Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

There is some confusion on the street address of this former Taco Bell on Decker. It was apparently previously listed as 2632 (and I have pictures with that address posted in the window), but is now 2652.

Charlie's Wings was the follow-on in this spot to Feel Goods. I'm not exactly sure when they closed. The last post on their Facebook page is from 2019, but they have Yelp reviews into 2021, so I'm going to put that in the post title.

The reason that I noticed Charlie's was gone is that a new operation is now open in the space, a "Korean style Chicken" restaurant: 92 Chicken.

It's definitely not ice cream weather tonight, but summer is coming -- eventually!

Ice Cream Taco was in this little strip mall on Sunset which has seen a number of things come and go over the last few years. I don't seem to have a closing for the previous operation in this suite, but as of 2014 when I did a cloing for Alibaba's, it was apparently recently vacated. According to The State, Ice Cream Taco opened here in March of 2022, and I actually learned something from the article. My assumption had been that the store name referred to some sort of frozen novelty served in sugar tacos rather than sugar cones, but in actuality, the place serves regular, hot, tacos -- and ice cream.

In November, they relocated to 2708 Emanuel Church Road.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

It seems like Dunkin' as a chain is doing a lot of remodeling now, and the Forest Acres location is now caught up in that. I haven't parked to see if there is a sign with an ETA for re-opening, but it looks like there's a way to go.

I will say that this place has been a bit flakey for a while -- often the lobby would be randomly closed when I would stop by though the drive-through would be open. I suppose it's staffing issues.

It's possible they moved to another part of the store -- I was just running in and out, but it appeared to me last week that the Starbucks in the Sparkleberry Square Kroger was gone.

UPDATE 16 September 2024 -- Apparently they closed their existing kiosk to remodel and make a larger in-store space, whic is now open:

El Salto was the follow-on operation in this location to Dino's. I ate there once earlier this year, and thought it was pretty good, though I didn't put it on regular rotation.

I was driving down Decker the other day and noticed that the main sign was blank and that the place had been re-branded -- I'm not sure if it's a completely new ownership and staff or just a name change. Looking at Google reviews, it appears to have happened a month or two ago.

I believe there is another El Salto on Columbia Northeast Drive in the Big Lots side plaza -- I have not checked to see if that is still there.

The only time I have eaten at a Dickey's was in Huntsville Alabama some years ago, and as I recall, it was fine. This location sounds to have been a bit different, and I have actually been to this place before to take pictures for a closing, only to find out that they were "just closed for some reason". Looking at the Google reviews, it appears that that was absolutely typical for this place, and they make interesting reading.

This time it appears they are definitely gone for good, but I don't expect the suite to stay vacant for long, as it is a street-visible storefront next to a busy Kroger.

(Hat tip to commenter Trevin)

UPDATE 16 September 2024 -- As reported in the comments, this is now setting up to be a Firehouse Subs:

UPDATE 6 October 2024: Took out the Starbucks picture which wasn't meant to be on this post.

I was not aware of Jin Jin tucked away here in the struggling Capitol Square shopping center, but they apparently closed on 2 December according to their facebook. As far as I can tell, this closure brings an end to any activity at the plaza. Since their note mentions that their lease was ending, I can't help but wonder if the owners have been getting everybody out in advance of redeveloping the property which abuts an up-and-coming area (with the only negative being the chicken plant when the wind is wrong..). Given that even the plaza's roadside marquee sign has been let to go to pot, I suspect something like that is happening.

The other thing about the property which strikes me, aside from it being all vacant, is the number of payphones, mostly not vandalized (though not currently connected) along the walkway. I mean, I suppose '3' is not a high number historically, but it's the most I've seen in years.

Here is the strip's real-estate brochure, which mentions none of this, but does show a number of former tenants, and the roadside sign.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

UPDATE 18 December 2023 -- Here is the plaza sign in happier times circa 2016:

Sol was the follow-on in this space (which was built as a Sam's Corner hotdog place) to the idiosyncratically named Joe Loves Lobster Rolls.

It was a rather upscale Mexican place, the kind where they don't have the items you expect, and you don't get free chips & salsa. In the event, I only ate there once, with my college roommate & his wife after we had taken in an evening at Nights Of A Thousand Candles. The only thing I saw on the menu that appealed to me was the Chile Rellenos, which were fine, but on the whole for that type of concept, I prefer Luna in Murrells Inlet.

One thing I did notice driving by in the years after that, was that the hours of the place were rather unusual, and they tended to take the winter completely off. The Sun News has the story on the closing. The given reason is that the rent in this spot is too high, which seems odd as it is a building which has had trouble holding restaurants, and it is a bit off the beaten path. At any rate, the owner hopes to re-open somewhere on the Grand Strand.

Here's another Chick-Fil-A teardown/rebuild as they continue to pivot to drive-through centric restaurants. This one is in the Wal-Mart plaza at Forest Drive & I-77.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Village Idiot is the follow-on operation in this storefront to Paulie's Pizzeria, which succumbed in 2009 to a kind of "If we have ingredients today, maybe we'll make pizza" syndrome. I never found the space a good sit-down restaurant in that incarnation, and since I never really warmed to Village Idiot in Five Points, I never tried this location.

The chain remains ongoing, but with the sale of this strip-mall, and the end of their lease coming up, they decided not to continue in this location.

The State has the story here, as does the Free Times here. I'll note that The State describes Forest Acres as ritzy, which is not a word I'd ever associated with our little community before.

The closing date is not firmed up yet, but will be by the end of the year.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

UPDATE 11 February 2025 -- Now Morelia Gourmet Paletas. Paletas are apparently some sort of popsicle: