Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I don't know much about this place, and the pictures were all kind of against the sun and not so great, but Top China Buffet at the top of Saint Andrews Road is closed.

As near as I can tell from the google reviews, this happened sometime in the August 2020 timeframe, so past the start of the pandemic, though that certainly cannot have helped things, especially with a buffet.

As I took these pictures, there were indications that some sort of upfit was ongoing, but I didn't see any indication of what it is to be.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Bill)

UPDATE 28 February 2022 -- Now Truth:

Over the years I have eaten more often at the, vanished, franchaised, D's Wings locations than the flagship store in Parkland Plaza. I guess the last time I ate here was probably in 2018 or 2019 -- and it was fine, as usual.

This move, to 415 Meeting Street, has long been in the works, since they found out their lease would not be renewed. This still strikes me as odd, as Parkland Plaza is not exactly overbrimming with stable tenants.

Here is a story from The State about the move, and here is one from ColaDaily.

You can see the new building in the last two pictures, and there is clearly yet some work to be done there in advance of the posited 1 June opening. I have to say I agree with commenter Lone Wolf that parking will be an issue here.

According to commenter Mr. Hat, Lita's Treats dessert bakery, in what's left of the food court at Dutch Square is moving to 800 Lake Murray Boulevard. This is the old Piggly Wiggly shopping center, now home to Stars & Strikes. Interestingly (or not) there was previously a cupcake bakery in that complex.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 22 June 2021 -- Here is the new location:

Ristorante Divino left their location at 803 Gervais Street in mid-2020, to move next door to the Dupre Building at 807 Gervais street (which you can see fully in the last shot). As part of that move, the owners rebranded the restaurant as Di Vino Rosso. WLTX has the here.

It was certainly an audacious time to move a restaurant, but it seems to have worked out.

Pelican's was the follow-on in this building to a number of operations, including San Jose and Tomlinson's Used Furniture. They opened here in in 2016, but have now moved downtown to 442 Meeting Street.

In the meantime, this building seems to have been split into two units, with the righthand side now occupied by a financial services company.

UPDATE 11 February 2025: Updating tags.

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)