Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Chocolate Nirvana had the misfortune to choose the exact wrong time to move from their old Richland Street location to Fort Jackson Boulevard beside Gills Creek. In the event, they were devastated by the Great Flood Of 2015, and it now appears that they have given up on the building, which is currently for lease.

Their website leaves room to hope they may be back in another location, but I suspect the flood marks the end of this much repurposed building and would not be surprised to see it knocked down, though I'm not sure anything else could now be built on the lot.

UPDATE 18 March 2019 -- Not sure what is happening here, but some operation with a bull statue is setting up:

I think a chocolate Nirvana would definitely be my favorite kind, and Columbia's is moving from Richland Street near Bull to the much tenanted former Jesudi's location on Fort Jackson Boulevard, most recently home to Sammiches.

It hasn't been a hospitable spot for regular restaurants recently, perhaps a bakery concept will do better.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

(I see a lot of folks from Facebook stopping by this page today. If you like this kind of stuff, go to the Alphabetical Closings page for lots more defunct Columbiana -- Ted 28 Feb 2014)

24 December 2013:

15 January 2014:

27 February 2014:

Well, that didn't last too long, I'm afraid. Sammiches was the follow-on operation to The Diner in the old Jesudi's building across from the Kmart. They opened in January 2014 and closed after about a month.

I only stopped by once, and I'm afraid I wasn't too impressed. First, I was expecting.. sammiches, and there were actually very few on the menu (and not ones I would normally go for) and second, the place was freezing. I had my sweater and my windbreaker the one buttoned and the other fully zipped up and I was still cold. The menu was some stapled laser-printed sheets, and I was the only one in the building. I had the feeling at the time (early Feb) that the place was not long for the world.

After commenter CayceKid mentioned that the place seemed closed, I rode by this afternoon (27 Feb) and there was a U-Haul van in front and the place was obviously being stripped -- something a look inside later in the evening confirmed.

(Hat tip to commenter CayceKid)

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.

First of all, can someone give me a definitive name for the road that starts at Fort Jackson, goes under I-77, passes in front of K-Mart and ends where Devine Street meets Garners Ferry? I've called it "Jackson Boulevard" all my life, but the I-77 exit signs read "Fort Jackson Boulevard", and half of the street signs on the road itself have "Fort" and half don't. Likewise, when I googled the address of this storefront, I find both uses.

Anyway, I became aware of this building when I would drive down (Fort) Jackson Boulevard and cut through to Ruby Tuesday's. As far as I could tell, it was a mexican restaurant which seemed to have passed through a protracted coming soon stage directly to an out of business stage without ever actually opening. Google on the address gives an even more interesting story. Apparently at some point in the not too distant past, it was a Chinese place called Lulan Wang. I'm not surprised I don't remember that as I'm not overly fond of Chinese food so those places don't really attract my attention. On the Mexican front however, it was apparently two different places, and must have been both quite recently: El Korita and Los Portrillos, so I'm apparently conflating and re-arranging two coming-soon and out-of-business progressions in my mind.

I like that the main available sign leaves the palm tree -- that's nicer than just a blank white sign. Also, notice the plaintive writing on the fences to the side of the restaurant urging No Steal Plant. Is that a big problem in Columbia? The fact that they felt the need to write it argues it happened at least once..

UPDATE 28 Jan 09: Several people in the comments mention that the place was also (and first) Jesudi's, an Italian restaurant that was decorated as a cave inside and out. I had completely forgotten that! I knew I had eaten in a "cave" restaurant somewhere in Columbia growing up, but did not connect it with that building at all. I've updated the post title to add Jesudi's to the list of tenants.

UPDATE 31 March 2011 -- Added full street address to post title. Added 1973 Southern Bell ad for Capital Health Club an establishment with a rather different menu than the rest.

UPDATE 22 July 2011 -- The place is now being worked on as an "Upfit for proposed new restaurant":

UPDATE 25 October 2011 -- Well, it's to be The Diner:

UPDATE 15 January 2012 -- The Diner is open:

UPDATE 25 January 2012 -- Here's the mural on the side. Looks as though they are still working on it:

UPDATE 28 January 2012 -- Yep! Definitely still working on it:

UPDATE 28 October 2021 -- I have added the first picture, a shot of Jesudi's in full Italian Cave mode. Commenter Bill alerted to me of this shot at the Library of Congress of all places. The accompanying text says that it was taken by photographer John Margolies in 1988, and is part of his John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive collection, with no restrictions on use.

While I am here, I am also updating tags and adding the map icon.

Also note that several more businesses have come and gone in the building since I first made this post, and that the building was badly hit by the flood of 2015. You can click here for more details.