Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This location of Jersey Mike's on Sunset by Krispy Kreme, seems to have closed in Jaunary. I didn't see any sign on the door when I went by, and there's nothing about it on the Facebook page (which remains active with corporate level posts), but the individual web site for the store is gone as well.

(Hat tip to commenter JohnR)

It's definitely not ice cream weather tonight, but summer is coming -- eventually!

Ice Cream Taco was in this little strip mall on Sunset which has seen a number of things come and go over the last few years. I don't seem to have a closing for the previous operation in this suite, but as of 2014 when I did a cloing for Alibaba's, it was apparently recently vacated. According to The State, Ice Cream Taco opened here in March of 2022, and I actually learned something from the article. My assumption had been that the store name referred to some sort of frozen novelty served in sugar tacos rather than sugar cones, but in actuality, the place serves regular, hot, tacos -- and ice cream.

In November, they relocated to 2708 Emanuel Church Road.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

I don't suppose this is a big surprise: We have all noticed Fatz closing locations without adding any new ones, but still I was expecting it to take longer.

The news came last week that the whole chain has shut down, with some reports of bankruptcy filings, though no actual links to such.

This store in Lexington was the last Midlands location, and I had never eaten there, but I would drive by from time to time, and observe that it seemed to be doing a reasonable business. In fact, as I was taking these shots, several cars wandered in, looking for a meal.

It's a good sized building, and there are already an Asian buffet and a San Jose in the general area, so we'll have to see what happens next here.

Here are stories on the chain closing shop in The Index Journal, The State & The Greenville Sun.

(Hat tip to commenter Alan)

I did a closing on the Lake Murray location of Alodia's back in June of 2021 when they were closed due to staffing issues. They re-opened after that, and I made it a point to go by for a meal, and thought it was fine.

Reently commenter Robin pointed out that the Main Street Lexington location was closed temporarily due to financial issues.

You can read more about that from The State, WLTX & The Post & Courier.

I couldn't park when I drove past last weekend, but there was a sign on the door and it did appear to be closed then. However, judging from the recentness of several of the Google reviews I see, it appears they may have already reopened. Can anyone say for sure?

(Hat tip to commenter Robin)

UPDATE 20 June 2024 -- There is definitely much more to this story than is suggested in the initial post above, as the saga has played out in the local media. Be sure to check the comments below. Anyway, at this point the place has closed again, for good, and all the branding is gone:

Here's another Tuesday Morning caught up in the chain's bankruptcy. This one is in Lexington in the Food Lion / Books-A-Million plaza, just done from the former Stein Mart

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

. This will leave the plaza with two rather large vacancies.

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)

I was unaware of this Lexington place, tucked away on North Lake Drive between Main Street and US-378 until commenter Heath mentioned that it had closed.

The Lexington Chronicle says that they

served breakfast items such as biscuit sandwiches and chicken and waffles, along with lunch dishes including chicken pot pie, burgers and sandwiches. The location also emphasized baked goods including cinnamon rolls and mini bundt cakes.

It's unclear exactly why they closed, but they are looking for another location, and so don't intend for it to be permanent. For now the web site and Facebook are still up.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

Griffin Chophouse replaced Kingsman Restaurant in this spot in 2020 (the Parkland Plaza location of Kingsman remaining open) and closed in mid-March of this year. There was also another location of Griffin Chophouse in Chapin which closed as well. Royal Butcher, also in this building, was apparently under the same ownership as the Chophouse and closed at the same time.

The current plan is that the space will re-open soon as a new restaurant, Bone-Appetite, although the site given for that operation does not seem to exist yet. The Lexington Chronicle has a good article explaining the ins-and-outs of the situation.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

As mentioned by commenter James R, Chen's Chinese Restaurant in Lexington is now Friend's House Chinese & Seafood.

Here is a State story on the new place that deploys the word plethora.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

This store closed as a Bi-Lo in January of 2020, and opened as a Pig not too long thereafter. Now that run, too, has come to an end. (You can actually see more pictures of it as a Pig in the linked post, as I did not get over there while the Bi-Lo was still open).

Given there are multiple groceries in the area (probably a big factor here), I doubt the next tenant will be one, but we'll have to see.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)