Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Judging from the reviews and menu, I think I might have liked The Tap Room though I rarely eat in the Rosewood Area. The building is somewhat interesting as it is on a steeply sloping lot at the corner of Rosewood and South Holly. From the Rosewood side, it looks like a two story building at street level, but from the South Holly side, you can see the third level below Rosewood.

(Hat tip to commenter Midnight Rambler)

Over the last year or so, there's been some question whether Ya Food in the Walmart plaza on Two Notch was trying to change it's name, or emphasize the hibichi identity, but a few weeks ago, a commenter (whose comment and name I have unfortunately misplaced) pointed out that it was now entirely closed, and indeed that seems to be the case.

Like the Burger King at North Main & Sunset, this Two Notch Road King (next to the Post Office) is remodeling, and is closed while that takes place.

The influx of new burger chains to Columbia seems to have sparked a good deal of revamping at McDonald's and Burger King.

(Hat tip to commenter Javier)

UPDATE 5 December 2012 -- Open again!

I really like the sign here at the former WECO Billiards. It has a similar aesthetic to Varsity Billiards and Red Wing Rollerway.

This site for the current owners of the building (note the clever URL) says it was built originally as a grocery. It was still operating as a billiard hall in the February 1997 phonebook, but by the time of the next one I have here at home (February 2007), the listing was gone. Since then it appears to have been a thrift store, and now houses a number of operations as detailed at the previous link.

I believe I went into this Yumilicious on Forest Drive once last year. While in theory I liked the idea, in the event every single variety of yogurt was either low-fat or no-fat, so I ended up going across the street to Baskin Robbins.

The closing sign mentions that the Lexington store is still open. Or, if you would rather stay in Forest Acres, 32 Degrees is still in Trenholm Plaza.

And no, I'm not going to try to figure out how to put the dots over the 'm' :-)

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

UPDATE 9 January 2013 -- It's now a Chiropractic clinic called The Joint:

Tea was apparently a Vietnamese tea house with sandwiches and other fare. It was on that little strip of State Street near Meeting Street which has a whole row of storefronts, and was in between Rish Florist and the original Cafe Strudel location.

I don't have my phonebooks right now, but the last online reviews I see for the place are dated early 2011, so I'm guessing it closed that year.

Good Day Chinese Restaurant in North Columbia Square on Fairfield Road reminds me a bit of the old Chung King restaurant in Intersection Center, at least as far as having painstaking, attractive, woodwork nailed to the bricks.

The building itself obviously predates Good Day and it's on the tip of my tongue what it must have been originally, but for some reason I'm drawing a blank.

UPDATE 30 September 2012 -- Tender as Quail! Tasty as Pheasant!

Commenters have identified the original tenant of this building as Golden Skillet and pictures like this one confirm that. I don't know when that closed, but it was before the February 1997 phonebook, and Wikipedia suggests the chain went into decline after 1981.

I was driving down Fairfield Road when this building next to the Food Lion caught my eye. It looked very much like a number of the old-school Dairy Queen buildings in town.

Sure enough the ad (reposted above) lists a Fairfield Road location. The only slight difficulty is that it gives the address as 5104 Fairfield Road while the current address (written in quite large letters) for the building is 5102 Fairfield Road. I pretty sure there has been a minor renumbering at some point over the last 40 years.

Googling for the new address turns up a large number of tenants at the building since it was a DQ. The only one I might have ever heard of is the camera repair operation, and if so it was so long ago that I can't be sure.

UPDATE 10 February 2025 -- Now purple:

Also adding map icon and tags.

I'd never been entirely sure if Parklane Seafood on Leesburg Road were open or closed, but judging from the fact my most recent trip through the area showed the building up for sale, and some recent comments here, I think it is now clear that the restaurant side of the business is closed while the catering side continues.

This building was the old Flamingo Club. It also appears that the back lot has recently been converted into a garden center.

Update 23 April 2018 -- As commenter Rick notes, this building has been stripped of the canopy and door facade that probably dated back to Dick's Flamingo Club:

It looks like the building is prepped to rent as some sort of three suite office.

UPDATE 5 October 2021 -- Now Performance Medical Supply, Inc.:

Also adding map icon.

As mentioned in this State story, longtime State Street fixture Cafe Strudel is.. staying on State Street. They have however moved south two blocks to 300 State Street (certainly within easy walking distance from the former location), and have re-opened ahead of schedule. In fact they were still painting the new marquee sign as I walked by, but underneath the ladder were open for business.

UPDATE 1 December 2025: Update tags, add map icon.