Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

After eating at Moe's last week, I noticed that Universal Copies in the little bi-level University Corner strip-mall, is closed and papered up.

Then, when I went to make this post, I looked back on the University Corner post and realized that I had missed the closing of the place before Universal: Bits & Pizzas.

It's been a few years since I noticed this, but somehow I never got around to mentioning it: The Pizza Hut attached to the Columbia Travel Center plaza closed up shop a couple of years ago. As I recall, it was not a full Pizza Hut, but one of the "express" type operations.

I suspect it was a highly unpleasant job, but someone apparently climed the sign tower to elide the "Hut" portion of the Pizza Hut placard!

UPDATE 26 June 2023: Updating tags and adding map icon. Also, just noticed I apparently have this Pizza Hut listed twice, once on the Wilson Boulevard address, and once on the Plumbers Road address. Oh well.

Wow!

When commenter badger mentioned that the Columbia Mall outparcel Bakers Sports Pub & Grill appeared to be closed, I thought I might run over there after work to take a look. I certainly did not expect what I found.

On the east side of the building, things looked almost normal, but I noticed as I walked over from my car to the front door that part of the entrance was boarded over. Then I just figured that this was not a business related closing, but that probably they had had a fire. Looking in through the door though, there were no burned sections, just a lot of devastation.

Then I got off the porch and noticed the crime scene tape around the front and west side of the building. Then, walking around (outside the tape boundry..) I saw this:

Once home, a bit of googling established that it was exactly what it looked like -- someone had driven a pickup truck into the west side of the building. And furthermore, it was part of a police chase that saw the truck drive through *another* building, run over one suspect and leave the other suspect (the driver) shot dead by police. It's a pretty incredible story, and in fact I had glanced through it last week without making the connection with Bakers.

The State has a dramatic picture of the pickup truck after it hit the wall.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

It hardly seems possible to me that Le Peep was at Sandhill for the five years that their closing letter claims, but looking back I see that in fact The Italian Pie closed in the fall of 2008.

I'm not a morning person by nature, and Le Peep closed at 2pm, so I never got a chance to check it out, but it seems to have been a well regarded breakfast spot. The door letter implies that the space remains under the same ownership and that something new may be forthcoming. In the meantime, the chain just opened a location on Gervais Street in the old Mezza space.

I have to say posting a listing of all the other Sandhill restaurants is a classy touch.

(Hat tip to commenter JB)

UPDATE 24 January 2014 This story from The State makes it clear that this Le Peep was moved to the Vista, rather than the Vista operation being a new one, so I have updated the post title to add "(moved)":

UPDATE 19 Aug 2014 -- This location is up and running again. Not sure what the story is, but good!

Here's another of the many restaurants I was completely unaware of. This Irmo spot offered more than the seafood the name would have you expect. Of course, some other reviews make it sound as though the literary meaning of the name may have been appropos from time to time as well.

The space is now open again as Bistro On The Boulevard.

(Hat tip to commenter Becky)

To the best of my recollection, I've never eaten at any establishment in this Five Points storefront, to include San Jose, though I have certainly eaten at other local San Jose locations, and found them to be perfectly OK.

Commenter MB noted the closing, and pointed out that until fairly recently it was Mucho Margaritas, something I must have driven by many times without it registering at all. Already today the sign was down and folks were carting off the fixtures. With the recent closure of Dreams Of Bombay, there are now two adjacent restaurant vacancies in this building. (I don't know what, if anything, is in the upper storey).

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

UPDATE 1 July 2014 -- This will next be the bacon themed restaurant Sizzle. Mmm, Bacon!:

UPDATE 25 January 2023: Add tags and map icon.

This Sammi's location was way out on Broad River Road, just across Lykes Lane from the Publix plaza. I took these pictures when I originally thought it was closed, back in June of 2012.

As it turned out, they weren't closed, but just having some work done. They opened again and carried on (with an 'A') until last month.

Now it's Touchdown's Wings & Things.

Read the rest of this entry »

When the original Biscuit House on Bluff road closed, there was an announcement that someone had bought the brand rights so as to open new Biscuit House locations inside convenience stores, much as Subway and Blimpie do. I believe that this one, in a Corner Pantry at the corner of Garners Ferry Road and Lower Richland Boulevard was the first such, and it opened sometime after March 2012. Somewhere, I have a picture of this location in operation, but can't put my hands on it right now. At any rate, as far as I know, this just leaves one other, in Irmo, from this initial roll-out.

(Hat tip to commenter Midnight Rambler)

UPDDATE 8 October 2013: As promised, I have found and added the pix of the place in operation.

UPDATE 4 August 2025: Add map icon and update tags.

I have got to say that their marquee mascot looks the least like a Chinese chef of any illustration I've seen. (Not that there's anything wrong with a European in a floppy hat dilligently applying himself and learning Chinese cooking..)

UPDATE 6 October 2021: Adding "North" to "Woodrow Street" in the title and tags. Adding map icon.

As reported by commenter Mike, The Diner on Fort Jackson Boulevard just behind the new Whole Foods is closed for "renovations". I believe this place has been open for a bit over a year and a half, launching in January 2012 in the old Jesudi's etc location.

Given that they did extensive renovations on the place before opening, it's hard to imagine what needs upgrading now. While I certainly hope it is not the case here, it seems to me that more than half the times a restaurant closes for "renovations", that turns out to be more of a hope than a plan, and the closure becomes permanent.

UPDATE 24 October 2013 -- Well, looks like that's it for The Diner:

I've taken the "remodeling" tag off the subject line.