Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Here's another place that came and went without my being aware of it at all.

According to The State, Black Bean Co. was a charleston based mini-chain which

specialize[d] in healthier versions of sandwiches and salads and bowls.

They were bought out by another Charleston chain gogogreens, which rebranded the Charleston store and closed the Columbia location. For some reason after three years, they don't seem to have either sold the location or done anything with it.

17 June 2022: Updating map icon, adding a few pictures from the grand opening:

I have written about this spot twice. Once when it was no longer a Quincy's and again when it was no longer a Maurice's BBQ.

After Maurice moved out, the original building was razed, and a new building was run up. It was to be a Blossom Buffet, and clearly looks stylistically similar to the Jasmine Buffet on Two Notch.

However COVID happened, and that fell through (that's my guess, anyway) and now the new, mostly finished, building is for sale.

UPDATE 29 June 2021 OK, mea culpa, this place is now in fact open as noted in the comments. The real estate sign that confused me and made me think the whole building was up for sale without the buffet opening is apparently for prospective retail space on the south side of the building:

UPDATE 2 March 2022: It turns out that Blossom Buffet is a moved and reflagged Happy China Buffet from down the street.

Sunshine Cafe & Catering was the follow-on operation in this Sunset Boulevard storefront to Carolina Cafe. Judging from the google reviews, the last of which was dated from a month ago, they seem to have made it through the worst of the pandemic and then closed down somewhere around the end of March.

Here is a ColaDaily story on the opening of this place from January 2020.

UPDATE 28 February 2022 -- Now Cucinella's pizza:

There seems to be some self-caused confusion about the name of this place, as the outside sign brands it Best China Buffet while the inside one goes with Super China Buffet. The last Yelp review is from late 2018, so I'm going to guess they closed in 2019. To be honest, the reviews suggest it was probably inevitable. There seems to be one food operation still in the Dutch Square food court, but it's a far cry from the days of Annabelle's, Morrison's, Chick-Fil-A and Cromers (not to mention lunch counters in Woolworths and Eckerds).

This is yet another downtown place of which I was unaware. While I was unlikely to be in the market for a casserole, looking at their web site and menu, it appears I could have had a very nice lunch there.

The last message on their Yelp page is from 26 October 2020, so they made it through the start of the pandemic, but apparently not to the end of the year.

I like the brick facade, glass bricks and columns on this building, though I am not sure that the "eye in the pyramid" topwork really suits the rest of it.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

Some time ago, I did a closing for a vacant diner/gas-station on East Palmetto Street heading east out of Florence. Here's another one.

In fact Ms Annie's was closer to Florence than INS was. I think the reasons I hadn't noticed it before were twofold. First, if I'm going to go to the beach by this route, I usually take the cut-off from the I-95 exit that comes out by the Dunkin' Donuts which is past this stretch of US-76/East Palmetto. Second, more often than not, I would be driving by during the night even if I skipped the short-cut.

Anyway, I can't find out much about the place. The address comes from an online menu site, but the menu has been taken down, so I can't say what they served other than it was "Home Cooking", and the shattered window signage emphasizes breakfast. I'm just guessing about the closing date -- it certainly appears to have been several years ago.

I did find the historical marker quite interesting and a bit scary.

Be warned that the place has been heavily tagged by folks with foul mouths and strong political views as you can see if you continue to the rest of the pictures.

Read the rest of this entry »

I noticed the other day that this old McDonald's at the corner of Assembly & Rosewood across from the Fairgrounds is vacant. The last tenant was University Motor Company, which apparently moved in sometime around 2010, and in 2018 merged with Bluff Road Auto Sales with the combined operation at 1400 Bluff Road.

UPDATE 3 February 2023 -- Now Lyon's General Store:

When I went out to get pictures of the new PK BBQ location, and of the old Bi-Lo, I drove by Goodfellas on the way. I did not realize at the time that they had just recently moved to 630 Hwy 378 and had previously been in the current PK BBQ storefront. Judging by google reviews, the move took place some time around May of 2020 and when I went back to get these pictures, it appeared they are doing quite a good business in the new location.

(Hat tip to commenter Andy)

While I was checking out Bi-Lo, I noticed that this Hibachi storefront in the same plaza was vacant. I can't find out much about it -- there is only one Yelp review, but I'm going to guess it was another COVID-19 casualty.

I have been holding off doing a post on Deno's because it wasn't clear exactly what their status is; however, at this point they are clearly closed for a long-term, if not forever, despite the fact that there is no real-estate sign, and all of the furnishings and equipment are still in the building.

Somehow I had it in my head that Deno's was a seafood restaurant, and so never went. Looking online now, I think I clearly would have liked the place. The last review I see on their Facebook page (which has not updated since 2014) is from February of 2020, so I think clearly COVID-19 was an issue here, and the roadside sign does mention that they were open for takeout for some time into the pandemic.

(Hat tip to commenter Barbara)

UPDATE 17 August 2021 -- The sign has been patched, but not re-logoed:

UPDATE 15 November 2023: Update tags.