anniversary of Mr. Hite's passing, but there's still time to get out there once more.

(Hat tip to commenter ED)

I was downtown today, and decided I would have lunch at Barberitos. I had forgotten about feeding the meters, but scrounged up enough coins to last me until I got some change from my meal and walked around the corner, to find the place is now a Jersey Mike's (somewhat visible in the first shot).

I had done a closing for the Lexington location, and I should have checked on this one earlier. In retrospect it makes sense it would close as well, since they were apparently under the same ownership (both electing to offer ground turkey rather than the ground beef of other Barberitos locations).

The last Yelp review is 1 November 2017 and mentions that the place was already closed, so I'm guessing it did close the same time as Lexington.

It's too bad, I consider Barberitos a step above Chipolte & Qdoba, though below a well-run Moe's.

Hampton Street Diner opened on 3 December 2017 in the former location of Nathan's. By the time I got around to the Nathan's closing, most of the Hampton Street Diner upfit was already done, so I am repeating those pictures here.

The State had this story about the (then upcoming) opening of the new restaurant.

Although it looked like a good place to try a burger, I never did make it by for lunch, and the last time I drove by, there was signage to the effect of either new management or new ownership, so apparently there was a major change at some point.

I do like the parting sentiment that while not everything works out, life goes on.

(Hat tip to commenter Frank)

UPDATE 9 January 2020 -- Now Vegans International Organic Cafe & Juice Bar:

Commenter James R notes that this Coldwell Banker is gone and that the web site indicates that Columbia is now being handled from Charlotte, which doesn't quite make sense to me as I think there is still an office at 1711 Gervais..

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I was never sure what this small building on the way into Lexington was, but it seems it was a pool hall and music venue. Based on what I see from google, I believe the owner unfortunately passed away in December of 2017.

When I noticed that The Southern Belly had moved into this Colonial Village storefront, I realized I had never done a closing for Spork, which was its predecessor in this spot after the closing of The Village Gourmet.

Commenter Justin noted the closing, and commenter tonkatoy delivered memorable rant against using Facebook in lieu of an actual web site (something of which I wish many "indie" authors on Amazon would take note).

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

I noticed this empty storefront in Boozer Shopping Center the other day. I know they were licensed for business here in 2014 but don't see any other information about this shop.

However, they were either a branch of a Greenville operation, or moved to Greenville, and you can see their colorful clothes here, here and here.

I hadn't checked in on Colonial Village on Colonial LIfe Boulevard for a while, and driving through the other day noticed a spa storefront I don't recall seeing before.

I am unfamiliar with this type of salt spa, but apparently it is helpful with breathing issues. In late 2016, they moved to 817 Moss Creek Drive in Cayce, and you can check out their web site and Facebook page for details.

Although I did not know it, Chocolate Monkey is a small family owned chain of candy shops. As their Facebook explains, the owners have moved to Tennessee to run the stores there, and keeping up with the lone South Carolina store from there was just a bridge too far.

That's a good looking strawberry!

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Well, here's a bit of synchronicity. Friday 24 August 2018 was the first time I had ever happened to be in West Columbia, near JackSon's Southern Kitchen at (my) lunch time, so I decided I would finally check the place out.

Pulling in, it seemed to be dark, and there was a sign taped to the door, so I was going to get out and look at it, but then I noticed that the lunch hours during the week were only until 2:30, and it was 3:00, so I figured I had just missed it and drove on. I got home that evening, and people were already posting in Have Your Say that the place had closed down due to legal woes.

Here's the story from WIS (For some reason, they seem to have trimmed most of the text that was originally there).

You may recall that JackSon's started in Richland Mall and moved to Sunset Boulevard in 2016

UPDATE 4 May 2021 -- As reported by commenter Barbara reports, this storefront is undergoing a major upfit. Unfortunately, the construction sign is singularly unhelpful in telling what is to come:

Also adding a map icon.