Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Uncle Maddio's was the follow-on in this location for Jasmine Deli & Cafe and opened sometime in 2013. I never ate there, and had not realized until looking at this post that in fact Uncle Maddio's is a chain of franchaises based in Atlanta, and is another fast casual pizza concept like Persona, Blaze, and Firenza.

Looking at the company web site, it appears this was the only South Carolina location, and the next closest is in Charlotte.

I've never been in this store, but from the outside, it appears to be *huge*, occupying several potential storefronts.

The store moved to here from its original location on Saint Andrews Road back in 2010, and has, according to its Facebook page, now started its closing sale. I'm not sure how long that will last (apparently through 30 June for sure), so I am listing the closing date as July 2018 for now.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath Roberts)

For some reason I haven't had a Sandy-dog in years. Ever since I started working from home again, I figured one day I would drive down to main for lunch and do it, but someshow there always seemed to be a deadline or some urgent problem that would make me reluctant to go that far. I guess if I want to do it now, it'll have to be Broad River and on a weekend..

According to The State this Sandy's had been open since 1989. I believe that before that, it may have been a Hardee's though I'm not sure. It was some sort of fast food at any rate. This closing is a bit curious as in March 2016 The State was reporting that after a student housing scare they had just put a good bit of money into the building and planned to stay for the long haul, while by December 2016 they had sold the property to the USC Development Foundation.

You can see a good picture of the place in operation here.

UPDATE 18 April 2017: Added "Hardee's" to the post title. Apparently this was the Hardee's franchaise that later moved to the corner of Blossom & Assembly.

UPDATE 14 March 2019 -- Now a Dominos Pizza:

UPDATE 22 January 2020: Update tags.

UPDATE 19 June 2021: Update tags again.

Wow! This will teach me to stop throwing away everything from the credit union that doesn't look like a statement. Being in the Vista today, I drove down Pulaski Street to hit the no-fee ATM at Carolina FCU and was rather surprised to find it, and the substantial building in which it was housed, completely gone.

Well, perhaps not *completely* gone, as they are now working out of a trailer on Devine Street which is basically the same piece of property approached from the other side.

No ATM though.

(It appears the demolition also includes the old Gaines W. Harrison & Sons building at 724 Pulaski.)

UPDATE 15 November 2016 -- The Credit Union is now back at 710 Pulaski in a totally new building, or part of a building (it's also apartments):

8 September 2013:

15 June 2014:

This place, by Yoghut in the Adesso building at the corner of Main & Blossom Streets was apparently a sister operation to Peppers House Of Pizza on Garners Ferry, and continued on several months after that one closed. If it were going to close, I guess the timing is not surprising. This building is right across from USC, and I imagine that anytime school is out is hard on the restaurants in this whole little strip (especially given the problematic parking for non-locals).

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

UPDATE 28 June 2019: Add map icon.

As if all the street work in the area weren't enough, the USC Wendy's on Assembly Street next to the CVS is being partially torn down for renovation.

In these pix from 3 December, you can see that they have totally opened the building to the air, though the walls are still standing. Apparently they have a rush order on the worlk as the crew was still on the job despite it being night, and raining.

Commenter Andrew spotted the work, and commenter Terry found this explanatory story from WIS.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

Update 28 March 2014 -- Here is The State story on the re-opening of this store (and the closing of the Beltline store).

UPDATE 30 April 2014 -- Here's the remodelled restaurant open again for business:

The original home of the Miyo's empire, Miyo's On Main (in the old Dr. Feelgood's building) closed this month. The closing sign cites ongoing plumbing problems, but you have to think that was probably just the final straw.

I don't know that it is a direct replacement for this location, but Miyo's is building a new restaurant at the old Stean 'n Shake spot on Columbiana Drive. (Though as of yet they don't seem to have broken ground for that).

The name Big Thursday refers back to an old Columbia tradition of hosting the Carolina/Clemson game at USC on a Fall Thursday. It was before my time, but apparently was quite the thing and schools would even get the day off. (We used to get a day off for the State Fair too -- go figure). I'm not sure if it dated back to my Grandfather's time, but Thursday or not I know he swore he would never give Clemson one red dime because they made him come to Columbia and sleep in a tent on game day when he was there. (Clemson was basically a military school at the time, I believe).

You have to wonder if naming a store after something that fewer and fewer people can actually remember is a good idea, and in the event, perhaps not as this USC and Clemson memorabilia chain closed shop at the end of last month.

(Hat tip to commenter TahoeChic)

Jasmine Deli & Cafe was the follow-on operation to Baker Brothers American Deli in the Addesso building at the corner of Main and Blossom. I'm unsure if it was connected with the Jasmine Buffet on Two Notch or not.

At any rate, they have moved out and Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint is moving in.

Today's pictures come from commenter Alaska Jill, who says:

Booker T. Washington School/George Rogers Mural: I knew I'd best get
pictures of those while I could, too. These were taken on a chilly
Sunday afternoon in February 1999. The mural of George Rogers was a
Blossom Street landmark and could not be missed.

George Rogers and I were at Carolina together, though to the best of my knowledge, we never crossed paths. What I remember though, is that his winning the Heisman Trophy in 1980 was a big deal. A *really* big deal. Quite possibly a deal that was visible from earth orbit, and influenced local gravitational fields..

It was also somewhat of a surprise. I clearly recall that in the run-up to the award announcement, the Daily Gamecock ran an editorial under the head By George, He hasn't got a chance! enumerating all the reasons why it wasn't going to happen. Not being a sports fan myself, I recall the campus events around John Lennon's death that same year more clearly, but I was certainly aware big events were afoot!

I'm not sure when the murals went up, but they were, as Jill says, landmarks for many years. (The road near the stadium and fairgrounds was renamed for Rogers in the same period). I have the vague memory that the Booker T. Washington building itself was at one time a public high school before the property was taken over by USC. I think both the mural and the building came down while I was living out of town, or at least I have no memory of what happened. Today I can't exactly match where it was on Blossom with what's there now...

George Rogers played pro ball until 1987, and is now retired. Wikipedia doesn't really say anything about him after that. It would not surprise me if he had a car dealership or a real estate business somewhere.

(Thanks to Alaska Jill).

UPDATE 18 July 2018 -- Here are some more pictures from commenter JHT who says

You can see this was taken before he was even drafted into the NFL as it is blank.