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Piccadilly Cafeteria, Columbia Mall: Early August 2011   10 comments

Posted at 10:44 pm in Uncategorized

Well, I suppose it wasn't too surprising that after S & S closed at Richland Mall and Piccadilly closed at Dutch Square, Piccadilly closed at Columbia Mall sometime early this month.

It can't have been great being located in-between two dead anchors, Penny's & Dillard's, but I don't think being near Macy's or Sears would have made any difference. I think cafeterias are kind of a dying breed, and you can't compound that by being in a dying mall.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby G)

Written by ted on August 28th, 2011

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10 Responses to 'Piccadilly Cafeteria, Columbia Mall: Early August 2011'

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  1. Ted, your thoughts make me think...at your age, you come off at the end of the 'baby boomer' generation. Several folks that are baby boomers/Generation Xers/Millenials have mentioned of this site that they aren't keen on cafetarias and only went with older relatives (GI/Silent generation)...and as the boomers/Xers/Millenials (if you are curious where you fit, I can tell you where you fit (as far as I'm concered) if I know what year you were born) grow up and GI/Silent grow old and pass on to life after this, cafeterias are losing popularity. I haven't done any scientific survey on this but the comments on this site make me wonder if that's what's going on. It doesn't help that Columbia's remaining cafeteris were in malls that had clearly seen better days, either.

    During a recent trip to Atlanta, I noticed several Picadillys around the Aiken/Augusta area if you care for one that badly (but you'll have to do it without me).

    Andrew

    28 Aug 11 at 11:15 pm

  2. The really good places have closed: Morrison's, S&S, Picadilly, Annabell's, Applegates Landing, Dairy Queen... But Georgia still has S&S, Dairy Queen AND Picadilly. I think it's a South Carolina thing where places seem to close more-so than other States. I think too it's the "Curse of the Dying Mall" syndrom that's takeing over, and plus the "young" generation (45 and younger) I'm sure never liked the places where all the OLD people ate and I dont think they care all that much anyhow one way or the other. It's now all about McDonalds, The BK Lounge, Rush's, Taco-Bell just to name a few. Things change, but not always for the good.

    Del

    29 Aug 11 at 12:00 am

  3. Well, according to their site, there are still Dairy Queens in Cayce, Lugoff and Lexington...

    I'm 50, but never really got into cafeterias. They always had weird rice ("converted"/parboiled I now know), no booths and no hamburgers:

    "Try the hamburger steak, it's the same thing."

    "No it's not!"

    And carrot cake always seemed to be involved.

    ted

    29 Aug 11 at 12:50 am

  4. All you can eat buffet >> cafeteria nowadays.

    tonkatoy

    29 Aug 11 at 6:43 am

  5. Morrison's sold out to Piccadilly in 1996 per their wiki page...I went there once and wasn't very impressed when they were at Dutch Square with my mom and a couple of friends...

    Dairy Queen has locations on SC 6 near Red Bank off I-20 as well as I-26 and US-321 (Charleston Highway) in Cayce and they also have a spot at GGP owned Columbiana Centre.

    I also noticed Georgia still had Stevi B's pizza which sadly didn't make it at East Forest Plaza, which I would have liked to have tried but it didn't work out :(

    My dad has (in the past) tried to get me to think that steak and hamburgers are the same thing but I know better than that.

    Andrew

    29 Aug 11 at 1:41 pm

  6. When I was in second grade, Morrison's was in charge of my school's lunchroom. Any chance I might voluntarily eat in a cafeteria as an adult died that day.

    Jason

    29 Aug 11 at 8:56 pm

  7. The Piccadilly was actually not bad. Their veggies weren't swimming in fat like Lizard's Thicket. The location was ok because they were right by the mall entrance. When I was in there early summer they were pretty busy. Pricing was an issue though because you never knew how much you had on your tray until they rang it up!
    My understanding is that Morrison's has the food service contract for Palmetto Health.
    Stevie B's pizza was nasty so no one's missing anything by not trying it. The crust was pale and limp and tasted like plain white bread. The sauce was straight from an unseasoned can and the pepperoni was the gresiest I've ever eaten. Went because the kids got free meals for honor roll. It wasn't even worth THAT price!

    Victoria

    30 Aug 11 at 9:01 pm

  8. My Mom and I used to meet there for dinner sometimes. I thought the food was great, but as Victoria mentioned, the pricing was sketchy. I hated that.

    Miz T

    2 Sep 11 at 3:22 pm

  9. I used to go to Picadilly's with my Dad when my Mother was laid up in a nursing facility for many months. We were usually the only people in the place even during dinner hour. I never knew how they made enough money to stay open. The food was okay. We enjoyed S&S better since it had that atmosphere of blue haired patrons and the food was more varied and generally better prepared. May God rest Dad's soul for he is eating at that big cafeteria in heaven now.

    joelc

    2 Sep 11 at 6:26 pm

  10. In response to Del I am 15 and I used to eat a piccadilly all the time since I was little I went to piccadilly and S&S age has nothing to do with why these places are closing it is what is being built around these places that are making them close. Really to be honest, I wish I could sign a petition to reopen all of the good resturants/cafeterias. By the way I like lots of old stuff like classic cars and old gangster movies.

    Art

    2 Feb 13 at 9:26 pm

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