Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Fusco's closed on a temporary basis last summer, but was open again by the end of June 2022. This time they are gone for good as a market, but they continue to prepare lunch and do catering from the adjacent Tavern On 6.

On 19 June, they announced on their Facebook that a new operation, Roxanne’s Market will be opening in their old location on 1 July.

Here is the post announcing their closing, and here is The State on the closing.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

UPDATE 4 October 2023 -- As mentioned in the comments, now Roxanne's Market:

For a long time, it was not clear if this restaurant was closing or not. I believe they were trying to direct traffic to their other location, in the old Ruby Tuesday building at Dutch Square, but were keeping this one, in a former Wendy's, open too for a while.

In the event, it is now definitely closed, and for sale, and you should head to Bush River Road for your down-home fix.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie & co)

UPDATE 9 October 2023 -- The place has been leased:

UPDATE 13 December 2023 -- A bit better picture of the "Leased" sign, but no more details on what will be going in:

UPDATE 7 Aug 2024 -- Now Braza Chicken:

UPDATE 15 October 2024 -- A slightly better, not pouring down rain, picture of Braza:

Hook Fish & Chicken is aparently a chain of sorts, though it's not clear to me that all the locations are closely related. At any rate, they were the follow-on operation in this building at 3600 River Drive to Lamb's Bread. Going by their Facebook page, they moved in January of this year to the row of shops on Colonial Life Boulevard which houses The Melting Pot:

We are more than happy to announce we will be back up and running THIS Saturday, January 14th.
We are coming back stronger than ever with a new partnership with KrabKingz! Come and see us at 1410 colonial life blvd Columbia sc 29210!!
We know you missed us, because we missed you!!!!!!! See y’all Saturday!

I didn't realize when I took the pictures that they had moved, or I would have tried to get some shots of the new location.

Here is The State on the opening in March of 2022.

UPDATE 19 June 2023 -- Here is the Krab Kingz location on Colonial Life:

UPDATE 1 October 2024 -- Hope springs eternal. Now River Grill House Of Pizza. I can't find any online presence, but House Of Pizza restaurants are traditionally run by Greek families:

UPDATE 5 February 2025 -- River Grill & Pizza is now open:

Speaking of Krystal, Franco's was the Krystal follow-on in this Murrells Inlet storefront, and if you look closely you can still the Krystal signage label-scar.

I never tried this place out as I have plenty of go-to pizza joints on the Grand Strand, and I've always found pizza described as "New York" to be underwhelming. I can't find any media reference to the place closing, but looking on the dates of Google reviews suggest it closed early this year.

UPDATE 9 July 2023: To become Mulberry Street NY Pizzeria

This highly visible spot at Sandhill has housed a several restaurants over the years. It started as Atlanta Bread Company, and was then a Panera until that operation moved to Killian Road.

Esther's opened in August of 2021, and so was there just a bit shy of two years. According to the place's Facebook, the chef will be doing pop-ups and other projects in the future, with one coming up on 25 June 2023 at Polo Park.

The State noted the closing here.

(Hat tip to Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 15 June 2023 -- Here's the interior and closing sign:

This storefront is known to Google as Steve's Deli of WeCo for some reason or other, and appears to have been in business as recently as a month ago.

I don't believe I've ever had a Steve's sub, though there have been several around town for years. Jimmy Johns is my go-to, although Subway is OK. I probably ought to try one sometime, zooming in on the menu shows an All Cheese, which with Add bacon is a good place to start.

(Hat tip to Mr. Hat)

I admit to being a bit disenchanted with Buffalo Wild Wings. I never went to this location, but I used to go the the Devine Street store some because it was open late nights. I had one ongoing issue in that they would frequently be out of unsweet ice-tea. I know it's mainly a beer place, but my theory is that if you are out of something easy to make, and it's two hours before closing: make more. The other insight I had came when I ordered the hot pretzels one night, and decided I would rather have butter than cheese sauce or mustard. There was none. I'm sorry, but if you don't have butter in the kitchen, you're not a real restaurant. (Doesn't have to be in a individual packet, just put some in dressing cup and it will be fine..). Anyway, that's just one man's opinion.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I sometimes go the the neighboring Applebee's, and from what I could see across the way, Buffalo Wild Wings seemed to be doing a pretty good business. Coupled with the recent closings of the nearby Wild Wing at Sandhill and the Vista Wild Wing, it makes me wonder if the wings & beer restaurant is in decline.

Here is The State on the closing.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)

Asian Express started to set up in this old Church's Chicken location in late 2018. Like the one on Broad River Road, which also took quite a while, the crews appeared to be working on it as a side project. For a while, things appeared to be going OK, if slowly, though there were some setbacks as when somebody broke the windows, but it has been months since I've seen any activity there, and as it is more than four years since they started, I am moving the place into the "never opened" category. I'd like to be proved wrong shortly, but it's not looking that way.

I guess this isn't too surprising given that the other Wild Wing Cafe locations in the area have already closed (one fairly recently), but combined with the recent Buffalo Wild Wings closing on Two Notch, it makes me wonder if this market segment as a whole is in trouble. I have heard that for restaurants to get wings nowdays it is almost a "market price" situation and a recent google review for this place does comment:

The wings here are TINY. Like half the size of a traditional wing. Maybe smaller honestly. It’s like they killed the chicken just after it hatched.

I can't comment personally about that as since I don't care for chicken I had never visited the place. Still it's always a shame to see a spot close and folks out of work.

Here's today's Facebook announcement, and here is the still extant web site

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

This spot first featured here as Vegetable Medley back in 2018, and commenter Andrew reported in June of 2019 that Oak Grove Fish House was up and running as of that time.

It's certainly a location that needs good word-of-mouth, as it is off of the main drag. The signs on the property paint the closing as temporary, but at this point it's pretty clearly permanent.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby)