Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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I believe it is safe to borrow commenter Larry's phrase

Well the renovations are extensive

for this Knox Abbot Drive Zaxby's.

This also appears to have entailed knocking down the Sprint building at some point.

As commenter Larry mentions, Liberty Tap Room is going through extensive renovations -- so extensive that in fact it will open as a new restaurant Taco Mundo Kitchen y Cantina. This is another place I never got to, though I think I may have been to the one in Myrtle Beach, which is still open as far as I can tell.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Judging from the Google reviews, this place probably closed sometime this Spring. The closing is also marked "Temporary", but we'll see. You might think that sitting across from two campuses of hungry kids would be a good place for a sandwich shop, but I have to say that the Google reviews have about the highest concentration of one star ratings I have seen anywhere, so perhaps you really can't sell sizzle.

If you click on the pictures that come up when you google Collins Printing Two Notch, you'll see a number of them from five years ago with furniture labeled for sale, so I believe that was their final office clearance. Interestingly, Google thinks they are still in business at this location.

Also interestingly, and I'm sure totally unrelated to Collins, there is a huge, unmarked hole in the ground in between them and the former RAW Wheels & Tires.

Looking at the Google Reviews, as well as the cafe's Facebook, it seems that O'Hara's was not making book as a table-service cafe, and tried converting to a counter-service bagel shop, which didn't bring in enough new traffic while alienating the existing clientele. This also invoved Rules #1 & #6.

The owners remain committed to the spot, and it sounds from the most recent Facebook post, that something new may be in the offing.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Well, I'm really irritated with myself because I only got two pictures of all the storm damage. I was out drving this morning looking for a place I might be able to find coffee & Internet to work from as my power was out. There were all kind of trees down, including huge ones, and one which fell across Beltline just a few minutes (apparently) after I had passed by going the other way. Sylvan @ Trenholm was completely blocked, and Kilbourne seemed to have a tree down in every yard. So, intead of thinking to take pictures, I got worried about whether I could actually get home (given I couldn't go back down Beltline), and totally forgot to take any shots other than the ones of the Caro sign.

Hope everyone is OK!

UPDATE 30 September 2024 -- Well, to revise & extend my remarks, as they say, based on the comments, it seems that the Caro sign was damaged before the storm. I will leave the pictures, because that's it's done, but I will add a few mild actual storm damage pictures below. When I wrote this post last Friday, I thought we had been through a medium-bad event, nothing like the Flood of 2015. Obviously I now know that while we were not hit that badly here in the Midlands, our fellow Sandlappers and Tarheels took a major blow, and I urge everyone to contribute what they can.

Google Maps gives the name of this place as Pops Pops Pops, just as it is on the sign, but the Welcome To Pops sign inside suggests the official name is the more sedate (and simpler) one. It also appears they may have been a Pantry Express affiliate, though I did not see that branding displayed anywhere. At any rate, looking at Google Streetview, they have been closed since at least 2021. I find it a bit odd that the building has not been re-purposed by now, and that it is in such good shape.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

Perry's Gourmet Flaming Grilled Chicken (there's a mouthfull by itself!) opened in this former Taco Cid building in on 29 August of 2022. WLTX had the story here.

Apparently the chicken was Portuguese style, which I am not familiar with, but they had traditional Southern items as well. The Google reviews are almost uniformly positive, though there are not a ton of them, which may be an indication they weren't getting the volume they needed.

And of course, the building is odd and old, something Taco Cid finally gave up on, so there may well be a lot of issues to be addressed as indicated in the Closed For Remodeling sign. Unfortunately I don't see any work going on, and those signs are often more aspirational than accurate. Hopefully that won't be the case here and they will be back, but we'll see.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

I had meant to go by the Festival on Saturday when I would have had some time to walk around, but in the event forgot about it completely somehow, and ended up dropping by Sunday afternoon. By that time all the Galaktoboureko was gone, but I did snag some Baklava & Kataifi to take home. There looked to be a pretty good crowd, and the weather was great, in fact unusually warm for late September!

It appears that Latino's Used Cars (and towing) has moved from this Two Notch storefront to 10531 Farrow Road, according to their Facebook.

Looking at Google StreetView, they had moved in by 2016, before which the building had been vacant for a number of years.