Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I knew a man Bojangles and
He'd dance for you..

But not apparently make chicken anymore.

I've had biscuits at a Bojangles's drive-through a few times in the unhappy event of being up that early, and they were pretty good. I can't speak to the chain's mainstay though, as I'm definitely not a chicken person (some are..), but the store on Two Notch at O'Neil Court seems to get pretty good traffic. Perhaps the nearby Church's Chicken at 2436 Taylor was a factor here.

UPDATE 19 September 2014 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this is now an Asian BBQ place:

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 23 February 2024 -- This spot is now occupied by a Starbucks:

Also updating tags and adding map icon.

I had a hard time finding this Kentucky Fried Chicken in the phonebook because they actually still listed as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" rather than KFC. Good for them! (Interestingly, other KFCs are listed some at the front of the 'K' section with the acronyms and others alphabetically after the "KE" businesses..).

Anyway, they are definitely listed in this year's (February 2012) phonebook, and I'm guessing from commenter Brandi's heads-up that they probably closed very recently. Certainly, as you can see, the store has yet to be stripped of all the equipment and fixtures, and the place doesn't yet seem to be listed as for sale.

(Hat tip to commenter Brandi)

UPDATE 19 August 2016 -- Now Auto Money - Title Loans:

Well, we've been talking about it for weeks, but Friday was the day the Kroger (and associated Chick-Fil-A) on Saint Andrews Road at I-26 finally closed. I suspect these pictures show the last time that sign will be illuminated.

UPDATE 5 December 2014 -- Roses is now open, and the remodel for Save A Lot has started:

UPDATE 28 January 2021: Adding tags and map icon.

UPDATE 4 October 2023 -- The left side of the old Kroger (which Roses didn't take over) is a Spirit Haloween this year (2023):

This Chick-Fil-A on Main Street next to the old Downtowner Motor Inn closed last week after being unable to agree a new lease with the building owner.

With this store closing not too long after the Five Points location opened, the number of downtown Chick-Fil-As is back to one.

The cows are gonna be unhappy..

UPDATE 218 January 2021: Add tags, map icon

Continuing on yesterday's Garners Ferry Road theme, commenter Gary Lemons sends in the above 1969 yearbook ad for Chicken Coop restaurant. I've done a little research on the place but didn't really find out much. The official address was as I've given it in the post title, and the restaurant first listed in the November 1963 Southern Bell Yellow Pages, and last listed in the January 1983 directory. During that time, they never bought a Yellow Pages ad, but a twenty year run shows it wasn't really necessary.

As far as I can tell, the building is long gone and the vacant lot pictured is the old Chicken Coop site. The parcel is on the South side of Garners Ferry almost across from the new Richland County recreation area. Although it is currently undeveloped, this LoopNet listing shows an artist's conception of the new strip mall which is to be built on the site.

Well, this is already getting talked on on Have Your Say, so I may as well go ahead and post early today..

I realize this will get pushback from a lot of folks (sorry Jonathan!), but I never really found the food at Yo Burrito to be as good as the chain burrito stores. In particular I thought it didn't come close to my favorite, Moe's. The burritos always seemed on the dry side to me (particularly the rice), and while they had a lot of different types of salsa, they managed to do that without hitting on one I really liked (and they served it in ridiculously small cups). What I did like about the place was that the service was always friendly, and that they had a nice semi-patio area where you could sit and watch the passers by on Devine Street while sometimes a bird would hop in through the window -- I would do that for Sunday lunch from time to time. That may be possible again later -- note the "Thanks for 9 Years" door sign that says a new restaurant is coming this fall.

I'm pretty sure Yo Burrito started in Charleston, and that's where I first encountered them, at their original location near the College of Charleston Campus. There were famously evicted from there when the college took over the building, but were able to relocate in the same area. As far as I know they are still open in Charleston, but I have not checked..

Interestingly, I "learned" of this closing though my daily perusal of Google Analytics -- software that tells me what keywords people are searching for when they come to the site from search engines. Yesterday I got several hits on variations of "Yo Burrito closed", then commenter south mauldin confirmed it earlier today.

(Hat tip to commenter south mauldin).

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Well, it was probably inevitable, but Columbia's original Chick-Fil-A and one of the last original stores in Ductch Square has shut down. They had been in that same location for 40 years, which is like since the Pre-Cambrian in mall-time. I'm not a fan of chicken and don't believe I've ever been in a Chick-Fil-A to get so much as a drink (though I could be wrong, 40 years is a long time!), but I've always admired the chain a little bit for sticking to their guns about not opening on Sunday no matter how much more expedient that might be.

I'll try to get a shot from the other side of the corner at some point, there was a whole table of people seated there at the time.

On the plus side, a new pizza operation has set up in the recently closed D'Avino's on the other side of the hall from Chick-Fil-A

UPDATE 16 July 2010: Added a second picture.

UPDATE 28 January 2021: Add tags, full street address, map icon.

I'm not really sure when this KFC closed, but the property looks so distressed that I'm putting it in the early 2000s rather than the last couple of years. I've never been a fan of chicken (or any other bird, come to that), so I have no standing to criticize the chain, but I always felt it was rather pusillanimous to change the official name from Kentucky Fried Chicken to KFC: You sell fried chicken! Stand up for it! (I also didn't like the commercials with the animated Colonel -- I remember the real Colonel in commercials, and it seems disrespectful of your founder to make a cartoon out of him now that he's gone..).

The only other thing I have to say about KFC in general is that every time I see the "Livers & Gizzards" signage up, I think 'Lewis Grizzard'.

It seems a bit odd that there seems to be no attempt to sell the property, or at least I saw no "For Sale" signs in evidence.

UPDATE 7 Jan 2010: Comments say I was wrong about the closing period, so I have changed the post title date from 'early 2000s' to 'late 2000s'.

UPDATE 30 January 2016 -- It's now China Wing Basket:

I'm pretty sure this building, on the North side of Knox Abbott Drive just past Silver City was once a Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits. I think various folks have tagged it as such in the comments, and it has that odd "Why not cover our store with a facade of fake rocks?" 1970s look of the other two older Popeyes locations in Columbia that I know of: This one on Farrow Road and this much restauranted building on Decker Boulevard (which has actually just had the rock facade ripped off in the last month or so).

Currently the building hosts the Vacuum Center vacuum cleaner store, but I'm unsure if this was the immediate follow on to Popeyes or if there were one or more other tenants intervening. I have the vague feeling that Vacuum Center may once have been in Parkland Plaza and that I may have bought a reconditioned Electrolux from them, but that may have been another store entirely. Popeyes in the meantime is still around in some form and has Columbia Stores on Augusta Road and Garners Ferry Road. (And, yes, they spell it without an apostrophe, which really grates on me..)

UPDATE 26 January 2022: Updating tags and adding map icon.

It appears that China Dragon restaurant on the corner of Farrow Road and Beltline Boulevard is gone. When I took these pictures, it was after the return date stated on the vacation sign, but the phone had not been disconnected, so I held off posting. Now the phone is cut off and when I drove by this evening, there were a couple of cars there with people who seemed to be looking at the property (though there is no "For Sale" sign).

I never ate at China Dragon but the building has been there forever, and stuck in my mind as a kid because of the rocky exterior. Since we went down that way so seldom, I had a poor mental model in my mind of exactly where it was, and would always be surprised when I saw it again.

The building design is clearly the same as this much restauranted building on Decker Boulevard, so going by the comments there, it was probably originally a Popeye's Chicken.

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