Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Columbia's only TGI Fridays closed back in 2013, with the building to bite the dust sometime this year probably, but the Grand Strand continued to have several locations.

I ate at this one back in January of 2024, and it was fine: A decent burger & fries an hour after most other places were closed. I did notice that it wasn't actually open as late as I expected from a Fridays, and that the customers were pretty sparse, but in general it seemed in good order, and I was surprised to see the signage down on my last visit.

This continues the trend of Inlet Square losing national chain restaurants, some thing that has included Hooters, Applebee's & J. Peters & Spinnaker's. In the case of all of those except the last, local operations have moved in after the chains shut, so we will have to see what happens here. I do know that some sort of redevelopment for Inlet Square is supposedly in the cards (of course that has been the case before with nothing materializing..)

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This was the Fatz location in Camden. As of 10 September 2023, there is still muzak playing on the patio (as was the case for the Florence location. This building is on a nice parcel very convenient to I-20, so I suspect something will move in before long.

Here's another former Fatz, this one on US-501 in Conway on the main drag towards the beach.

Google reviews suggest this was re-purposed as an Asian buffet sometime around 2019.

The Florence Fatz Cafe still has a billboard on I-95, and the music in the foyer is still playing, but like all the rest, this location is now history.

Apparently the Southern 500 had just been run, and I had a heck of a time getting out of here and back onto I-95!

I don't suppose this is a big surprise: We have all noticed Fatz closing locations without adding any new ones, but still I was expecting it to take longer.

The news came last week that the whole chain has shut down, with some reports of bankruptcy filings, though no actual links to such.

This store in Lexington was the last Midlands location, and I had never eaten there, but I would drive by from time to time, and observe that it seemed to be doing a reasonable business. In fact, as I was taking these shots, several cars wandered in, looking for a meal.

It's a good sized building, and there are already an Asian buffet and a San Jose in the general area, so we'll have to see what happens next here.

Here are stories on the chain closing shop in The Index Journal, The State & The Greenville Sun.

(Hat tip to commenter Alan)

I used to go to O'Charley's in Augusta every now and then when I worked over there, and it was fine, although the only item I can recall in particular was a signature fresh made salsa with chips which they eventually took off the menu. When I came back to Columbia, I went to the location on Two Notch a few times, but never got in the habit of going there. That's probably because I usually got a burger when I went, and there are lots of burger places.

This one on Sunset, to which I have never been, is currently undergoing major repairs and/or renovations. Hopefully they will be back soon.

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

UPDATE 4 October 2023 -- As mentioned in the comments, even though they made a start of repairs here, it never went anywhere, and the place is now permanently closed:

I have also taken the "Temporary" notation out of the post title.

I did a closing for the Dutch Square Ruby Tuesday back in May. At that time I took pictures of this one, on a Columbiana Mall outparcel, as well. Since, unlike the other, there wasn't any clarity that this one was permanantly closed, I held off doing a post.

I drove back by today however, and nothing has changed. The "temporarily closed" sign is still up, but at this point I suspect that is no longer accurate. At the least, it's worth a mention and if they re-open later great! In the meantime, chalk up another one for for COVID-19.

UPDATE 7 June 2021 -- Razed:

See here for the story.

I think the my problem with O'Charley's is that I have never been quite sure what it is. I mean, it's not a fine restaurant, it's not an Italian, Mexican, seafood or hamburger restaurant; it's not homecooking or a diner -- there's a lot of things it isn't but no hook to hang its hat on. In that way, it is rather like Ruby Tuesday (hmm, even the lyric is appropriate..).

That said, I did used to go to O'Charley's from time to time when I was working in Augusta. There was (perhaps still is) one just off the Bobby Jones Expressway in what is Augusta's "Harbison" area. They had a chips & salsa appetizer with in-store-made salsa that was quite good, and the burgers were decent. When this store opened at Columbia Mall and I was in town for the weekend, my sister, father and I would eat Sunday lunch there from time to time. After the store moved to Sparkleberry, I only stopped by once, and found that the chips & salsa appetizer was off the menu, and furthermore, they were out of burgers -- I left without eating anything, and didn't go back.

According to The State the chain closed this store because it was underperforming, and near the end of its lease. If the concept couldn't perform here, or or in Harbison, it's hard to think where it could, although so far the Lexington store is still with us.

The first picture was taken several years ago. I was admiring the way the sign looked at night and stopped to take some pictures, but in the event they didn't turn out well because the lighting made the sign over-exposed and the rest under-exposed, and I didn't want to set up a tripod and try for bracketed exposures for HDR as I would be a highly visible person doing something very questionable looking on a busy road. The rest of the pictures were taken after the closing, although I will need to go back eventually and get out of the car for some closer looks.

(Hat tip to commenter JB)

UPDATE 27 March 2017 -- A few more and closer:

UPDATE 8 October 2019 -- Now a Chipolte & Tropical Smoothie Cafe:

UPDATE 19 August 2022: Add map icon and upate tags.

As I've said here before, we used to eat at Shoney's all the time when I was growing up, and when they were still affiliated with the Big Boy brand. The Hot Fudge Cake was always a special treat, and there were free comic books for us kids. The chain lost its way sometime in the 80s, dropping Big Boy and trying to branch out into areas they knew nothing about, like running motels..

The Columbia stores gradually started closing, with Beltline, Charleston Highway, Forest Drive and Two Notch all gone by the time I moved back to town.

This location, across from the old Kmart has seemingly been in trouble for years, as they stopped serving dinner and were open only for breakfast and lunch. As the marquee farewell message mentions, the two stores left are the Garners Ferry and Airport Boulevard locations. I haven't been in the Airport store for 20 years or so, but I've been to the Garners Ferry location several times recently, and find it rather neutral -- neither particularly good nor particularly bad. As commenter Andrew has posted, the chain has now hired a turnaround CEO to try and get the brand back on track. I wish them well, and suggest trying to make up with Bob..

UPDATE 18 September 2013 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, this place is leased, and is to become a Cook Out>

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 19 April 2016 -- As mentioned by commenter Andrew, here is the excavator on the Shoney's lot:

UPDATE 10 May 2016: Some pix of the cleared lot(s) through traffic:

UPDATE 17 May 2016 -- A couple more pix of the vacant lot, though still not very good ones:

UPDATE 28 June 2016 -- Construction on the Cookout continues:

UPDATE 10 July 2016 -- Siding up now..

UPDATE 10 September 2020: Update tags, add map icon.