Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Mr. D's was the followup operation in this location to Gilligan's and as of Mid August 2016 was bought by Steve MacDougall, the mayor of Lexington who had already been general manager.

The restaurant's Facebook page indicates that it was in operation as late as 17 December 2016, but commenter Brian noticed it closed on 16 January 2016. As you can see, a note on the front door indicates that they planned to re-open on 1 February 2017, but the real-estate sign outside suggests that plan has been overtaken by events.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

UPDATE 11 May 2019 -- Something is going on here, but there is no sign that says exactly what:

UPDATE 12 March 2020 -- Now Singh Leite Pediatric Dentistry:

The Lost Cajun was the follow-on operation to Yumilicious in this Lexington strip mall.

The State article on the closing mentions that there is another SC location in Greenville, and as far as I can tell, that location is still open, and the chain's site lists a number of restaurants in other states.

As you can see, the signage is already up for this storefront to become a Palmetto Subs location.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

UPDATE 19 February 2022: Adding map icon and updating tags.

Commenter Jason reports the closing of this locally owned bedroom store at the I-20/US-378 interchange. Assuming they are connected with the Augusta Road location, it appears this was a retirement.

Cola Daily implies in passing, that this location opened around November 2015, so that's about a year. I don't think the little strip mall has been open much longer than that itself.

UPDATE 21 January 2017 -- As mentioned in the comments, this space is fitting out to be a Sub Station II:

I've been meaning to get some pictures of this former JT's location for a while now, but always seemed to be over there at night. For some reason, over the last few years, there seem to have been a *lot* of Columbia metro area car dealerships moving around and JT's moved to their new home at 4838 Sunset Boulevard in July.

JT's Fiat at 5223 Sunset also made the move.

(Hat tip to commmentor James R)

UPDATE 21 February 2017 -- This site has now been sold:

UPDATE 23 August 2017 -- Work has started here:

UPDATE 15 March 2018 -- Almost ready to open as Lidl:

If you look way in the back left in the first shot above, you can vaguely see the Buddy's storefront. For some reason, when I went by this little Lexington plaza the other night, I was thinking Buddy's was in the slot next to Brueggers and did not take any pictures of the right storefront. (I certainly should have known better, as I did a closing for Mr. Hibachi which was the real former tenant next to Brueggers..)

Anyway, the reason I was there at all (aside from pizza at Uno) was this little article from The State, noting that Buddy's Saucy Dogs had closed down, and is to be replaced by an "artisan taco restaurant, One Taco, Two Taco".

I like hotdogs; I don't know why I very rarely get them from a restaurant. I guess I automatically think of cooking them over a fire on a stick, or over the burner on a fork..

UPDATE 10 October 2016 -- Signage for One Taco Two Taco is up. Interesting that they are going the full bar route. That puts them up with Cantina 76:

This small Southern breakfast and lunch restaurant opened in April of 2013 as an extension of the original West Columbia location. Given the location and the fact that I rarely make it up in time for breakfast when I'm on my own schedule, I never had an opportunity to stop by though I do hanker for grits every now and then.

According to the linked article, Compton's replaced another breakfast oriented place, so it will be interesting to see if that trend continues with the next tenant.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I noticed this nice little brick office building droving from Lexington to Irmo a few weekends ago. Apparently the clinic has relocated to 121 Park Place Court, which is off of Sunset, just about where Monkey Joe's used to be.

UPDATE 25 September 2015 -- The new location:

After after the huge Radio Shack die-off of a year or so ago, the only two Radio Shack locations I could think of that were still open, were this one by Kmart in Lexington, and one in Murrells Inlet. Now that this one is going, I will have to keep my eye on the Grand Strand location.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I mentioned a while ago that the Forest Drive location of Nutrition Warehouse had closed, along with its contract Post Office. I was unaware of this Lexington branch of the chain, but it seems to have closed recently as well. I am happy to report the Colonial Life Drive Boulevard and Post Office is still open, though that's a bit far for me to bring my packages.

The State has the story of this Lexington closing for Stephano's. The long and short of it is the owners are retiring, and the building will re-open as The Root Cellar, "featur[ing] locally grown meats and produce".

It's still hard for me to believe that a restaurant opened in 1977 has been around almost 40 years -- 1977 seems like just yesterday.

UPDATE 9 June 2016 -- Here is The Free Times on 'The Root Cellar'

UPDATE 11 July 2016 -- The Root Cellar: