Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

These (not particularly good -- I was on my way somewhere else) pictures are from 20 May 2023, the grand opening of The Dales Biergarten and Bottle Shoppe, which will be closing on 17 October with a bit over two years under its belt. Taking over from wedding venue The Springdale House & Gardens, The Dales aimed to be

a family friendly Biergarten and retail shop.

.

The closing sites staffing issues, and the usual recent liability concerns.

You can read the venue's announcement here and stories from The State & Post & Courier here & here.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

This head shop was in the news back in 2023 as they were found to be, or thought to be, selling actual marijuana ("green plant-like material believed to be marijuana") rather than the more legal "almost" products.

The local store of the NC based chain claimed the substance was just hemp, and legal. I'm not sure how all the legal wrangling turned out, and I don't see any actual articles on the store closure, but it is definitely gone now.

Here is WLTX on the raid, and here are WIS & WACH.

Here is the store's side of the story from NC based alternative weekly:

Since opening his first Crowntown Cannabis location — then called Charlotte CBD — in east Charlotte in 2018, Michael Sims has moved comfortably in what could sometimes be considered a gray area.

Sims was under the impression that he was given the green light to sell hemp products by the passing of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, followed by a statewide pilot program allowing those who obtain a license in North Carolina to grow industrial hemp.

“Ultimately, we were okay with the gray area at first because we didn’t think it was that gray,” Sims tells Queen City Nerve. “Here’s the clearly defined definition of what hemp is by Congress. It’s no longer under the DEA. It’s now under the USDA. Here’s the rules. Okay, we’ll follow them.”

And follow them he did, as Sims and his partners have rapidly expanded their business, opening a second location in Columbia, South Carolina the following year and opening two more in the Charlotte area since — one in NoDa and another in Concord.

But on Jan. 18, things got a lot grayer for Sims after the Columbia Crowntown Cannabis store was raided by Columbia police and the state’s South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). During the raid, agents confiscated pounds of inventory from the shop that they “perceived to be marijuana,” arresting the store manager and charging her with conspiracy to sell marijuana.

Sims and his team dispute any such allegations, stating that all product in the store was hemp flower, which he believed to be legal in both North and South Carolina as long as it stayed below the .03% THC level stated in law.

As I said, I didn't see any follow-up articles online, but the place was gone at least by this September according to Streetview, and I suspect it went rather before that.

Commenter Midnight Rambler sent these photos (some time ago) from 18 November 2011 saying:

For those who camped out for concert tickets, these pictures bring back
memories. I took them in Nov. 2011 knowing the new business building would be going there.

This parking lot faced the North side of the Coliseum, fronting on Greene Street and was built over by the new Darla Moore School Of Business around 2012.

(Hat tip to commenter Midnight Rambler)

Came across these pictures from 2012, and as far as I can tell, the building, just past the closed Wal-Mart & Murphy's, is still there, but it ceased being Bush River Auto Mall around 2018, moving to another nameplate, Automotive Showcase at that that time.

It's a nice little house.

This location of Pelican's was in the old Winn-Dixie plaza at the corner, and was apparently some sort of bank at one time.

I had noticed that it was no longer sporting the Pelian's colors, but hadn't gotten around to checking it out. Apparently this location shares ownership with the Rosewood one, and closed in early May, which is not what I would normally expect, as that is just as the SnoBall season is really starting.

The place as been redone with really odd orange awnings above, and black below to block out the Pelican's branding. It seems, somehow, to also have acquired a new set of windows on the side nearest Decker.

When I mentioned that Old Chicago in this plaza had closed, I neglected to say that the across-the-parking-lot neighbor, Flapjacks Pancake Cabin had also closed. You will remember that this location was a former Western Steer which then became a strip-club. At the time there was speculation that the (then) new Wal-Mart was pressuring the city to de-zone the club to make the area a bit more family friendly, and it appears that Flapjacks didn't exactly leave under their own steam either. This Facebook is all rumors, but it appears that the plaza owners have non-restaurant plans for that wing of the property.

In the event, Flapjacks was there for about ten years. Here is the Sun News on the place moving in. (Notice that the original plan for the Old Chicago spot was a Quaker Steak & Lube, which never happened).

The chain still exists, and now appears to be restricted to Tennesse. For now, you can still see their Garden City page here.

That does beg the question on the location. Google & the street address say this is Murrells Inlet, but to me it is pretty clearly Garden City.

UPDATE 7 October 2025: Found a picture of the lighted sign and added it up top.

I don't have much to say about this place beyond that it was another Scooter's Coffee and closed with the rest in the area.

I do think it is nice that the lights are still up.

I'm trying to recall the last movie I saw at Dutch Square, but I believe it was during the AMC era, and I don't believe I ever went to the Bow Tie operation.

This decade has not been a good one for theaters, and I expect it to get worse and to not ever return to previous levels. That's a shame as there is nothing like sitting in a full house during a good movie, but times move on. I know that the old Spring Valley Commons Theater went to storage and office space. We'll have to see what happens here, but I don't expect another cinema to move in.

Here are The State & The Post & Courier on the closing.

Overstock moved into this location sometime after Bed Bath & Beyond went under in 2023. Now they are closing as well. Their Facebook doesn't give any end date, but apparently the final to-the-walls sale is in progress.

Actually I had just noticed this place several weeks ago, and thought to myself that sitting outside on the patio would be nice on a sunny fall afternoon, but like all too many places, I waited too long.

Iron Hill Brewery was a 29 year old company according to USA Today, with 19 locations along the east coast. There were signs of trouble recently as the company closed its original store, and two others. The trouble came home on 25 September when they closed the remaining 16 stores, and filed for bankruptcy. The USA Today story does not specify what chapter was filed, but the company's closing note made hopeful noises about a return someday.

Interestingly, I see from the closing list that they had opened a location in Geenville at 741 Haywood Road, the site of a former favorite place of mine, Don Pablo's, although I don't believe I ever did a closing on it.

You can check WIS, WLTX, or The State for (some) details on the local closure, which is a bit of a blow for The Bull Street District.

When I went by on Sunday, there were definitely people inside the place, I don't know if they were packing up, or evaluating the building, but it seems like a pretty nice one, so hopefully something new will come in before too long.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)