Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

The Blue Flour Bakery in the State House section of Main Street had been closed since 16 March due to the COVID-19 scourge, but as ColaDaily reports, they recently made the decision not to re-open.

I was not really aware of this eatery, but it sounds like it would have been a nice place to duck into for coffee & snacks, and while this storefront is closed, there remains one in Irmo at 7703 Saint Andrews Road, so perhaps I can still do that some day.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

As has been mentioned in Have Your Say several times today, Regal is re-closing its theaters Thursday after having reopened them (where it could) a month or so ago. The reason is pretty simple really: No Movies.

After the pulling of Wonder Woman, Black Widow, and as the last straw, James Bond, the theaters have nothing to show. Granted the box office of the few films that did limp out like Bill & Ted 3, New Mutants & Tenet was not good, but you have to keep the pump primed. It appears to me that the studios are cutting their own throats by letting the theater chains go under. Sure maybe you're not going to get your money back on the next few films, but you've got to keep people thinking about movies, and you're sure not going to get a billion dollar film over streaming.

In the meantime, I see that the St. Andrews bargain cinemas are doing what they can with screenings of classics like The Empire Strikes Back and Harry Potter.

Here's looking at you, kid

Solstice's web page says that they had been here 14 years; I don't know why I kept thinking of them as a new place. At any rate, during that 14 years, I never managed to make it out. I figured since I'm not really into wine, dinner might be overdoing it, but looking at their lunch menu from time to time, with some really nice looking soups, I thought I might try that someday. In the end, the hours and the distance never quite worked out -- now I wish they had.

Going by their Facebook farewell, this is another one in the COVID-19 column. There simply wasn't the money coming in, or the surety going forwards to carry on.

2020 strikes again.

(Hat tip to commenter Carlton Templeton)

I did a closing for the Dutch Square Ruby Tuesday back in May. At that time I took pictures of this one, on a Columbiana Mall outparcel, as well. Since, unlike the other, there wasn't any clarity that this one was permanantly closed, I held off doing a post.

I drove back by today however, and nothing has changed. The "temporarily closed" sign is still up, but at this point I suspect that is no longer accurate. At the least, it's worth a mention and if they re-open later great! In the meantime, chalk up another one for for COVID-19.

UPDATE 7 June 2021 -- Razed:

I was at Pizza Palace last weekend, and noticed that the Jolidan African Hair Braiding salon in the same plaza had closed. Given how hard COVID-19 has been on all salons & barbers, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case here.

See here for the story.

Apparently we have another COVID-19 casualty here. New York & Company announced on 28 July 2020 that:

store closing sales have begun at all New York & Company retail locations across the United States. The firms are conducting liquidation sales across approximately 380 store locations in connection with the recent bankruptcy filing of New York & Company's parent company, RTW Retailwinds, Inc. ("RTW").

New York & Company is a specialty women's fashion retailer which offers modern, multi-functional wear-to-work apparel at affordable prices. As part of the sale, customers can expect initial discounts of up to 60% off original prices for all in-store merchandise including women's clothing, accessories and shoes.

USA Today provides a bit more detail:

"The combined effects of a challenging retail environment coupled with the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have caused significant financial distress on our business, and we expect it to continue to do so in the future," Sheamus Toal, RTW Retailwinds CEO and chief financial officer, said in the release.

So, things weren't great before the plague, but that was the tipping point.

Frankly, I was not aware this store, or the chain, existed, so I can say very little else about it. It is definitely another hit on Sandhill, which really does not need any more problems.

I'm not sure how long, Yummy II has been here, but quite a while I while, I think. Initially I thought there was a real estate sign in the window, but in fact it is simply a placard for the construction company which is doing the asbestos removal and interior demolition.

Google has Yummy II marked as "termporarily closed" so I am going with that in the post title, but the absence of any "See you soon!" type of sign is not a good omen.

(If there is still a Yummy I, I don't know where it is.)

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

UPDATE 9 September 2020: I have taken the "Temporary?" notation off the post title as it appears from the comments while that was the hope for Yummy at the start of the crisis they are now gone and this is to become a Kudzu Bakery. I have been in the Litchfield & Georgetown locations of that chain a few times and recall both of those spaces as larger than this. Also commenter Thomas calls out the previous occupant in this storefront as Little Caesars, so I have added that to the post title.

UPDATE 23 March 2021 -- Kudzu Bakery is now open in this spot:

This old-school barber shop on Taylor Street is yet another casualty of COVID-19.

It appears they tried to stick it out, but in the end could not make it through the lockdown period.

(Hat tip to commenter Frank Mancuso)

UPDATE 3 September 2020: Commenter John R mentions that this storefront used to be a Krispy Kreme, so I have added that to the post title. I knew there was one somewhere around here. It used to be that when my aunt would come up from Jacksonville on the Silver Star, we would stop here to pick up warm doughnuts to eat while we waited and then continue down to the Seaboard station to meet her train (which would arrive fairly late at night).

Judging by reviews, this Fatz may have been closed on a temporary basis since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, but now they have made it permanent.

To the best of my memory, this location is the only Fatz at which I have eaten. It would have been while I was living out of town, in the late 1980s, or early 1990s I think, and I was not impressed. I remember distinctly thinking something like Secret Sauce?: Mayo!

Now, I may have come on the wrong night, or ordered the wrong thing, because the Yelp reviews of the three Fatz locations I have looked at (this one, the one on Broad River Road and the one in Conway) show plenty of people who used to love the chain. They also show a recent precipitous decline in perceived food quality, service levels and physical plant maintainence. I just guessing here, but there seems to be a viscious circle going on with declining income leading to a decline in the things that bring in income. (By the way, what's up with both Yelp and Google showing reviews in other than newest first order? The recent ones are kind of the most important!)

It will be interesting to see what happens to this location, because while it is at an Interstate exit, it really isn't that easy to get to.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

UPDATE 25 May 2021 -- This spot is now setting up to be another crab restaurant, The Juicy Crab:

UPDATE 13 September 2021 -- The Juicy Crab is now open in this spot: