Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

The Holey Dough Cafe started out as Manhatten Bagel and had been a fixture in Trenholm Plaza for probably around 20 years. In our family, whenever we faced an early-morning out-of-town trip, the saying was This is a bagel situation, and we would fuel up with bagels and coffee (or soft drinks) on the way to the Interstate. I used to go in there frequently on early Saturday afternoons as well, and there were always the same two customers there, very elderly men whom the staff took care to see got in and out of the store OK.

In 2006, the store dropped it's Manhatten Bagel affiliation. I'm not sure why. Perhaps given how well established the place was, the national name cost too much without providing enough extra value. At any rate, they changed the name to "Holey Dough Cafe" and redid all the signage (including that on the bagel van) and menus. I couldn't tell any difference in the bagels; they still seemed quite good to me.

In recent months, I had become aware that the store was opening a new branch downtown somewhere. I'm still not sure of the exact location, but I would see sidewalk signs near Gervais & Main. I presume, and hope, the new store continues after the main store's closure.

I suspect the proximate cause of the Trenholm store's closing is the ongoing renovation of the Plaza, which will involve tearing down that whole wing of stores. (The Oreck store is primed to move to the Piggly Wiggly plaza). As to why not just move it a bit up or down Forest Drive, I think the recent opening of Bruegger's Bagels across from The Happy Bookseller has changed the local bagel market. An established store could tough it out, but a new location would have to fight for mindshare with Brueggers.

Roadtrips won't be the same.

UPDATE 2 November 2009: When Holey Dough moved from Trenholm Plaza, it set up shop at 1200 Main Street suite 102. I'm not sure how long it was there, but it was certainly less than a year. Jumpin' Jacks Giant Jersey Subs now occupies the spot.

UPDATE 11 Jan 2010: Added "Manhatten Bagel" and full Forest Drive Street address to post title.

Columbia is full of little restaurants I've never visited, and The Capitol Cafe was yet another one of these. I keep telling myself I'm going to eat on Main eventually, but somehow I never get around to it. I remember in particular I how I kept meaning to go to The Frog & Brasierre and didn't before it went under. I say the same thing about the new place in that spot, The Whig, but I haven't made that one yet either. I haven't even made it to Drake's, and that one's been there (or at least on Main) since forever!

The State (in an article made difficult to google because they consistently misspell it as Capital instead of Capitol Cafe) says it will become a Dunkin' Donuts as does commenter Becca who liked the place.

I have nothing against Dunkin' Donuts, but I still say we need a Krispy Kreme on this side of the river.

UPDATE 2 November 2009: Well, Dunkin' has put up their marquee, but seems to be in no hurry at all to finish the interior and open the place.

Also added Cat & Cleaver to the post title.

You'll Never Pay More at Parisian

Well, that's true, I suppose, though not in the way they hoped.

The decline of Richland Mall happened mostly while I was living out of town (though still spending quite a bit of time here). I think the first phase: The tearing down of most of the un-enclosed mall, and the renaming it to Richland Fashion Mall may have happened around the time I left for Fayetteville, though I'm a bit fuzzy on that. I do know that quite a bit of the brou-ha-ha justifying the Fashion part of the new name was inducing Parisian & Bonwit Teller to locate there.

As I think I have mentioned elsewhere, I felt pretty comfortable buying clothes at White's. I felt they were solidly middle-class, and that I could find clothes that wouldn't make me look funny from a staff that wouldn't try to make me feel like an idiot. I wasn't so sure about Parisian. I don't think I ever went in there, but I had the impression that it was something of a frou-frou upscale store, though perhaps less-so than Bonwit Teller. I don't know if that impression was accurate, but perhaps I wasn't the only one who had it because neither store lasted more than a few years. I see from Wikipedia that even if it had hung on, the whole chain was bought by Belk, so I imagine it would have closed anyway after Belk's got White's..

I think Parisian failed before Bonwit Teller and was the initial sign of the impending failure of the mall. I suppose it could have been the other way round -- it's a little hard to say since the BT building remained in use for Black Lion. I do know that nothing else ever used the Parisian space. I wondered a bit about that as I was taking these pictures. It's not good for buildings to remain empty, not only from the morale point of view, but also from the mold, fungus & vermin point of view. It seems to me it would have made sense for the mall owners to let some charity or other set up there rent-free rather than keep such a large space completely dark.

Well, that was nice!

Normal posting should resume today..