Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

My memory is a bit unclear, but OK Carbs was in one of these storefronts (all different "suites" at 252 Harbison). This is the (generally) horseshoe-shaped strip mall that has Barnes & Noble and The Olive Garden. With the sudden rise to fame of the Atkins Diet and its emphasis on counting carbohydrates instead of fats, it was inevitable that someone was going to figure out (or attempt to figure out) a way to make money off the latest craze. I'm sure there were others in town, but OK Carbs was the one that caught my eye because I hit the Harbison Barnes & Noble fairly often (since, unlike the Richland Mall one, it actually is open during the hours you would expect a Barnes & Noble to be open..). I didn't follow the Atkins diet (my personal belief is that the best diet is eat less & exercise more, not that I follow that one either!), but I always respect someone trying to make a buck off of a trend. In the event, I don't know if they pulled out in time to finish ahead or if they rode it into the ground, but whichever case, OK Carbs, like Dr. Atkins, is no longer with us.

For many years, The Keg O'Nails or perhaps a Keg O'Nails sat down at the other end of Rosewood, in the Jim Casey Fireworks lot near Midlands Tech. I add the perhaps clause because there was a good deal of hoo-ha surrounding the "move" to the current location across from the Dairy Bar. I forget most if not all of the details now, but it was something like two people thought they had the right to the name "Keg O'Nails", and one wanted to leave it where it was and the other wanted to move it. I imagine that this is the reason for the word "Original" in the name of the current restaurant much as Bill Pinkney had to bill his band as "The Original Drifters" rather than simply "The Drifters". The hole in this theory is that the (apparently now also closed) restaurant that stayed at Jim Casey's was called The French Quarter rather than The Keg O'Nails.

At any rate, I never ate at the old location and only once at the new. I had a burger, and it was quite good -- nice if you happened to be in the area, but for me not worth driving over to Rosewood as a destination. There is no signage of any kind on the place indicating why it closed, or even that it is closed (though the doors being locked and the lack of staff is rather a giveaway there).

Thanks to commenters "Justin" & "O'Reilly" for the heads up!

UPDATE 16 April 2012 -- It's now an Ole Timey Meat Market:

UPDATE 25 April 2012: Added the full street addres to the post title.

By the time Sears moved from Harden Street to Columbia Mall, it was long past the catalog glory days of being the company you could by anything from, but it hadn't yet been so bloodied in the retail wars that it would reject odd ideas out of hand.

This concrete slab in the Columbia Mall parking lot by the Charleston Crab House (and still actually owned by Sears to judge from the tow-away signs) was one of them. Over this slab was a canopy, and under the canopy was an island with a number of Sears-branded gas pumps. I don't remember a whole lot about the place as we only filled up one of two times there. I'm pretty sure it was self-serve, but since there was no such thing as electronic credit card reading pumps at the time, there certainly would have been a cashiers shed with an attendant. You could pay with cash, or, of-course, with your Sears Card.

My memory is that the place was an experiment that didn't last too long. I don't know exactly what happened, but I can hazard some guesses. First, the location was not convenient unless you were already at the mall. Getting in and out of the mall parking lot was (and is) much more time consuming than stoping at a corner station. Second, in the 70s people actually had some brand loyalty to different gas chains, and felt that name-brand gas was a better product than generic. Now we tend to think it's like sugar, and there's no problem buying Domino's if Dixie Crystals is more expensive. Third, at some point in the 70s (I believe) there was a major scandal about Sears's auto repair operation ripping people off (that's why about all they will do nowadays is change tires or batteries). The opprobrium from that may have tainted their gas business in people's minds. Fourth, it is simply the fact that selling gas was not in the core retail market Sears was (is..) trying to serve. As their fortunes declined, they may have decided that selling gas was a distraction and brand-dillution. (Though I have seen Wal-Mart trying the concept recently..).

At any rate, the place closed after not too many years. The canopy stood for several years after that, but was itself finally torn down. I don't remember the tanks being torn out, and there are still some access points, so perhaps they are still there (though that seems like an enviromental cleanup bill waiting to happen if it really is the case).

UPDATE 20 February 2020: Add tags, address, map icon.

I don't go to auto parts stores too often. I generally regard cars as a "hardware problem" that a software guy doesn't deal with too well though certainly I've bought the odd gas-cap or the like over the years. This particular shop had a bit of an out-of-the-way location; it was on "Wildcat Road", which is what Rosewood Drive becomes after it crosses Garners Ferry. This is behind the old K-Mart and its associated, dying strip mall (site of one of the locations of Robo's Video Arcade many years ago). I don't know what happened to it -- it wasn't a chain-wide thing as there are still several NAPA stores in town. I don't know what will happen to the lot, though it does appear to come with its own radio tower.

I used to see this place whenever I was driving down I-26 to Charleston and wonder what it would be like. My guess was that it was a no-nonsense meat & 3 for hungry travellers, but I'll never know for sure now. If I had to speculate, I'd say it wasn't far enough out of town anymore and that traffic was now stopping at national chains before getting this far. (It's just a few miles up I-26 to Harbison or up I-77 to Two Notch). From all the work being done inside though, it looks like something wil set up in the building.

UPDATE 9 June 2009: Well, something did set up there -- Maggie Mae's! Looks like they're open again.

UPDATE 6 Nov 2010 -- Closed again:

UPDATE 11 November 2011: Found an extra interior picture and added it above.

UPDATE 24 January 2024: Adding tags and map icon, and putting the full street address in the post title.

Although I originally designated Tuesday as my "pizza night" to conform with the practice of the local Pizza Hut when I was living in Fayetteville, I generally don't go to buffets anymore. I would rather wait and pay to have something exactly like I want rather than take what's out. That being the case, I've never been to this Stevie B's Pizza located in an outparcel strip at the Wal-Mart complex on Forest Drive.

Judging from their signage, their main marketing pitch (for supper, at least) was for after-game free-for-alls by kids' sports teams. That certainly seems like a viable market niche to me, especially with no Chuck E. Cheese on this side of town. In the event though, perhaps not. I may be wrong. This place may come back on October 29 as the closed for remodeling sign suggests, but closed for remodeling is a standard, hopeful, dodge of places that have actually gone under. Add to that the fact that this is a new building with Stevie B's being the first tenant, and that looking inside shows no actual remodeling being done, and I have my doubts, especially since their phone number has been disconnected.

UPDATE 3 Nov 2008:

I was wrong -- they're back. Good for them!

UPDATE 17 June 2009:

Gone again!

UPDATE 26 Aug 2009: Took the 'temporary' out of the post title -- they are gone for good this time.

UPDATE 25 March 2010: Added full street address to post title.

UPDATE 21 March 2011 -- It's now a Navy Federal Credit Union:

The Golden Spur was USC's on-campus, University sanctioned (and run) bar. That sounds odd now, but before 1984, there was a quaint notion that you should punish people for public drunkenness or drunk driving, not forbid them access to the means beforehand.

Anyway, the Spur was on the second floor of the Russell House at the top of the stairs that ran from the row of phonebooths on the ground-floor sidewalk all the way to the third floor if I recall correctly. I think the stairwell area was semi-segregated from the upstairs fast-food area by swinging doors and that there was some sort of trail-mix kiosk across the space from the Spur.

I wasn't a drinker, so I only went one time to the Spur that I can recall. They often had lounge acts in there, and I went to see some young female blues singer. The only thing I can recall now is that she sang Bessie Smith's "Gimme a Pig Foot" -- the first time I had heard that song.

In 1984, the federal government (which acknowledged that it had no right to raise or lower a state's drinking age on its own) passed a law saying that highway funds would be withheld from states which did not raise their drinking age to 21. South Carolina gave in to this bit of extortion, and suddenly the majority of college students were too young to drink. The Spur closed as a bar during this period. I believe various things were done with the space, but I don't recall any permanent re-purposing by the time I left grad school.

When I went to check on it recently, I found that the whole upstairs food-area of Russell House had been completely revamped. Gone was the collection of ARA burger & pizza windows and now national brands seem to provide all the upstairs food. The space has been completely remodeled as well, and the old seperate Golden Spur area has been torn out and is copmpletely gone except that a new "private" meeting-room/dining-room occupies the area I'm pretty sure it once did.

The name lives on though. I found that in Carolina Underground the dim and depressing failed retail mall that is in the basement of the Russell House, a new Golden Spur has been set up, as a game room where you can "Wii for Free":

Well, I wasn't going to do two Mexican restaurants almost back-to-back, but this one came up in the comments to El Chico, and has come up in other comment threads as well. Besides, someone may want to take advantage of the 31 October deadline.

I only ate here once, years ago, when it was Little Mexico. I think it had just been written up in The State's weekend section as the best Mexican restaurant in Columbia. I liked it well enough, but it seemed like fairly standard "authentic" Mexican fare to me: good, but not worth driving almost all the way to Irmo vs San Jose, Casa Linda and the like.

I noticed a while ago that it had changed the name to Cancun, but I never got around to checking it out again. Various people in the comments have speculated about what happened, and have said that it wasn't as good as Cancun as it was as Little Mexico.

You can see here that apparently the "Little Mexico" name was actually embedded in the tilework by the front entrance. It appears that it was taped over during the Cancun period. Also, I find it a bit interesting that the "Little Mexico" sign was hauled around to the back of the place and stored. Why not throw it out? It seems like an odd kind of thing to save.

I already posted about the closing of the Two Notch Goody's, and the problems the whole chain was and is having, but I thought it was interesting that the building for the Bower Parkway Goody's, which apparently closed at the same time, has already been re-purposed. Granted these "giant book sale" things usually only last for a couple of weeks or months (though one at the old Waccamaw Pottery mall lasted for a few years), but it's something and it starts today, so you if you head out now, you can get 80% off some out of date computer manuals, and cookbooks by people you never heard of.

UPDATE 18 July 2009: Not its a "liquidation sale" for the next month or so. The sort of $5 entrance fee affair you used to see at Jamil Temple sometimes:

UPDATE 25 May 2010: Change post title to reflect full official name of the store and full street address.

UPDATE 22 Sep 2010 -- Now it's a Halloween store:

UPDATE 24 September 2011 -- It's to be a Stein Mart:

UPDATE 31 October 2011 -- Looks like Stein Mart is open:

UPDATE 10 May 2017 -- Actually I have been confusing 1120 & 1130 Bower Parkway. Goody's, the Haloween popup store and the Giant Book Sale store were all in 1130, most recently occupied by H H Gregg. 1120 where Stein Mart was is a different storefront.

Columbia has had trouble getting & keeping national brand Mexican restaurants. Garcias, Don Pablo's, and Cucos have all come and gone while Chevy's, Rio Bravo, On The Border and Chi-Chi's never made it here.

El Chico is the only one I can think of that has been here and stayed here, and I like it a good bit. I'll say, in fact, that once you add the crushed hot peppers, their salsa is the best in town, and chips & salsa are about 60% of what I grade a mexican meal on. (I also think that it's a very American story that an Indian family comes to America to open a restaurant -- a Mexican restaurant.)

I was disappointed last week when I made it to that side of town just in time (I thought) to scoot in before closing, and found the place shuttered due to a fire. I called this week to see if they were back and was told that it will be until about the end of the month (I think I was quoted a date of 27 Oct) before they will be open again.

UPDATE 7 Feb 09: I should mention that El Chico is now open again (and has been for a while).

UPDATE 24 July 2010 -- Not a good sign: The hours have been cut to close at 9pm Sun-Thur and 10pm Fri/Sat.

UPDATE 4 January 2012 -- As mentioned in the comments, El Chico has had another fire and is currently closed again. From the look-see I took just before Christmas, it does not seem to have been an especially bad fire, so I would not expect them to be closed for long:

UPDATE 14 March 2013 -- After a long while with no apparent activity, cleanup has started at El Chico, so it appears that they definitely will re-open:

UPDATE 18 September 2013 -- Still no sign of any rehabilition work at the place:

UPDATE 22 October 2013 -- As reported by several people, the end has come for El Chico and they will not be reopening:

UPDATE 27 January 2016 -- It looks like we are finally getting near to an opening date for Persis Biryani Indo-Mexican Grill:

UPDATE 4 May 2016 -- As mentioned in the comments, now open as Persis Biryani Indian Grill: