Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Gina's was the follow-on in this building to Little Caesar's & Custom Pizza. As far as I can tell from the Yelp reviews, they must have closed some time between June and late August of 2017. I never partook as I don't do take-out, and it's way away for me, but the reviews are pretty good.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I was unaware of this Lexington establishment until commenter James R pointed out that it had closed. It's a ways out on the Western outskirts of Lexington where Pisgah Church Road hits US-1.

The State says they were there for four years, which really is not bad for a non-chain restaurant.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

JP's 4 Corners was the followup operation to Arizona's and kept some of the same menu after the switchover. Since you could get a burger there, I would have been happy enough to try it out, but in the event never got around to it, especially as both Five Guys and Red Robin are also located at Sandhill.

I have to say that the reviews at Open Table are interesting to say the least, and almost prompt me to add a Sign #7 to the Signs Your Favorite Restaurant Is About to Close list:

7) Your restaurant is in Columbia South Carolina, and has no air conditioning during the month from Mid July to Mid August.

As far as I can tell, the Greenville location is still open, or at least no reviewers have noted it as closed yet. I believe that one also was once an Arizona's. The Web Site does appear to be down however as at least one review does note.

(Hat tip to commenter Steve)

UPDATE 4 May 2019 -- This place is refitting as Yummi Crab:

UPDATE 18 December 2019 -- Yummi Crab is now open:

As commenter Sidney noted, the Food Court at Columbia Mall is getting rather sparse, though I suppose you could consider Auntie Ann's Pretzels right around the corner to be part of it, which would bring the count up a little bit.

To the best of my memory I have never eaten at any of the restaurants now in the Food Court proper. If I had had to guess just by the name, I would have expected Maleo's to be Italian, but unless there is pizza in the & More, I guess not.

I threw in the current Mall directory, and a few random shots just for "FUN".

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

As mentioned several times in Have Your Say, the Burger King at Columbiana Mall is closed "temporarily". There's not any explanation on the sign making that claim, and apparently it has been several months. Ordinarily after such a length of time, I might write off the sign as wishful thinking, but in this case the equipment clearly has not been stripped, so who knows.

Almost as soon as I got inside to take this picture, somebody pulled the fire alarm, and everybody headed for the exits.

(Hat tip to commenter Deb)

UPDATE 9 October 2017 -- As mentioned in the comments this spot is setting up to be an American Deli so I'm taking the "temporary" off the post title:

UPDATE 6 February 2019: Change the location from "Columbiana Mall" to "Columbiana Centre". Add location icon.

As mentioned by commenter Andrew, here is another McDonald's undergoing upfit to the new style. This one is on the Charleston Highway adjacent to the recently closed Church's Chicken. The setup with two signs seems a little unusual to me, but perhaps I just haven't been paying attention.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 7 February 2018 -- As mentioned in the comments, this store is open again:

The impending closing of this Lexington Publix plaza wing stop was noted a while ago by commenter Ed, and commenter Brian confirmed the actual closing a bit later. The first shot shows the place still in operation and the later shots are from afterwards.

Curiously, Hot 4 Wings was just a few suites down from Wing Nuts, which shuttered in March 2014.

(Hat tip to commenters ED & Brian)

Noticed this vacant restaurant on Augusta Road next to the former Piggly Wiggly plaza.

A little googling turned up a LoopNet listing and an old FaceBook page that establish that it was a Sports/Biker bar called Reds On Augusta.

Judging from the fact that the last Facebook postings (other than an outlier which I'm guessing is a memory-lane post) are from late 2014, that's when I'm putting the closing.

See the LoopNet link for a picture of the place in operation.

UPDATE 11 August 2017: OK, commenter James R says they have not closed but moved to 3813 Augusta Highway. Well good for them! I'll add "(moved)" to the post title.

This is the second Sonic in Columbia that I am aware of closing. The Decker location closed in 2015. I like the idea of drive-ins with carhops, but in the event I never seem to end up wanting to eat in my car. I do get a milkshake every few years.

(Hat tip to commenter Toby)

UPDATE 16 June 2025: Updating tags and adding map icon.

As commenter Jason notes, this McDonald's on Sunset Boulevard near the I-26 interchange has closed for remodeling. This is something a number of the local McDonald's have done recently, including ones on Garners Ferry, Hardscrabble, Two Notch and Decker.

I don't expect this

but you never know.

(Hat tip to commenter Jason)