Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I guess this train-stationesque building just was not meant to house a fast casual Mexican chain. If you will recall, this was the location of Qdoba until May of 2015, meaning that Salsarita's lasted about three years. The State's report is here.

Despite some stumbles locally in recent years, I have always been a Moe's partisan in the burritto wars. I hate the ambience at Chipolte, Qdoba burrittos always fell apart on me, and Barbaritos, at least locally, is Moe's lite, without the availability of ground beef. I had not really had an opinion on Salsarita's, not having been to one until recently. Finally having done that (though not at this location), I was a little weirded out when the staff took over my tray and brought it out to a table which was not the one I had been planning on. I honestly can't recall much about the food itself.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

UPDATE 12 March 2019 -- Now a TD bank:

Jimmy John's is pretty much my goto sub chain(*). I have walked into Jersey Mike's several times, never seen anything I wanted to eat and walked out, Sub Station II doesn't have unsweet tea, Subway is OK, but the one I had most access to for several years kept the thermostat on sub-zero and I had to stop going. The only issue I have with Jimmy John's is the way they core out the bread for your sandwich. If they are going to do that, you ought to get the bread core too -- you paid for it.

That said, I have never eaten at this one as Forest Drive is closer and has parking. At any rate, as reported by commenter MB, it is now closed. I find it curious how completely it is stripped as they were still doing Facebook postings as late as 19 May.

The only other things I will note about this location is that my cousin worked there at one time, and that it was robbed at gun (or maybe finger) point in 2016.

(*) Here: At the beach, Dagwoods in Surfside is the holy grail.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

UPDATE 12 March 2019 -- Now a Sub Station II:

UPDATE 28 September 2022: Updating tags.

I happened to turn down Boston Avenue behind Lizard's Thicket in Springdale today, and noticed this closed diner that I had not been aware of. I'm guessing it was built in the 1960s for some fast food chain, but the last tenant was Marion's Diner (listed in the phonebook simply as Diner). They have a number of very good reviews online, and appear to have combined Southern Meat & Three with standard fast-food offerings.

You can see some pictures of the place in operation here.

I have been noticing this place on Screaming Eagle Road, about halfway between Percival Road and US-601, for years. I always thought I would stop someday, but had never got around to it. The last few times I went to the coast, it seemed like it might be closed, so I finally did stop to take a closer look, and it is in fact closed. Since the last newspaper on the stack is dated 28 February 2018, I'm guessing it happened in early March.

There was a story in The State from a few years ago about their fried, burnt, bologna sandwiches which mentions that the owner was in poor health. I certainly hope this was not the reason for the closing, but whatever reason, it is always a shame to see these unique little local stores close.

Burro Loco is a restaurant that has always interested me, because it seemed like it should be good, but never was. I have long had this place on an informal timeline where I would stop by about every five years to see if it was there yet, and it was due probably this year, but now it looks as though I will not get the opportunity.

The closing message on the restaurant site is pretty bland and noncommital (though it is nice that the staff were relocated). The Sun News essentially printed the same press release with no further information.

I find several things a bit curious however. First, there is no signage at the restaurant itself. Not your typical Closed for Renovations much less a more informative See us this fall! or whatever. Second, there is no indication at all that any work whatsoever has taken place here, despite four months having passed, and third, the door marquee indicates they were open until 10pm 7 days, not the 11pm weekend closing I would expect for a bar based hot-spot. I'm moved to suspect that the chain acted to stop the bleeding, but doesn't yet really have an idea what to do with the place. We'll see, and I hope I'm wrong as I would like to see this place finally get good.

UPDATE 7 December 2018: The Sun News reports the building is for sale.

As mentioned several times in Have Your Say, the Chili's on Harbison has closed.

The story from Palmetto Weekend says they were unable to renew their lease, which argues that Harbison Court may already have something else planned.

I believe they were already winding down last week, as I went by at 10pm on Friday night, and they had already turned off the front facade lights by the time I drove around to that side of the building.

I used to go to Chili's fairly frequently, and still do like it, but my main reason was that it was a decent place that stayed open late every night. While they still do that in the Florida locations (or the ones I've visited), they no longer do that here, pretty much leaving that niche to Applebee's.

(Hat tip to commenter ED)

UPDATE 17 April 2019 -- You can see the signage for The Krab Hut now:

Mostly I knew Silver City from their old location at 906 Knox Abbott Drive. When I was a graduate assistant every Wednesday (I think it was Wednesday..) when the new comics came out, I would drive from campus to there and peruse the weekly haul.

They moved to this old Hardee's building closer to the river while I was living out of town. I did stop by several times, but by that point, I was getting my fix through a mail-order subscription service, so it wasn't quite the same, though the staff was quite pleasant and I did pick up some stuff.

According to their Facebook page the store's last day was 2 December 2017. When I took these pictures, I had a brief chat with the building owner who said that they were looking for a new tenant in the building as is rather than taking it down and starting over. I was glad to hear that, as these old Hardee's buildings are pretty thin on the ground now. After the razing of the one at Eggroll Station, this is the last in the Columbia area, and I believe the owner said there were only one or two elsewhere.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas S)

UPDATE 12 October 2021 -- Now The Modern Locksmith.com:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 13 August 2022 -- Here is a picture from commenter Jimmy Freeman of the roadside sign for this building when it was a Hardee's:

Joe Loves was the follow-on in this location to The Ship's Pub, which was the follow-on to Sam's Corner for which the building was built.

I noticed Joe Loves around New Years of 2018, and according to The Hilton Head Island Packet, it had opened here on 5 December 2017. What I did not know was that it had actually relocated from Ridgeland, which, if you look at the map, is quite a good distance away.

Given that the real estate sign mentions that the fixtures are all in place, I expect to see another restaurant here before too long.

Dimp's Cafe & Grill was the follow-on to several restaurants here at 3600 River Drive, including at least Buck's Cafe and 3 Point Cafe & Grill. I have not gotten around to eating at any of these so far.

I'm not sure when Dimp's closed, but I drive this stretch often enough that I think I would have noticed it before now if it were any longer ago than January or February of 2018. The place is now Vibes though they do not yet have a sign on the building itself.

UPDATE 21 September 2021: Adding map icon.

Firenza is an interesting name for a pizza place because it suggests both "fire" and Italy (Firenza is the native name for the city we call by the exonym "Florence").

Fast casual pizza is now officially a thing, and Firenza is one of the chains in that market. This particular store, in Columbiana Station has not been here long. Commenter Heath reported in November of last year that this slot opened as a Persona Pizza and was just converting to Firenza at that point. Actually, Persona is the only one of these chains I have been to, and I was happy with my meal at the Woodhill location, so I'm not averse to checking out Firenza, Blaze or 1000 Degrees. Interestingly, as you can see in the pictures, there is a Blaze just across the street from this location.

Exactly what is going on here is a bit cryptic, but apparently it is an upfit of some sort and Firenza promises to return.

(Hat tips to commenters Heath & James R)

UPDATE 23 March 2018 -- Hmm, commenter Heath notes that apparently the place never actually opened as Firenza after Persona shut down. Maybe they got distracted by the Lexington opportunity. Anyway, I'm changing the title line qualifier from "(temporary)" to "(coming?)".

UPDATE 7 June 2021 -- Now a Brothers & Beer Mexican Restaurant:

also adding map icon.