Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

If this Zesto weren't there for my entire life, it was pretty close. Richland Mall came, went, came and went again while Zesto chocolate dipped one soft-serve cone after another. In fact I have to admit that unless my folks got me something else when I was very young, those chocolate dip cones are all I had at Zesto, with the dark shell cracking over the creamy goodnes the first time you bit it and lasting down to the part where you ate the cone and got ice cream all over your fingers.

The owner is retiring after a good long run, and it's certainly well deserved. I can't really see the building being repurposed as there is not enough parking for a full sit-down restaurant, and not enough space for a drive through, but time will tell. In the meantime, there's those decades of sticky memories.

Here's ColaDaily on the closing, and here's WIS on the final day.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

UPDATE 22 January 2025:

UPDATE 16 April 2025 -- As mentioned in the comments, the sign for Mo's Dairy Bar is up:

Interestingly, I had discussed this place with my sister just a week or two ago. I was unsure what it was all about, and she said she had tried it once and didnt' like it at all, so it wasn't on my to-do list.

Apparently, Verde is a Charleston based salad chain, which still has a number of locations in Charleston area. The Trenholm Plaza location opened in May of 2020, replacing 32 Degrees Yogurt Bar, and lasted until mid-December of this year, making about a 4 and a half year run. For now the Facebook is still up, though it looks not to have been updated for three years.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Barrio Tacos was in the former location of Sports Talk Barbershop and a number of other businesses in this little strip of Devine Street which were moved out for the new development.

Originally the plan was for the building to become a second location for Griffen Chophouse, but that fell apart at some point, and Barrio came in on the rebound, opening, apparently, sometime early in 2024.

I had only just become aware of the place and never got a chance to visit. The State has the story here.

I never made it to this building in any of its other incarnations besides Swensen's, but I did make it to Hunter Gatherer a few times. As I recall, I had pizza and some sort of porter or stout, both of which were pretty good, but not enough so to become a regular and deal with driving down there and parking.

I have been pretty skeptical about the ongoing work on South Main which sounded to me like it was designed to make the street even less convenient to drive and park on, and the news that Hunter Gatherer lost their lease, presumably due to plans for the area does not make me any less so. (And also makes me worry a bit about Cool Beans which is in a similar situation).

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO)

As I go to add this to the Alphabetical Closings, I notice I did a post on HG before, when it shut down for the Pandemic. I think this final closing is newsworthy enough that I'm not going to merge it into that earlier post.

UPDATE 22 January 2025:

Tiffany's moved to this spot in 2019, and took advantage of the larger footprint -- I would often see the billboard there mentioning evening events in the summer, and always wanted to go have supper there to see what it was like, but in the end did not and they have now closed the restaurant side of the bakery business (which still remains). I'm not sure exactly how this has shaken out as there is apparently still a cafe there with the bakery, but apparently that is now focused more on breakfast, coffee & pastry.

Here is The State story on the changes.

As reported by commenter Sidney, the Whiskey Kitchen house restaurant at the Delta Northeast on Two Notch is rebranding as a Mexican eatery: Dos Amigos. With a few notable exceptions, I have always found restaurants in hotels to be "eh..OK" in general. We'll have to see if this is any different, though as recent comments have pointed out, there is no dearth of Mexican restaurants on Two Notch..

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

Here's another place I was completely unaware of. Apparently Good Life Cafe (or Goodlife Cafe in some usages) started out as a vegan place on Main Street then moved to this Taylor Street storefront last year, and slightly changed ist orientation to a "plant forward" restaurant, a term I had not heard before.

Although they have now closed their doors, several other restaurants with the same ownership remain open, and their closing sign suggests 1624 Bistro on Main as a source for some Good Life favorites.

You can read stories about the closing from The State & The Free Times

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Here's one I always wanted to visit, but it was very far North from my usual Grand Strand stomping grounds, and the one time I made an actual effort to get there, I found it closed (they apparently were always closed on Monday, and some years Monday & Tuesday). When I heard it was to be sold, I thought I would make one more effort, but as is usual, could never remember to do it when I was on the Strand until it was way too late to drive up there. In fact even the day I took these pictures I was there too late for decent light.

The Sun News has the story on the closing though the details were a bit vague at the time, in particular whether it would close in February of 2024 or July was unknown, and I don't see any follow-up story. What I do see has the ironic detail that the parcel was being sold to a development company who did not care to run a restaurant there, except now the plot is being resold again with nothing apparently having come to fruition, so the restaurant might as well have stayed.

The building looks as though it would welcome a little work, but still seems to be completely tabled & equipped. Even the computer is still up, sort of.

You can see a cached web page here, and Yelp reviews here, and a USA Today 10 Best post here.

Read the rest of this entry »

While the restaurant proper was apparently not harmed, a major fire on Saturday night 26 October took down the offices, pits & distribution center for this longtime Midlands barbecue staple, forcing the chain to close at least on a temporary basis. According to the video links provided by commenters Logan, Dustin & Andrew, the cause of the fire is still unknown.

I have only eaten at Piggie Park once, but I thought it was pretty good, and figured I would be back some day. Hopefully that will still happen. The place has had a somewhat controversial history with the founder's politics being out of step with the modern South, but his heirs looked to have worked past that, and while various locations have featured here from time to time the chain has remained a local constant.

The pictures above were taken on 25 March 2012, well before the fire. You can see the news reports of the blaze here, here & here.

(Hat tip to commenter Logan)

This restaurant closed as simply 1801 Grille in late 2022, and then reopened in early 2023 under the new branding of Angell Brothers 1801 Grille (which meant they didn't have to take the sign down for one thing!), closing again as of late last month. I believe USC has ownership of the building, and is involved in the operations as well, which doesn't currently look like a good thing.

Some, unspecified, new concept is in the offing, and The State has the story.

As I mentioned the first time, I believe, it's a nice looking space, with an attractive canopied patio. I would expect it to do a decent business with all the students about though it does seem to have been a bit on the high end, with $14.50 lunch chicken tenders...

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)