Sbarro Pizza / A Slice of Italy / D'avino's Pizzeria, Dutch Square: September 2009 34 comments
Here's another Dutch Square casualty -- the food court is looking pretty thin right now. (Chik-Fil-A keeps chugging on in the same space its occupied since at least 1970 tough..). I know D'Avino's was not the first restaurant in this spot, probably not the second either. I seem to have a vague notion that a hot-dog operation was there at one time, but I could easily be mistaken about that. On the face of it, you would think that the location is ideal for folks taking in a movie at the AMC theater just up the walk to duck in and have a slice before showtime, but in the event, I guess not.
On the "up" side for the old mall, there's finally something going into the Old Anabelle's spot, Burger Time Chargrill & Bar
(Hat tip to commenter Evelyn)
UPDATE 15 Feb 2011: Added Sbarro to the post title based on the comments.
UPDATE 17 Feb 2011: Added A Slice of Italy based on the comments.
34 Responses to 'Sbarro Pizza / A Slice of Italy / D'avino's Pizzeria, Dutch Square: September 2009'
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m
18 Nov 09 at 12:49 am
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Yep!
ted
18 Nov 09 at 12:52 am
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Man, I ate there once. It wasn't bad, and the service was better than I expected for Dutch Square.
18 Nov 09 at 7:07 am
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Dutch Square looks better than it ever did when it first opened in 1970, but like everything else, this Mall is as dead as the Latin Language. I'm surprized also that Chick-Fil-A is still around almost 40 years later.
Del
18 Nov 09 at 12:55 pm
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Yea, Del. Especially w/ the one outside the mall open. I guarantee 80% of their business is mall walkers. They've kinda taken over as a "local merchant mall" from Bush River Mall. I have not been in there in over a year, but aren't the only national chains Radio Shack and Chick-Fil-A?
Jonathan
18 Nov 09 at 1:57 pm
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Well, Belk's, of course...
Not sure if you can count Office Depot.
ted
18 Nov 09 at 2:29 pm
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I would count Office Depot, but not Belk's. I don't believe they are even a southeastern chain. Also, Burlington? Not sure how widespread they are. It is a pitiful mall.
Jonathan
18 Nov 09 at 3:17 pm
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Actua;lly when Dutch Square first opened there were almost as many local merchants as national. There was Tapps, Brittons, Louries. Berry's on Main, Cromers and I think one or two other. Also at the time J.B. Whites was a regional chain (Augusta) as was Eckerds, Chick-Fil-a and Morrison's. Though Chic-fil-a is more of a national chain, while Eckerd and White's are history as are all the local merchants, save Brittons, named here.
Tom
18 Nov 09 at 3:37 pm
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Yea, I guess they've always been more local than national, as compared to Columbiana. I remember Todd&Moore, Thom McAnn, who I am not sure how regional/national they were, Waldenbooks, etc. Walking through there now, it is very centralized demographically as local businesses. I'm not sure about the out-parcels, the large lady and the boat store.
Jonathan
18 Nov 09 at 4:10 pm
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My point about counting Office Depot is whether it is "in" the mall. Since Woolco left, mall access is closed to that wing.
ted
18 Nov 09 at 4:32 pm
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I think you can still enter Burlington from inside, but maybe not. I did forget about them in my original post. Was Woolco as big as Burlington & Office Depot? I seem to remember them having the two side doors that were closed off, but I'm unsure if Burlington proper is part of that or not. Remember the side door between J.B. Lee & Woolco, then the other where the Spuds restaurant/Todd&Moore was located? I remember the story about the boy who jumped the fence surrounding the power box on the Magnavox side and was electrocuted.
Jonathan
18 Nov 09 at 5:41 pm
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Woolco was in the entire building that's been split into 2 seperate places. Woolco was rather big. You could enter from the mall or from outside. Office Depot was where the Garden Center and Automotive Depts were. in that general area if I remember right. What year did Woolco close at Dutch Square anyhow?. When it closed, the Mall started to suffer quite a bit, then Tapps, then White's.
Del
18 Nov 09 at 6:13 pm
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wasn't Woolworths in the mall as well?
m
18 Nov 09 at 9:00 pm
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Yes, on the Bush River Road side. They had their own outside door as well as a mallside entrance.
ted
18 Nov 09 at 9:29 pm
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I remember back in the day that this pizza place indeed was a hot dog operation at one point. I want to say it was called Rays? I remember they sold pizza by the slice and good tasting hot dogs. Ah the memories, I remember the Barrell of Fun arcade, Round Robin( the high end womens store), Casual Corner, Dress Barn, Woolworths, Eckerds, Todd n Moore, Cromers, Who else remembers Brendles? I think it was around in the same space where Burlington is now? Dutch Square use to be awesome way back then, to bad its gone down hill
Steve
18 Nov 09 at 10:36 pm
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Brendles was the first store to take over the old Woolco side.. same as Burlington..it's the same side of Woolco. DS Mall was a very popular spot in it's heyday for sure. You also have Sam Solomon across the street and that whole area was buzzin' at the time. Too bad it's only a former shell of itself if that. You also had the Mobile Gas Station right behind McDonalds and then some small "putt putt" type thing there also.
Del
19 Nov 09 at 1:41 am
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I've never heard of some kid being electrocuted behind the Magnavox place?..anyone know about that? What were the stores down that hallway towards Woolco? Other than Sharp's I dont remember... anyone?
Del
19 Nov 09 at 1:45 am
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Belk is pretty big. They are based out of NC and they are in several southern states.
Mr Bill
19 Nov 09 at 10:43 am
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Whenever I got a yen for spaghetti & meatballs I went to sbaro's. Does anyone remember the orange julius when DSq first opened? It was right next to Eckerd's mall entrance. Eckerd's also had a counter grill with a couple of booths back then.
John R
19 Nov 09 at 11:05 am
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Del,
The boys name was David Herbert, he was a freshman at Columbia High in 1981 or 1982. I would have to get my annuals out of storage to know for sure. There was a dedication to him the year he died. Story we heard at school was maybe he was hiding there to avoid the mall security.Eric S
19 Nov 09 at 11:11 am
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Thanks..didnt hear about that. That must have been the year that Woolco closed also..
Del
19 Nov 09 at 10:33 pm
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i think this was the spot where the orange julius was when the mall first opened. dang - that was a long, long, long time ago. man, this is fun stuff to read.
wasn't the piano store (steinway?) down by sharpe's? i remember the piano that seemingly played by itself looping through the same little riff over and over.
stacysaw
23 Nov 09 at 5:14 pm
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Wasn't Orange Julius in the middle of the corridor down near Eckrds?
ted
23 Nov 09 at 5:22 pm
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hmm, it was by eckerd's but for some reason i thought it was on the corner. they had their own seating, i thought. but, i was around 5 or 6 at the time, so i'm surprised i even remembered the orange julius part! i guess that little devil guy stays with you forever.
stacysaw
23 Nov 09 at 5:50 pm
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It would be handy for theatre-goers IF they'd leave the gate from the theatre open.
The only thing I can think of that's between the theatres and the food court is a smallish, almost kiosk-sized area that has variously sold sunglasses and cell phones. If they'd put another gate just past the restaurants, they could stay open until the last showing starts.
On the other hand, that's about 9 p.m., when the whole mall closes anyway. . . .
Barc777
8 Feb 10 at 5:57 pm
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It's been over a year since I've set foot inside this mall, so maybe someone could enlighten me but it seems to me that they're still ticking according to the Phillips Edison lease site but I am not sure
Andrew
29 May 10 at 11:43 pm
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That looks reasonably close (except D'Avino's is another pizza joint now, and I think 184 is vacant).
ted
30 May 10 at 12:36 am
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Ok I finally made it in Dutch Square today for a few minutes and determined that this D'Avino's is now Gaby's Pizzeria. One day (God Willing) I hope to give them a try...but you might want to keep an eye on the Picadilly's in this mall because the doors were open but on the inward side of one of the doors, there was a sign saying it closed. I couldn't tell if it was open or not but there was a sign facing inward saying they've closed. So while I don't want to say they've officially closed, they might be about to
Andrew
18 Jun 10 at 5:48 pm
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Dutch Square is just a shell of it's former self. To me it looks like the old Mall shrank in size..I remember it being a lot bigger I thought..but I guess not. There are WAY too many Shoe stores there now and not enough people going inside the Mall. Belks is really the only think keeping the Mall going..sort of. I say they need to tear it down and just leave the Theater that's there now. Malls are an "Am-Was" thing..or a 60's or 70's thing. Even Columbia Mall Place thing is a waste of time anymore.. That's too bad.
Del
21 Jun 10 at 1:12 pm
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I've never heard of D'avino's, but this definitely used to be a Sbarro's pizza. I worked at the Office Depot from 1999-2003, and it was Sbarro's for that entire time.
Weston
15 Feb 11 at 8:45 am
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Thanks, I'll add that to the title.
ted
15 Feb 11 at 1:02 pm
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It was a Ray's back in the day.
Jonathan
15 Feb 11 at 2:18 pm
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I was looking through my archive of commercial real estate lease plans, came across an old lease map of Dutch Square that I downloaded in early 2008 from Phillips Edison (I've linked to the current map earlier in the postings contained herein for anyone interested) and determined that they had A Slice of Itlay here at the time. So around 2004-07ish (based on what Weston said earlier) this place opened up and folded up by late 2008 is my estimate.
Never made it to Gabby's but was hoping to...
Andrew
15 Feb 11 at 4:59 pm
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Just for the record the Sbarro in Columbiana Centre Mall appears to have closed. I was in there today. The subway in the Mall has closed too. You may want to look into that and create 2 entries for those places.
Corey
6 Mar 14 at 6:27 pm
I am pretty sure it was a sbarro around the late 90's had a friend of mine work there and he once told me they made a total of $3.00 for a whole day.
just curious, was Tapps where the movie theater is now?