Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Commenter Mr. BO sends these pictures saying that he was a satisfied customer.

This would be right next to the former Steve's Subs, and in fact a number of storefronts in this plaza have featured here over the years.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr BO)

Commenter Gypsie notes that there is some kind of work going on here, which I also see. I wonder if it's to become a Seven-Eleven? If you google the address, that's one of the hits that comes up, though if you actually click on the link it's not available at the Seven-Eleven corporate site. Of course it's also possible it was previously a Seven-Eleven at some time.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

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:

Hope it's a good one...

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)

I didn't know for sure when I made arrangements to spend the weekend in Fernandina that I would hit the Dickens On Centre festival, though I figured there was a pretty good chance of that. In the event, I did, and it was quite nice. They close off Centre Street starting at, I believe, Fourth Street, and also a block of 4th, 3rd, 2nd & 1st on either side of Centre and line the entire thing with craft booths, performance stages and outdoor eateries, the most visible one being the bubble enclosed tables on 2nd Street.

Players in period costumes (well-to-to period costumes to be sure) circulate for photo ops, and there are music and theater events on the stages. There was also a drone show over the harbor, which I was not expecting and was not in a good position to see, but which was nonetheless quite impressive. Centre Street merchants and restaurants stay open during the event as well, and do, I'm sure, quite a good business. Things wrap up Sunday at 3:00, and you can see a good bit of the teardown in the pictures following that.

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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: