Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I wrote a few days ago about the Sunset Boulevard location of Maurice's Gourmet Barbeque closing. This location, on Garners Ferry Road / Sumter Highway just past I-77 also closed about the same time. In the second picture you can see that it sits next to the former Fantasy Lingerie, which itself closed recently.

I've never been in this, or indeed any, Maurice's location, but what strikes me looking in through the window of this building is how little it looks like a former restaurant inside. It could almost be a generic office building just judging by what's left. The flowers are a nice touch though.

Hat tip to commenter Terry for the heads-up.

UPDATE 22 September 2020: Updating tags and adding map icon.

OK, I'll admit it -- I like Fred's. Why? Well there's probably some history. There is a Fred's within easy walking distance from the house were my aunt lived in Fernandina Beach, and I sort of developed a respect for its no-nonsense "yes, we are a cheap store" attitude over the years. I was also always happy with the fact that they showed no desire to get rid of the huge live-oak in their parking lot:

With that initial positive impression, I was glad when Fred's started moving into the SC market, and in general I would rather shop there than other bottom tier stores like Dollar General or Family Dollar. I first saw them here when I was living in Aiken, and they opened a store on Whiskey Road. I remember buying a padlock and some other sundries there, and I'm pretty sure I've gotten motor oil at the Decker store.

I didn't even realize there was a Cedar Terrace store for quite a while (it's not very visible from Garners Ferry) and never ended up shopping there. I'm not sure how long it was there, but it certainly hasn't been very many years.

I don't know what happened here. I would have said that Fred's would be better able to deal with a recession than many other stores, since price becomes more important then. Perhaps they have been expanding too fast and have gotten overextended. Or perhaps people just like 'Sam' better than 'Fred' when there's only a mile between them.

(Hat Tip to commenter Gary..)

Well, you can't say they didn't make an effort at this Wal-Mart outparcel on Garners Ferry road. This building originally opened as a Fire Mountain Grill, which was explained to me once by a friend with contacts in the food industry as the brand Ryan's corporate used to move back into markets where they felt the Ryan's brand had been tarnished by the local franchisees.

I always felt that Fire Mountain was a bad name since it invoked images both of volcanic tropical islands like Hawaii and of heat and spiciness, none of which had anything to do with the food served. At any rate, they ran it as that for a few years, then transitioned it back into a Ryan's, which didn't last long at all.

The building looks quite impressive, especially when viewed end-on and from below, as when you walk in from Garners Ferry. Currently it's for sale. The sign doesn't mention that you get all the fixtures, but that seems to be the case -- they are still in there at any rate.

As an aside, and appropos to nothing, I parked in the lot at Aldi across the street from Ryan's while taking these pictures. I decided as long as I was parked there, I would go in -- What a weird and unpleasant place!

Read the rest of this entry »

[26 June 2010: Howdy folks! If you're coming here from The State article on "The Old Caughman Place", there's more vanished Columbia here than just The Bounty. Take a look at the list of Alphabetical Closings, or check out the latest posts on the Columbia Closings home page -- Ted]

Well, this is one of the two most requested posts I haven't done yet, or at least one of the two "most searched for" posts. I've held off doing a post on The Bounty because I never ate there and didn't have any personal memories at all to relate, and the building is gone, so I couldn't get any photos. However, I did finally get a yellow pages ad (from the 1977 Southern Bell phonebook), so I decided to go out on the Sumter Highway and see if I could find where I thought it was.

The most likely place seems to be on Mill Creek off the right side of the road if you are heading towards Sumter. We used to take this route the the beach, and the site more or less comports with what I remember from those trips. Taking a good picture seems to be impossible though. There is no access to the lake from the Sumter Highway except as you go over the bridge, and if you were to park and walk out on the bridge you would be taking your life in your hands as there is no sidewalk space. The road is also too busy to stop on the bridge in your car. I went by half a dozen times before I was able to snap this poor shot through the window. I recall The Bounty as being on the left bank (as pictured here) of the lake. There must have been road access to the site, so I went around on Old Garners Ferry, but anything that seems likely is all fenced and posted -- you can't even see the lake from that side (though thre is a waterfall over the dam which I assume was once a mill, giving the creek its name).

The Bounty was a seafood restaurant which also had a kid-friendly "ship" which took kids out on the lake as part of a whole dining experience. From this site and various comments you folks have made here, I believe the story of The Bounty was about as follows:

A local businessman, B. C. Inabinet, had the enthusiasm and know-how to run a seafood restaurant, so he got his main company to build The Bounty and take ownership. It was profitable, and everyone was happy. When he passed away, his successors at the main company found they didn't have a passion for the restaurant business and decided to abandon The Bounty to concentrate on the firm's core interests. In the end the building was burned as a practice exercise for the local fire department.

That's about all I can say, except that it sounds like it was a fun place, and I'm sure that I would have liked it except for the "fish" part. Now, here's what y'all have said:

The far left of Captain’s Kitchen was shaped, or enclosed in an old boat, but who remember’s the Bounty out toward Hopkins that was built like a huge boat. My grandparent’s loved to eat there. It looked like some crazy themed resturant from the coast.
Also, what was the resturant located on Decker where Chick-fil-a is now. I think it was Applegates Landing. It was also themed on the inside. I remember a salad bar that was made from an old truck.

By Hal Reed on Sep 4, 2008

The Bounty was owned & operated by B.C. Inabinet, a college football star who founded Defender Industries and got rich selling janitorial supplies. We often bumped into him at his restaurant, and he was a happy, wonderful host who love people and loved to eat!

He also owned a working shrimp boat on the coast called The Bounty, and in the restaurant was a series of photos of the boat’s christening. His wife hit the bow with a magnum of champagne, and instead of breaking, it knocked a chunk off the boat! He found this hilarious and loved to tell the story.

Behind the restaurant he built a little shack on the lake’s edge where you could get beer and oysters in a sort of tropical setting. Great fun.

B.C. died from complications following stomach-stapling surgery (he was huge). I heard that he refused to follow doctor’s orders about eating after the operation and that’s what did him in.

By Dennis on Sep 5, 2008

The Bounty was a renovated wooden structure on the old swim club called Pine Woods. I think Pine Woods closed in the early seventies. I was involved with installing insulation under the restaurant for insulation. I believe the restaurant burned down after a few years.

By keith on Nov 12, 2008

I remember the Bounty well as I grew up on that side of town and we went there often. The whole restaurant inside and out looked like a ship right out of the 1600’s complete with great lighting at nights and mannequins. There was indeed a boat that took you on tours of the pond (although at 5 yrs old it seemed huge, especially after dark). It also seems that there was a pirate wharf out back with a little souvenir shack where you could get (among other things) little pirate flags and probably even those plastic pirate swords. In my memory it was as cool as Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney, and there has been nothing like it in Columbia since.

By Larry on Nov 13, 2008

The Bounty off of Garners Ferry Rd… few restaurants out that way in the late 70s other than the Chicken Coop near where Zaxby’s is now.

At the Bounty after dinner they’d ride you on the pond in the “ship.” One time the “skipper” said “You see that thing over there that looks like a log? Well, it is a log.” The place burned to the groud, maybe in the 80s.

By Midnight Rambler on Dec 16, 2008

The Bounty was a great place to go eat but I agree with Kelly, I don’t think it was quite as good as Captain’s Kitchen. When I was very young, my parents were members of Pinewood Club (where the Bounty was.) It was the big pond and a few rustic buildings. One was the canteen and others I think were the Men’s and Women’s buildings to change into their swimsuits. That’s where I learned to swim. Good fishing there too! I believe the Columbia Fire Dept may have torched the Bounty for training purposes. At least that is what I was told.

By Roy on Dec 21, 2008

UPDATE 30 September 2012: I'm very happy to report that thanks to commenter Steve who made the scans from his postcard we now have an actual picture of The Bounty! I have added the postcard to the very top of the post.

UPDATE 19 January 2013: Commenter Jiles Bishop sends this scan of a Bounty boat-ride token. Be sure to read his comment below as well:

The original location of Pier 1 Imports, or at least the first one that I recall was in the back of the Cedar Terrace shopping center on Garner's Ferry Road, in the space now occupied by a Fred's.

My mother was into "quirky", and interested in other cultures, so we often stopped at Pier 1 if we were in the area. The way I recall it, the store ran heavily to wicker, rattan, and exotic umbrella baskets. As a kid, I cared vary little for the furnishing aspects of the place, but was fascinated by the offbeat food items and cheap import toys. I remember in particular some sort of (Japanese?) candy squares that were wrapped in rice paper, and you ate them paper and all(!). We actually got some of those, but my I could only look in horrid fascination at the chocolate covered ants, which we never did get. I don't remember most of the toys, but I did get a harmonica there once, which was made in China (an actual communist country!) and seemed impossibly exotic with a colorful embossed box, and instructions printed on transparent paper in characters that weren't even in the alphabet, much less in English. I've still got the harmonica and box though the instructions seem to have vanished at some point -- I never did learn to play it..

I think Pier 1 moved to Two Notch in front of Columbia Mall after that, though for some reason we never went there. I think I read somewhere that the chain had fallen on hard times and rethought their concept. I don't believe there's one in town at all now, though I'm sure you could find chocolate covered ants somewhere.

UPDATE 19 May 2009:

OK, the consensus in the comments is that I had the Cedar Terrace location of Pier 1 wrong, and rather than being in what is now Fred's, it was in what is now Sub Station II & Steve-O's, so here's a picture of that storefront:

And as long as I'm posting a picture of it, I'll give you my Sub Station II story, even though it hasn't closed. At some point in the 80s or 90s, I went to lunch with my sister, and as she lived fairly near to Garner's Ferry at the time, we ended up in Cedar Terrace at Sub Station II. As it happened, I wasn't really in the mood for a cold sub, and I saw on their behind-the-counter menu board "Italian Sausage Sandwich with Peppers & Onions". I thought Hey! I love those at the State Fair, and I never get to have one anywhere else., so I ordered it.

I should perhaps have been apprehensive as there was no indication of a griddle anywhere, but we went to our table and chit-chatted a bit. I noticed though that the counter person seemed to be dipping something out of a pot behind the counter. A few minutes later our order was called and I found my sandwich to be two soggy boiled links placed in a bun with no condiments of any kind. Great. Well, the sausage was obviously going to be what it was, but Hey, I asked the counter person, where are my peppers & onions?

Oh, that's just what's written on the sign. We haven't had those in years

While I'm updating the post, I should also note I was wrong about there being no Pier 1s in town. There is actually one quite close to the old Garners ferry location at the Woodhill Target complex:

UPDATE 30 June 2020: Updating tags, adding map icon.

I wrote at some length about Robo's on Main Street some time ago, and that's the location I overwhelmingly went to to hone my Galaga skills (and by hone, I mean, I was "ok"). That made sense as I lived across the street from there, but when I was home and had access to a car, I would come to this location from time to time. I recently parked near there to get some pictures of the Advance Auto Parts demolition, and decided to take this shot.

At this remove, I'm not entirely sure which storefront Robo's was, but I think it was the one to the left of the blue dumpster. My memory also says that this location was something of a poor stepchild in the Robo's family -- I recall it as being smaller, less busy, and having a smaller variety of games. Unlike the University location, it didn't have a clear constituency (ie: college kids), though I suppose there are plenty of residences in the general area. I'm not sure if it outlasted the Main Street or Dutch Square locations -- it did have the advantage of not having its building torn down, but I think Main Street had folded long before that happened to its former home.

I was going to Panera Bread the other day, and noticed that this Advance Auto Parts store in an outparcel of the Garners Ferry Road K-Mart was gone. Actually, the day I noticed it, one of those fly-by-night sofa sales operations had set up shop in the parking lot (which is well located for access and visibility). The door sign optimistically states "closed temporarily", but we shall see. Interestingly (or not :-) this place is just catty-cornered across the street from the NAPA Auto Parts store I wrote about a while back.

And as a special added bonus, the historical marker for "Camp Jackson", which is in the store parking lot:

UPDATE 18 March 2009:

Well, looks like I took those pictures just in time. I went by on 12 March, and they had already knocked the whole place down (except for the front steps) and were digging a honking big hole where it was. So far the historic plaque is untouched.

UPDATE 17 Dec 2010: Fixed the post title to indicate "Devine Street" rather than "Garners Ferry Road". Added a second picture of the new store.

UPDATE 5 October 2009: The new store is built and open:

UPDATE 17 Dec 2010: Changed post title to indicate Devine Street rather than Garners Ferry Road. Added another picture of the new store.

UPDATE 4 April 2022: Updating tags, adding map icon.

The whole area on Garners Ferry near where this Pizza Hut sat has been reworked so much over the years that it's hard to say exactly where the restaurant actually was, but I think it's not far off the mark to say it was about where Ruby Tuesday now is.

I don't know what the ownership structure of Columbia Pizza Huts in the 70s & 80s was, but as far as I could tell, they were almost all about the same, with no real standouts or bad stores. (I believe PH was in general better back then -- I don't care too much for it today). I say almost because this store was something of an outlier.

I remember that my sister and I stopped there once in the late 70s, and after our pizza came we ate for a few minutes before, independantly, coming to the conclusion that while the crust was fine, the cheese properly melted, and the toppings we had ordered had been duly applied -- there was no sauce anywhere on the pizza. I believe we raised it as an issue to the manager, but decided to take a discount on the check rather than wait for a new pizza to be prepared.

I didn't think much of the incident though obviously it did not move that PH to the top my "where to eat pizza" list. Still about five years later, I found myself in the area when it was time to eat and decided to stop by again. As I'm sure you already suspect, my pie was once again served sauceless. Now, the old saying is

Once is happenstance
Twice is coincidence and
Three times is enemy action.

and I didn't try a third time, so I can't rule out coincidence, but I can't help suspect that there was a management policy to cut costs by shorting the sauce. After all it's the least noticable bit of the pizza, being normally mostly hidden under the cheese anyway.

I can't remember exactly what happened to the place. Either it burned down (I know the one of Forest Drive did, so I may be conflating with that) or was torn down during one of the plaza remodels. At any rate, it was never rebuilt, and I can't say I'm too heartbroken about it.

UPDATE 5 March 2011: Changed the post title to use "Devine Street" rather than "Garners Ferry Road". I thought the name changed at Fort Jackson Boulevard, but actually Devine Street goes all the way to Wildcat Road.

UPDATE 26 June 2023: Updating tags and adding map icon.

I'm assuming that this location of Sears Roebuck will carry on through the holiday season. There doesn't seem to be any downside to that, and folks aren't going to hesitate buying from them since they know they can always do returns at Columbia Mall or Columbiana Center.

This store is something of an odd duck for Sears. It is the only Sears I've ever been in that has shopping carts and front check-out lanes. I know Sears bought K-Mart a while back, and this place felt to me like a Sears branded K-Mart. As far as I can recall, I only shopped there once, and ended up getting that retro-Atari (pong, battlezone, missle-command etc) box that was semi-popular a few years ago. Of course like a lot of re-released toys ("Cootie", "Candyland", "Lite-Brite") it wasn't as good as the original, and one of the controllers died the second time I used it.

Once the Sears goes, I think this plaza will pretty much be a "dead mall". It's already in really bad shape, and anyone with money is going to locate in the Wal-Mart strip across the road if they can.

UPDATE 29 February 2020: Changed the title from Sears Roebuck to Sears Essentials, added a full address, tags and map icon.

Lately the thing to do rather than remodeling an aging store is to simply build a bigger one right next door and move shop.

That's what happened to this Piggly Wiggly on Garners Ferry Road. The trouble with that, although it gives me something to take pictures of, is that it leaves behind a dead or dying strip mall as seems to be the case with "Garners Ferry Plaza". On the other hand, I would in general rather shop in a store like the new one (seen across the street in the last photo) than in a run-down store, and building a new store avoids a lengthy period of remodeling which can drive away customers. A remodeling store, even one open for business is like a road with ongoing construction -- you know you could get through, but you'd rather plan another route and avoid the hassle.

UPDATE 3 March 2010 -- some sort of work is being done on the old Pig and plaza:

UPDATE 9 March 2011: Updated closing date based on the comments (and added full street address).

UPDATE 16 July 2013 -- Garners Ferry Plaza has ben renovated now, including the former Pig site:

Also, The Pig is closing at its new location.