Baker Bros American Deli, 601 Main Street Suite A: Spring 2010 10 comments
According to this press release Baker Brothers American Deli came to South Carolina on 29 November 2007, with the opening of the Lexington store. That was to be the first of three stores in the Columbia market. I believe this store, beneath the upscale Adesso condos (themselves built on the site of the former mini-mall housing Pappy's and Robo's Video Arcade) was the second Columbia location. A google search suggests the third store was at 1730 Main Street, but I can't bring that one to mind without driving by.
At any rate, according to the franchaise map here all the South Carolina stores are now gone. The map is actually rather interesting in that persuing a Texas, Iowa, Indiana and Kentucky stragegy seems a bit unusual. Things could apparently be going better though, since apart from Texas (which is the home state and has 12 locations) each other state has only one. I never ate at Baker Bros. From the menu and web site, it seems sort of like another McAlister's Deli, a restaurant I never really warmed up to.
As mentioned by commenter Dave, the next business in this slot looks to be a yogurt operation called Yog Hut. My impression based on peering in the corner entrance is that Yog Hut will not be using the full Baker Bros space though.
UPDATE 21 May 2010: Commenter ChiefDanGeorge says the Yog Hut entrance is a different space, so I've added a picture of the Main Street doors. He also suggests that the Yog Hut opening is stalled.
UPDATE 8 July 2010 -- Well if it was stalled, it's unstalled and open now:
(Hat tip to commenter Mike)
UPDATE 28 June 2019: Add tags, map icon.
10 Responses to 'Baker Bros American Deli, 601 Main Street Suite A: Spring 2010'
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ChiefDanGeorge
21 May 10 at 5:27 am
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You know, I don't think the Adesso is even a third full. They've come down 200K on some condos, but they are still mighty expensive when compared to what you can buy just across the river. The only thing keeping them afloat is USC money, from what I understand.
Rosewood Hills is in the same boat, but I don't think they've sold much of anything in two years there.
jamie
21 May 10 at 7:02 am
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Baker Bros. was actually very good and I'm sad to see them go. To my understanding they were all owned by one franchisee and that the Lexington store did quite well, but I think the Adesso location killed the whole operation. The location suffered from a fatal flaw, in that it was too far from downtown to walk to and had NO parking or place to even run in for pickup. I'm speculating too that the rent at Adesso was grossly overpriced for the amount of traffic. It's sad because this was actually a great place to eat.
Larry
21 May 10 at 1:03 pm
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I went to the one at the Lexington Pavilion several weeks ago and Ted, it has a lot more than McCallister's. They actually had a Gormet Pizza that I ended up eating a couple of slices left over for lunch a couple of days later. McCallister's I haven't really warmed up to but they do have a couple of things I could handle the times I've been. I was looking forward to trying this one but it didn't work out sadly.
Andrew
21 May 10 at 1:34 pm
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They were owned by some young Lexington guys. One owner was a pharmasist and the other actually had experience working in McCalisters. They chose to open the Main St Columbia location becasue, at the time, that was the busiest Moe's Southwest in the concept. They figured that the spill over from Moe's could be enough. With all the pedestrian traffic, you would think it would be a hit.
O'Reilly
21 May 10 at 2:00 pm
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That huge hole in the ground opposite the street from them paid a large part in this failure, and as Innovista licks its wounds and now says it's an idea and not a physical place that retail space will not be in top 5 available spots to open up shop. The former Dukes on Forest is better, as are some of the avail gervais storefronts and the avail storefronts in 5pts. All have more walkby
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I know the guy who's trying to open the "Yog Hut". I've wished him luck, and the concept seems sound, but I question the location.
Dennis
11 Jun 10 at 2:34 am
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That location has been an enigma for 4 years now. More clear now that the lack of parking ultimately kills any outside interest other than local USC dorms and undergrad commuters.
Sam
22 Jan 11 at 8:17 pm
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It was this location that tanked both Baker Bros. in the Columbia market. The rent was way too high to stay afloat. Good luck Yog Hut, you are going to need to sell lots of yogurt to have success. Ben and Jerry's couldn't even do it.
A.M
1 Feb 11 at 10:13 am
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I drove by Sunday afternoon and there was a considerable crowd both inside and sitting around outside.
Mike
1 Feb 11 at 4:15 pm
Yoghut is in a different part of the building, although it has been coming soon for about 2 years now.