Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

These (not particularly good -- I was on my way somewhere else) pictures are from 20 May 2023, the grand opening of The Dales Biergarten and Bottle Shoppe, which will be closing on 17 October with a bit over two years under its belt. Taking over from wedding venue The Springdale House & Gardens, The Dales aimed to be

a family friendly Biergarten and retail shop.

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The closing sites staffing issues, and the usual recent liability concerns.

You can read the venue's announcement here and stories from The State & Post & Courier here & here.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

Actually I had just noticed this place several weeks ago, and thought to myself that sitting outside on the patio would be nice on a sunny fall afternoon, but like all too many places, I waited too long.

Iron Hill Brewery was a 29 year old company according to USA Today, with 19 locations along the east coast. There were signs of trouble recently as the company closed its original store, and two others. The trouble came home on 25 September when they closed the remaining 16 stores, and filed for bankruptcy. The USA Today story does not specify what chapter was filed, but the company's closing note made hopeful noises about a return someday.

Interestingly, I see from the closing list that they had opened a location in Geenville at 741 Haywood Road, the site of a former favorite place of mine, Don Pablo's, although I don't believe I ever did a closing on it.

You can check WIS, WLTX, or The State for (some) details on the local closure, which is a bit of a blow for The Bull Street District.

When I went by on Sunday, there were definitely people inside the place, I don't know if they were packing up, or evaluating the building, but it seems like a pretty nice one, so hopefully something new will come in before too long.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

Discount Beer & Tobacco in the Luce strip mall on US-1 in Lexington is moving 1o 1600 West Main Street. This is several blocks East of the current location, and looks like it would be replacing perhaps Boost Mobile or Eagle Express at the corner of West Main (US-1) and Westside Drive.

I never made it to this building in any of its other incarnations besides Swensen's, but I did make it to Hunter Gatherer a few times. As I recall, I had pizza and some sort of porter or stout, both of which were pretty good, but not enough so to become a regular and deal with driving down there and parking.

I have been pretty skeptical about the ongoing work on South Main which sounded to me like it was designed to make the street even less convenient to drive and park on, and the news that Hunter Gatherer lost their lease, presumably due to plans for the area does not make me any less so. (And also makes me worry a bit about Cool Beans which is in a similar situation).

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO)

As I go to add this to the Alphabetical Closings, I notice I did a post on HG before, when it shut down for the Pandemic. I think this final closing is newsworthy enough that I'm not going to merge it into that earlier post.

UPDATE 22 January 2025:

I believe that of the local brewpubs, I've only hit Hunter Gatherer and the Old Mill in Lexington (if you don't count Aiken as local), but I would notice the River Rat from time to time driving by and think it might be somewhere to go on a nice evening. As usual, I waited too long.

It appears that market saturation & changes in local laws hastened the closure. As the owner told The Free Times:

You'd think that would've equated to more business at places like River Rat and, in some ways, it did. What started as a production brewery became a brewpub, offering things like trivia and Sunday brunch. But it meant that businesses like Tourville's and ones like Swamp Cabbage, which had built their facilities in less-busy areas were fighting an uphill battle to get customers to their side of town. The idea had been that they'd focus more on production and distribution and less on outfitted taprooms and food offerings.

"The Stone Bill changed everything because it just meant everyone wanted to get into the business, everyone wanted to open up a brewery. Everybody saw it as a cash cow," Tourville said. "You just don't have that revenue stream without being a restaurant and getting people in your door... it's just not a sustainable business plan to be a production brewery and a brewpub."

There have been a lot of changes on Shop Road lately -- we'll have to see what happens to this location next.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

I never made it to Swamp Cabbage Brewery while it was open. I like a beer every now and again, but generally as dessert for a sit-down meal, so I usually stick to brewpubs. In point of fact it was actually hard to to locate this place, and I had to make two trips. It turns out that street numbers on Brookwood Drive are really odd, but after going home and consulting google maps, I finally got there, and found the setup still pretty much intact.

The Free Times had two stories about the closing, here and here.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

Rick's was a fishing and ABC store right across Bluff Road from the Columbia Industrial Park. I never went in, but I would see it often driving to and from work a few years ago. This is right next door to the old Cricket Club/Diamonds and the old Grasshopper Club/Vet's Hall. I'm not sure when they closed, but it's been long enough to board the place up and take down the road sign, so I'm going to guess 2020.

I was unfamiliar with this micro-brewery off of North Main until commenter Alan noted its (apparent) passing.

According to The State:

The owner of Cottontown Brew Lab announced in April on Facebook that the neighborhood microbrewery would be closing temporarily for renovations.

In his post, owner Zack Jones said, “the operational costs of trying to build a regionally distributed brewery without the financial support of a proper tap room have meant that we rarely met operating costs.”

I'm not entirely sure of the context there but I think it means that their indoor operation was closed during the pandemic. The same article mentions that they hope to re-open as "a higher quality, indoor dining experience", but I did not notice any signs of construction as I drove past.

(Hat tip to commenter Alan)

I was not really aware of The Casual Pint, off of 378 in Lexington, behind The Mellow Mushroom, but commenter Andy reports it was a "fun spot", with "excellent beer selection".

They made it through the pandemic, but as far as I can tell from the google reviews, closed in early May of 2021.

(Hat tip to commenter Andy)

Another casualty of Covid-19, World of Beer closed their Vista location on 16 November according to The Free Times. Hopefully there is some light on the horizon, as this can't go on much longer.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf & then commenter Dustin)

UPDATE 8 December 2020: Add missed hat tip to Lone Wolf