Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I only ate at Milardo's once, probably about two years ago. I was not enthused about the place as both the pizza sauce and the garlic knots were unexpectedly sweet. It might have been nice have a second go some evening and eat on the roof, but in the event, I never got around to that.

It looks like they are setting up for a follow-on operation: Player 1 Up.

Originally I had thought that this place was undergoing a renovation due to the work going on there, but now I am not sure. Google says the place has been closed for two years (which would put it back to the start of the pandemic) *and* marks it as permanently closed. So I don't know if the work is asbestos abatement before they knock it down, or an upfit for another brand than La Quinta.

Anyway, it's definitely closed though it's odd they haven't taken the sign down.

This Waffle House was our go-to for Christmas dinner for a number of years. In the event this year we had to go out to Clemson Road. Google claims this location is "temporarily closed", but I wonder if someone isn't trying to consolidate this lot with the neighboring Circle K to get a space large enough for something to rival the new Quik Trip across the street.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

As mentioned in the comments, this now looks more like a rebuild, so I'm marking the title with "Temporary":

UPDATE 7 June 2022 -- This location is open again. And after all that work, it looks like... A Waffle House:

Although I must have driven by it many times, I was not aware of Nostalgia Antiques on Beltline. Judging by their Facebook page, I might well have found some items there, probably more on the "Collectibles" side of things.

You can see their closing announcement on their Facebook, but you might want to check it in the future as well, as they intend to continue selling online and out of their home.

(Hat top to commenter Gypsie)

I wonder if Barberitos is struggling? As I noted here and here, both Midlands locations of the chain closed some time ago. Personally I liked this Fernandina Beach location better than either of those as it had ground beef as a topping which for some odd reason the SC locations did not (ground turkey is *not* the same thing). My only issue here (as with all locations) is that the chips were so fragile you couldn't really dip with them.

There was also a location a bit further up A1A towards Yulee FL, which also seems to have vanished in the same time-frame as this one. My guess is they were the same franchaise, which according to some google reviews was new ownership after the initial pandemic closure.

I have put 1519 for the street address here as both google & yelp agree on it and it is on the front door. However the actual number painted on the glass on the west side is 1515 for some reason, as you can see.

C & J Automotive is nestled on a narrow strip of land in between the train tracks and Saint Andrews Road in the Seven Oaks section of Irmo. It is not too far past Sno Biz.

It appears to me that the lot remains in business while they are looking for a buyer, so I am just putting an indifinite "2022" as the closing date.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

Here is one where I just kept misplacing the pictures over and over. I observed back in 2013, when the first photos were taken, that this McDonald's on the Charleston Highway near the junctions with I-26 & I-77 still had the boxy kids' play area architecture. Since I like that look and knew that the chain was phasing it out, I took some pictures. And, indeed, at some point after that, they remodeled and dropped that look completely. The problem was I kept taking pictures of the new look and forgetting to do anything with them while they were still near the top of the stack. Finally when I did the Lazy Llama closing I took some more and remembered before I lost track again.

I have to admit I have not really eaten at a McDonald's in years, but they do now have a quite good cup of coffee.

Well it's back out to Shops At Risdon for this closing. I don't know anything about Andrew's Jewelry, but it looks to be in the final stages of a going-out-of business sale. Actually as these were taken late last month, they be done by now.

Before we picked out The Parthenon as our favorite, my father and I used to go to the location of The Villa which was in the building that now houses Pawley's Front Porch. After that, I kind of lost track of it, as Bush River Road was a good distance to drive at that time. I did get out to that location once later, and found the food and service to be good, but for some reason I just felt antsy in the dining room with no windows anywhere and I did not go back.

Recently they have announced that they are closing and that 22 December 2021 will be the last day, and reported in this ColaDaily story. As of this writing, that is next Wednesday, so you still have a few days to catch up with them if you like.

(Hat tips to commenters Heath & Ed)

I'm not sure if Lazy LLama is a chain, but there do seem to be a number of coffee shops around the country with that name, or slight variations. This one was in the old Piggly Wiggly plaza on the Charleston Highway at Fish Hatchery Road. The plaza is called Cayce Crossing, and the store name has "Cayce" in it, but the street address is actually West Columbia.

Interestingly, the follow-on operation is also a coffee shop with an animal name: Koffee Koala.

Also, I just checked the map icon to see if it were correct, and the image Google Maps brings up tells me that not too long ago, Lexington Dry Cleaning was in this slot, so I am adding it to the post title as well.

(Hat tip to commenter Robin)