Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Well, here's another casualty of COVID-19.

ColaDaily reports that both the Assembly Street and Lexington IHOPs will not be reopening after closing for the crisis.

This site last featured here when the old classic-look store was torn down and rebuilt in 2013. I confess that I had given up on this location well before the closure in March. I have always appreciated IHOP as a good late-night place for comfort food, and I really like the Harvest Grain & Nut Pancakes. However, it seemed to me that every time I went here after the rebuild, I had some kind of issue. Either I couldn't get seated, or couldn't get waited on, or couldn't get anyone to take my money on the way out. Then there was the time the restaurant was full and apparently only one one kitchen staffer had shown up. I have had much better luck on Two Notch, but they are not open late, so my midnight runs seem to end up at Applebee's these days (well, "these days" before the current unpleasantness).

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

UPDATE 4 March 2021 -- Both this IHOP and the one in Lexington unexpectedly found a new owner, and are open again. Unfortunately there were still multiple issues during my only visit so far:

Due to scheduling issues of one sort and another, I did not get to Brookgreen Gardens Nights of 1000 Candles in 2019, so I was looking forward to seeing the Bruce Munro Southern Light installation this Spring. Well, then there was, of course, COVID-19, and that was put on hold for a while.

Now however, the display is up and running, and I found a chance to take it in on 6 June 2020. It was one of those unseasonably cool nights we have had this Spring, so the bugs were down, but it was still very comfortable, and there was also a beautiful full moon to go with the lights. My favorite part was towards the last of this set of pictures, a profusion of small color-changing bulbs on stalks planted across one of the more open and less sculpture-studded sections of the gardens. I felt as though I could probably have sat out there for some hours, but as the display closes at 11pm, I had to move on out before I was quite ready.

The exhibition runs from 8pm-11pm through September, so if you are in the area, it's well worth checking out.

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Google tags this spot as "temporarily closed", but there is a real estate sign in front now, so my guess is they closed during the initial stages of COVID-19 and were not able to hang on until the reopening of barber shops and salons a few weeks ago.

Looking for this address also turns up a LoopNet page which reveals it was also formerly a Chiropractor's office.

Copper River Grill in Harbison is another casualty of the COVID-19 crisis, though it has featured here before in the comments as an example of a place that had gone downhill, and the recent Yelp reviews are not stellar.

Cola Daily has the story on the closing here.

I only visited Copper River Grill once, years ago. I had heard it was a good place for late night pizza, so I hit it around midnight one evening. My memory is that the pizza was OK, nothing special, and that it was quite hard to get my drink refilled. In any event, I never went back.

I do like the entrance-way though.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

I was shooting against the light, and didn't really have time to get out, so these aren't great shots, but the Wild Wing Cafe in Columbiana Station on Bower Parkway is closed due (mostly) to the COVID-19 crisis.

I say "mostly", because looking at the Yelp reviews, this place was pretty clearly on its last legs, and you have to feel kind of sorry for the corporate rep who had to comment on the 1-star reviews with apologies. Curiously, the Copper River Grill in the same shopping center (and which will soon feature here) had similiar reviews, and the spot there which was most recently (I think!) HuHot Mongolian Grill has been a revolving door for years. For some reason, restaurants don't seem to do well here..

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

UPDATE 23 August 2022: Updating tags.

Footaction was on the lower level of Columbia Mall at the foot of the winding staircase, underneath the old Lowery Organs location, across from the former Radio Shack and adjacent to the former JC Penny.

According to their door sign, Footaction had initially closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, but rolled that into a permanent closure at some point, and they have already stripped the store. As reported by commenter Rashaad, the other Footlocker brands have also left the mall, and will probably feature here in due course.

As an aside, social distancing is not an issue at Columbia Mall:

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)

Commenter Lone Wolf notes this Free Times story on the closing of State Street upstairs loft location of The Cigar Box, which sounds like it was a bar as well as a cigar lounge. They had only moved to this location last September, and as you would expect COVID-19 was a factor.

Commenter Heath noted their move last year, and this Free Times story about it, but I never got around to doing a closing on the stores on Main & Rosewood. I do have some pictures of the wooden fox mural from the Rosewood store that hopefully I will get up sometime.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)

After the Dutch Square Theatre closed and the building was razed, Ruby Tuesday built a new store on this site, and ran it until last month. Ruby Tuesday has been having problems and closing locations in recent years in part because the restaurant has no strong identity. You go to Ruby Tuesday for what, exactly? For me it's the salad bar, but if that's not your thing, then its hard to say why you would -- Which is not to say there's anything wrong with the food.

Anyway, this store probably would have held on for a while, perhaps indefinitely, but with the temporary closure for COVID-19 and no money coming in, I guess the balance just tipped the wrong way.

(Hat tip to commenter Homer, et al)

UPDATE 28 February 2022 -- As mentioned in the comments, now Ms. B's:

I presume at some point they will get the Ruby Tuesday sign taken down..

Sabor Latin Steet Grill was the follow-on operation to breakfast & lunch spot Le Peep which closed in April of 2019. Sabor opened in July of 2019, as reported in ColaDaily, giving it a run of something less than a year.

Although the pictured Family Box seems to hew towards standard Mexican items, my understanding is that Sabor had a fuller menu with items from other Southern countries, and I had it on my mental list to eventually visit. Unfortunately, the restaurant was caught up in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and was not able to last from its 21 March 2020 temporary closing into the coming (hopefully!) full reopening period. The Free Times has that story:

The Vista location of Sabor Latin Street Grill, a fast-casual restaurant chain out of Charlotte, closed late last month amid the coronavirus’ impact on area restaurants.

Mark Gardner, former general manager with the restaurant, confirmed to Free Times that the restaurant closed on March 21, and that the closure is now permanent. The restaurant had employed 22 workers.

“COVID-19 … just hurt sales too much,” Gardner explains.

Numerous restaurants throughout the area have grappled with takeout-only offerings since Gov. Henry McMaster closed South Carolina restaurant dining rooms on March 17 in an effort to enforce social distancing. Gardner says the Columbia Sabor gave takeout a shot, but it wasn’t successful enough to justify continuing.

“We tried that the first week, but the sales just weren’t there,” he says.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

Uncle Louie's in The Vista has closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. They have been closed on a temporary basis since 17 March, but today made it permanent. Commenter Lone Wolf provides the news, and this Coladaily link:

Representatives from Uncle Louie's, a popular bar in Columbia's Vista, announced Wednesday that the business will be closing permanently, effective immediately. The bar had already closed March 17, at the time as a temporary closure, due to COVID-19.

Management posted on the business Facebook page:

"We are sad to say that March 17th was our LAST last call. When we opened 20 yrs ago we never imagined the time we would have. Without a great staff and the best regulars in town it never would have been possible. Thanks for letting us serve you and for the friendships we made along the way. Please continue to eat and drink local, tip your bartenders, and be good to each other. Cheers!"

I took these pictures some years ago when I got an incorrect report that the place had closed at that time.

As a general note, I echo Lone Wolf's sentiments that something has got to give. Every death is tragic, but at some point the harm being done by destroying people's livelihoods just becomes too overwhelming for this to go on.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)