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.

This should be some sort of lesson to me as I had several daylight pictures of this place, but a few weeks ago I decided they weren't very good, and deleted them with an eye to getting some better ones at some point. That's not the first time I've done that sort of thing either. I should learn!

However I did manage to hold onto the two nighttime pix of the place which are presented up top.

Commenter Joe Hinson remarks on the "old style" of the demolished building, but when I tood the night pix, I was thinking how modern it looked. In part I suspect that's because I remember at least one other version of the store here, and probably two.

The initial building sat much closer to the road than the most recent one, and was, I think, still in the classic McDonald's "walk up" style. It was something like this retro building from Starke Florida:

I believe this version was the first McDonald's in Columbia, and indeed, the 1970 phonebook lists 4801 Garners Ferry Road as "No. 1", with 1303 Charleston Highway as "No. 2", 2907 Two Notch as "No. 3", and 1729 Broad River Road as "No. 4". (4336 Wildcat Road was listed as the office location). Certainly it was the first McDonald's I had ever encountered, and it played a big part in my elementary school days at Satchel Ford. This was because, while we normally got our burgers at Bell's on Forest Drive, when report cards came out in Richland One, this McDonald's always ran a promotion such that if you had all 'A's & 'B's, you got a free hamburger.

Now, in those days, I was a pretty good student, and I always had all 'A's & 'B's, *except* for handwriting for which I always had a 'C'. In my mind, handwriting was not a "real" subject, and I always had my father make that case to the window clerk, and it always worked. In retrospect, I know he didn't relish the idea of arguing with some guy over a burger, but he was proud of me, and a great dad, so he did it every report card period without demur. I believe that mascot "Ronald McDonald" debuted in this era. Initially he was a pantomine clown with an overbearing boss whose tasks for Ronald always turned into a series of pratfalls..

The second McDonald's here, I think was a non-descript 70s building that did emphasize inside dining more than walkups, but had no play area. We didn't go to that one often because by that time, there was one more or less at the corner of Decker & Trenholm which was closer and involved fewer traffic lights. (And Bell's was gone by then). I believe it was at this point that the restaurant was set further back from Garners Ferry.

I'm not sure when the play-area, boxy looking remodel came in, but I think it was while I was living out of town in the 80s or 90s, by which time I was essentially never eating at McDonald's anymore. (Lately they have learned to make a very good cup of coffee, and provide wifi so that I finally have been back some).

(Hat tip to commenter mamarose)

UPDATE 1 September 2012 -- I found another set of daylight (well, twilight..) pictures of the building:

UPDATE 12 September 2012 -- Construction has started is moving at a pretty good clip:

And here's a yellow pages ad from the walkup days:

UPDATE 18 September 2012 -- The frame appears complete, and hiring has started:

UPDATE 9 November 2012 -- As mentioned in the comments, this store is open again:

Well, the Egyptian restaurant in Dutch Square, Stuft Stuff has now closed. The place went into the corner location across the corridor from the old Chick-Fil-A, a slot that has in the past housed Gabby's Pizza and D'Avino's Pizzeria.

I'm not entirely sure what they served, but it sounds intriguing. Apparently they had pizza and vegetarian/vegan items. Their Facebook page suggests that the closing was due to low traffic in Dutch Square (which I can well believe) and that they may relocate.

(Hat tip to commenter Eddie)

I almost forgot to get pictures of this McDonalds at High Point On Decker which has been closed the last month or so for a complete remodel/rebuild. In fact, I did forget until it is already open again for drive-through traffic. The dining room should be re-opened in the next few weeks.

I notice that the Chick-Fil-A down the street by Decker Mall is being remodeled as well.

I kind of screwed up the pre-closing pictures of Continental Bar & Grill by splitting them between the closings for Zorba's and Patrones (largely because I forgot about Patrones, I think..). Anyway, most of them are duplicated above, along with shots from 11 July 2012 confirming that the place is definitely now defunct (something that apparently happened quickly enough to keep the patio umbrellas from being bussed..)

I don't know anything about this incarnation of the old Captain's Kitchen building other than it was a Mexican restaurant and lounge apparently run by and for Mexican expats, and that it didn't last too long.

UPDATE 26 September 2013 -- Well, *something* is happening here:

Well, we've been talking about this today in Have Your Say, but let's make it "official": Houston's Low Country Grill on North Main closed on 2 July.

That makes it the second restaurant that I know of in North Main plaza to close. Restaurants close all the time, this site is full of them, and while it is always a shame when somebody's venture fails and people are out of work, that is just the way things sometimes work out in the normal course of events: People get new jobs, maybe the owners try again later with more success. What makes this closing a bit different is that as I understand it, the city used tax dollars to build North Main Plaza and tax dollars to recruit and subsidize tenants. There's certainly nothing wrong with a business taking the best deal it can find, but perhaps those tax dollars could have been better spent than in offering it.

(Hat tip to commenter Jimmy)

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:

I mentioned in my closing for New York Butcher Shoppe & Grille that my visit to take those pictures was only my second to Lake Carolina.

My first vist was actually some years earlier, probably in 2008, when I read a review for a new pizzeria. I suspect it was in the Free Times, but could have been in The State's "Weekend" section. At any rate, it was an excellent review, and I resolved to check it out though I had no idea in the world where Lake Carolina Way was.

My difficulty was somewhat compounded by trying to make the visit well after dark, but I finally found my way in. I have to admit that given the trouble I had getting there, I was seriously underwhelmed by the actual pizza experience. I forget exactly what put me off, but I *think* it was one of those places where they didn't have anything smaller than a 14" pie, and I ended up having to order a calzone, which was mediocre. At any rate, though the details are a bit fuzzy now, I was never tempted to go back, and the place had a very brief run, opening in 2008 and apparently closing in 2009.

For some reason I did not think to get a good picture of the new tenant without obstructing trees, but it is currently Tasty China.

I confess I had not known about Happy Frog Gelato Cafe until commenter Eddie mentioned that it had closed. I'm guessing that that probably happened at the end of May, but the place has already been comprehensively stripped. In fact, I couldn't make out which unit in the strip mall had been Happy Frog without walking from one end to the other and looking at the interior setups. In the event it turned out to be the leftmost unit on the main row of storefronts.

The walk was rather instructive as it appears that most of the units in this strip have never been occupied by anything, and are awaiting interior finishing touches specific to whoever finally moves in. Given that the Food Lion anchoring the development has been open since 2008, this seems a bit disappointing (though the Food Lion itself is very nice and seems busy).

(Hat tip to commenter Eddie)

Zeus Pizza was the follow-on operation to Tony's Pizza in Parkland Plaza, using in fact a good bit of the same signage and interior setup.

As you can see from these pictures, the restaurant was a long narrow space. I think it might have benefited from more window tables, but the one time I ate there, I found it pleasant enough. As I recall, I had the stuffed shells with garlic bread, and it was perfectly fine. At that time, the restaurant had a cloth sign for "Zeus" hung over the "Tony's" lettering, as you can see in commenter Andrew's photos at the Tony's link above. I presume that if they had made it over the initial hump, they would have eventually gotten permanent letters over the marquee.

I'm not exactly sure when they closed -- The April issue of Skirt magazine is still in the inside rack, but that may be bi-monthly. I'm going to say it was probably at the end of May giving them about an 8 or 9 month run.

(Hat tip to commenter badger)

UPDATE 1 August 2012: Zeus is open again. See the comments for details, but here is the website.

UPDATE 4 October 2012: As mentioned in the comments, Zeus is unfortunately closed again:

UPDATE 8 October 2014 -- Monterrey will be moving here from across Knox Abbott when their current building (bought by USC) is torn down: