Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I always wondered about this place on US-501 in Marion heading towards the beach. From the signs, it sounded like it should be a big deal, but I never saw any activity there, or heard about any shows scheduled.

As it turns out, the complex started as Carolina Ampitheatre, opening some time in the early part of the century, I guess, and closing in 2009. It was revamped and re-opened as Swamp Fox Entertainment Complex in 2015, but never got a lot of traction due to the location being prone to storms and cancellations (as well as being rather out of the way), and closed again in 2020.

At that time, the plan was to redevlop it as housing, but it was early 2020, and the pandemic was coming on, so as far as I can tell, that never got off the ground and I am not sure of the current status of those plans, though *something* happened in 2021.

During the whole life of the Swamp Fox, the area also housed a locally popular bar called the Fox Hole Bar & Grill, which closed in March of 2021.

You can read about the complex in these stories from WMBF, and WBTW. If I ever go by there in the daytime, and it's not locked down, I may try to see what's left.

I'm glad I saw this year's Nights of 1000 Candles last week when it was still pleasant outside. I know the folks who saw it tonight were probably brittle with the cold.

Since I couldn't get any weekend tickets, I went on a Wednesday this year,and my impression is it was a little more subdued, but there was still a pretty good crowd. I didn't notice any big changes from last year, but as always, it was a very impressive display, and a nice way to spend an evening. I believe they are sold out for the rest of the year, but if you do find you can get tickets, I recommend it.

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The Sandy Monkey was in Murrells Inlet (or possibly Garden City depending on what you go by) in a small plaza next to the now razed Jungle Lake Golf. At one time there were at least three businesses in this area, including a little walk-up hut-style operation which seemed to change names and cusines every few years. I seem to remember a coin laundry in the strip as well at one time.

I believe I ate in the building once when it was an Italian operation, and was not impressed enough to go back. The pictures on their Yelp page suggest that The Sandy Monkey set up here in 1990, and the reviews, Yelp & otherwise, suggest that while it had its partisans, the non-regulars were not impressed. The whole plaza has been razed now, which is a bit surprising as you would think that meant they had a plan going forward, but it's been a number of years now since this building and the golf operation were gone and the area is still vacant.

Interestingly, their Facebook is still up.

I wrote in 2016 about the closing of Island Cinema 7 in Fernandina Beach. Somewhat to my surprise, instead of staying vacant, or becoming a dollar cinema, B&B Theaters moved into the spot and the Island once again had a first-run movie theater.

I saw several films there under the new regime, and it was pretty nice. I know I saw one there in December of 2021, but I am currently unable to remember what it was, which is too bad, as it will be the last.

The Fernandina News Leader reports that the theaters closed on 27 January 2021, a little more than a month after I was there last. Apparently the spece is to become doctors' offices, though I saw no signs of that upfit during my visit in May 2022.

As before, the closest theater is now on A1A coming into the Island from Yulee.

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Jimmyz moved into this former KFC sometime after 2015, and seemed to do a decent business. I think COVID hit time pretty hard though, as they never reopened for dine-in service after it hit.

I can't find any definite info on the closing date, but it was open in January, and given the still fully equipped state of the place, I think the end of March is probably the logical time to guess.

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This barn-esque building is across the street from Step Saver Gas on the cut-through from I-95 to US-76 in Florence. I became aware of it through driving to the beach that way from time to time, and when I first noticed it, it was one of those SCDA flagged stores that featured local produce and products. I wanted to stop and check it out, but it always seemed like I was in a hurry and in the event I never did before it was gone. Apparently the name was Greenacres Country Market, and there is a site with some nice pictures of it here. It appears they were also a bakery.

Recently I noticed that the signage for that operation was gone and that the building was operating as a soul food & barbecue restaurant which doubled as an event space. Apparently that didn't last too long, and the building is now listed for sale.

I only ate at Milardo's once, probably about two years ago. I was not enthused about the place as both the pizza sauce and the garlic knots were unexpectedly sweet. It might have been nice have a second go some evening and eat on the roof, but in the event, I never got around to that.

It looks like they are setting up for a follow-on operation: Player 1 Up.

I wonder if Barberitos is struggling? As I noted here and here, both Midlands locations of the chain closed some time ago. Personally I liked this Fernandina Beach location better than either of those as it had ground beef as a topping which for some odd reason the SC locations did not (ground turkey is *not* the same thing). My only issue here (as with all locations) is that the chips were so fragile you couldn't really dip with them.

There was also a location a bit further up A1A towards Yulee FL, which also seems to have vanished in the same time-frame as this one. My guess is they were the same franchaise, which according to some google reviews was new ownership after the initial pandemic closure.

I have put 1519 for the street address here as both google & yelp agree on it and it is on the front door. However the actual number painted on the glass on the west side is 1515 for some reason, as you can see.