Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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:

To the best of my recollection, I had never been in Gaston before, so when commenter Jimmy mentioned that Just Dawgs on US-321 there had closed (he was not a fan), I decided I would go out sometime to take a look.

As it turns out, the place is about 9 miles past the new State Farmers Market on a four lane, divided, stretch of US-321 not too from from a Food Lion and a La Fogata. Gaston, the part of it I saw anyway, seems nice enough. Pretty rural, so you can probably still get a big lot, but with good roads back to I-77/I-26 (or not too bad cross country to US-176/I-26).

Anyway, Just Dawgs was in a little strip with a laundromat, and apparently, in fact, was not *just* dawgs -- it looks like ice cream was an important part of the mix as well.

(Hat tip to commenter Jimmy)

I don't know anything about Varns Drug Store other than it was listed in Walsh's Columbia South Carolina City Directory for 1907-08, had "E H Varn" listed as the proprietor and is not there now.

Thai On Gervais was obviously many iterations after Varns. I know they listed in the phonebook from (at least) February 2007 through February 2011, but not in Feburary 2012. Given that, and the current state of the space, I think they must have closed sometime in 2011.

Traffic was heavy enough that I could not step into Gervais Street to get a good frontal shot of this place, but you can see from the sidewalk and side views that it has sort of a "work is being done" look. I did not see any permits or indications as to what is next here however.

UPDATE 11 June 2012: Commenter Larry casts doubt on this actually being Thai On Gervais, at least within the time period suggested by the phonebook. I will try to check the city directories next time I am at the library, but for now I am leaving it. (Varn's I am more confident about).

UPDATE 20 June 2012: After consulting city directories at the RCPL, I can say that from (at least) 1960 through 1970, this space (actually 926-930) was Safran's Antique Galleries. After that, it was apparently vacant for a good while. In 1995, it was listed as Arcade Auction (Charlton Hall Overflow) and from 1995 to (at least) 2000, it was I. Pickney Simons Gallery. That seems to have been the last tenant. No city directory lists Thai On Gervais, but that is definitely in phonebooks..

Cerino's was one of those places that opened and closed while I was living out of town. It was also located in such an odd place (a historic house well away form any other restaurants or retail) that I would always forget about it. I remember that I would be in town for the weekend, be driving around, see the place and think Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that -- I'll have to try it some time, and then promptly forgot it again.

I'm not sure when the place closed, I know it's listed in the Feburary 1997 phonebook, but not in the February 2008 one. Currently the building is a law office.

(Hat tips to commenters Robert Sproul & badger)

This little space on Main across from the Capitol and next to WOLO has been a number of restaurants, for instance the Cat & Cleaver and The Capitol Cafe (not to be confused with the Capitol Restaurant) -- Then it was *almost* a Dunkin' Donuts.

After Dunkin' fell through, the place was vacant for a while then Fever started a (protracted) setup process, finally opened and rapidly went under.

I have to admit that though the place sounded to be something I might like, I purposely did not check it out as I strongly felt that the owner's role in the Taco Wars was unhelpful. Outcompeting someone -- fine. Trying to use City Hall to shut down a competitor -- not so much. I wonder if other people sharing that sentiment was an element in Fever's demise, or the fact that the last two restaurants there closed as well means that the location is just not that good.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne, and to tonkatoy for the "Taco Wars" link during the Have Your Say discussion)

Doza Rizen was at the corner of Sunset & 12th Street, and as I like baked goods and coffee, was one of those places I was always meaning to get to. In the event however, it's a good ways from my place and somehow I never managed make a visit. I had noticed that there were no cars there during a recent drive-by, but figured as the official van was still parked outside, the place was still open. A closer look at both convinced me otherwise.

According to the web site, there is still a Doza Rizen in Chapin on Virginia Street.