Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

For some reason I've never really warmed up to McAlister's. I think that is probably due to the negative synergy of three factors: 1) They don't have booths, and the chairs are not comfortable, and 2) they don't have table service, but 3) you still can't refill your own drink.

Be that as it may, nobody is sitting at this one for a while, as it caught fire early on the 25th.

When I went by, I could definitely smell smoke as I stepped into the patio area. In contrast to a number of other places that have caught fire though, work started on recovery almost immediately, and equipment is already in place to rehabilitate the building. The "closed for renovation" sign suggests that there might be an upfit involved as well, but I tend to think that's just boiler-plate phrasing.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

11 September 2012: Updated status to "open again"

UPDATE 3 February 2014 -- Finally here's a picture of the refurbished store in operation:

Things move really fast sometimes. I had first written about this little space fronting on Gervais Street just across from the Capitol and above The Whig in a closing for Holey Dough Cafe. By the time I got around to taking pictures of it, all the Holey Dough identity was gone, and the place was in full operation as a sub shop, Jumpin' Jacks Giant Jersey Subs.

The first I knew that that place was gone was when commenter Midnight Rambler mentioned that the next operation (which I had never heard of) had closed!

All I can say about the Gervais Street Deli is that a) it had wi-fi and b) It was, technically, not on Gervais Street...

(Hat tip to commenter Midnight Rambler)

I eat at Groucho's from time to time -- most often at the Forest Drive or Pawleys Island locations. (Curiously, I've never been to the Five Points original store). I never made it to this location, on Broad River Road at Intersection Center.

This particular strip of Broad River, with easy access from the Diamond Lane in the back, used to have quite a number of fast food joints. Some like Sandy's and Church's are hanging on. Others like Pizza Hut and Taco Bell have moved. Others like Taco Cid have simply closed.

The care someone took to line the old signs up with the checks on the floor is rather touching.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

UPDATE 22 November 2011 -- It's now an Indian grocery as shown in this not very good pic:

UPDATE 28 August 2023: Updating tags and adding map icon.

I wrote about the Main Street location of Baker Brothers a while ago. I finally got around to looking for the Lexington location last time I was on Sunset. Of course it was a) nighttime and b) freezing cold, so these are night shots from the car. However you can see that the space has not yet been sold or leased and there is still a good deal of gear inside -- lots of chairs in particular.

When I did the Main Street closing, a number of commenters said that it was quite a good place, making me sorry I never got around to it (or this one). It looks like partaking would be a bit difficult now. According to their web site their current restaurant tally is:

Texas: 12
Iowa: 1
Indiana: 1
Kentucky: 1

making Bowling Green our closest option..

This attractive little building is at the intersection of Leesburg Road and Fairmont Drive. With its vertical bisecting brick riser, it would seem to date from the same architectural era as Sunshine Cleaners and this Augusta Road service station, and in fact this property valuation gives the construction date as 1963.

I feel sure it started as a gas station, and judging from the island out front, was still one, albeit in a different format, when it closed. I'm not sure when that was. For some reason, I thought that restaurant "A" stickers had dates on them, but that apparently is not the case. At any rate, it wasn't too long ago, as the building still has some non-essential items inside with signs that it is looked in on from time to time.

Well, it appears the North Main Deli is no more. I never stopped there, and don't know a lot about the place, but from the sign on their door, it appears to be another casualty of the times. I believe the former Cici's Pizza from Decker is moving in next door, so I guess it's lose one, win one for this block of Main.

As a total aside, does anyone know if "North Main" is an official name? If you live on this section of Main Street, do you get your mail as "XXXX North Main Street", or just "XXXX Main Street"? I've seen it both ways, and I never know how to list the correct addresses in post titles and the alphabetical list.

(Hat tip to commenter Marsha.)

According to this press release Baker Brothers American Deli came to South Carolina on 29 November 2007, with the opening of the Lexington store. That was to be the first of three stores in the Columbia market. I believe this store, beneath the upscale Adesso condos (themselves built on the site of the former mini-mall housing Pappy's and Robo's Video Arcade) was the second Columbia location. A google search suggests the third store was at 1730 Main Street, but I can't bring that one to mind without driving by.

At any rate, according to the franchaise map here all the South Carolina stores are now gone. The map is actually rather interesting in that persuing a Texas, Iowa, Indiana and Kentucky stragegy seems a bit unusual. Things could apparently be going better though, since apart from Texas (which is the home state and has 12 locations) each other state has only one. I never ate at Baker Bros. From the menu and web site, it seems sort of like another McAlister's Deli, a restaurant I never really warmed up to.

As mentioned by commenter Dave, the next business in this slot looks to be a yogurt operation called Yog Hut. My impression based on peering in the corner entrance is that Yog Hut will not be using the full Baker Bros space though.

UPDATE 21 May 2010: Commenter ChiefDanGeorge says the Yog Hut entrance is a different space, so I've added a picture of the Main Street doors. He also suggests that the Yog Hut opening is stalled.

UPDATE 8 July 2010 -- Well if it was stalled, it's unstalled and open now:

(Hat tip to commenter Mike)

UPDATE 28 June 2019: Add tags, map icon.

OK, in case you wondered why yesterday's post about Andy's Deli on Parklane started out with such a mediocre picture -- it was like this.

I had xeroxed the restaurant section from the 1985 Southern Bell phonebook, and was deciding what to try and get pictures of. I saw Andy's Deli and a Parklane address and thought to myself "Oh, I know what that was", and went and took these pictures of Albert's Deli. I even started writing up the post that way, then happened to check the "7260 Parklane Road" address in Google Maps, and the spot that came up was way off from where I thought it should be. Then I checked the actual address of Albert's and found it was 7358, not 7260.

Thinking son-of-a-gun, I was completely wrong I rewrote the post, and found a picture I had taken for the comic store that used to be in the same strip that happened to include the current Monterrey / former Andy's off at the edge, and went with it. All the while I was also thinking, but didn't Albert's used to be something else?.

Then I remembered to look in the 1998 phonebook I actually have a copy of here at home. Albert's is *not* in that one, so I went searching for what was at 7358, and lo-and-behold, it was Andy's. So, sometime between 1985 and 1998, Andy's moved from the Monterrey site to the Albert's site, and sometime between 1998 and now, it closed.

As for Albert's itself, I stopped there a year or so ago. I think I was going to or coming from the old Sears Repair Center on Parklane. I have to say it did not knock me over. The food was OK, but as I recall, there were no booths, and you had to take your cup back to the counter for refills, so it would never be a hangout of mine.

UPDATE 14 February 2020: Update tags, add map icon.

(oops! photo screw-up -- I'll get a better one in an update!)

As promised, better picture:

I don't actually know why Parklane Road exists, or conversely why Decker Boulevard exists. I can only guess that once-upon-a-time, before all the roadwork on Trenholm and Two Notch in Dentsville, these two roads did not dovetail together as they do now and really were two roads instead of one road with two names. Anyway, like its sibling Decker, Parklane has over the years "failed to thrive". Considering that it is a corridor between two Interstates, and feeds Columbia Mall, it's hard to say why exactly, but it's not been prime retail or restaurant territory.

I had totally forgoten than this Monterrey next to the old comic store and Sounds Familiar had been an Andy's Deli back in the 1980s. The ad is from the 1985 Southern Bell phonebook. I'm not sure when Andy's moved out (keeping the Lum's Hotdogs location on Greene Street), but it seems like Monterrey has been there forever now.

UPDATE 20 April 2010: Added "better" picture. Better in that the right storefront is centered. Unfortunately the sun went away though..

This little hole-in-the-wall deli near Wal Mart on Forest Drive got a number of really good reviews. Apparently it was mainly a Polish deli with some Latin influence and really good Cuban sandwiches. I kept meaning to go by sometime for lunch, but never did actually make it.

UPDATE 1 Oct 2010 -- Ela's (and the Sprint store next door) are now part of a 24-hour fitness center:

UPDATE 6 December 2017: Modified the street address to suite-last format and added tags.