Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I was driving by this weekend, and noticed that the S-Mart convenience store & gas station on the Southwest corner of Blossom & Huger was closed. I didn't notice until I was sitting at the light, so I didn't have a chance to park and look around, but from the pile of dirt and scuff marks, it looks like they have already taken out the tanks.

Normally I would expect something to go into this high-traffic spot quickly, but I proved to be wrong about the catty-cornered lot with the former Columbia Antique Mall / Chic Antique & Co., which closed in 2016. That struck me as a prime site, but now six years later, the space is still vacant.

UPDATE 27 March 2025 -- The new building is well on its way up:

Anyone know what's going on on South Main Street, between the State House & Blossom Street?

I recall that a while ago there was a study saying that it was too easy to drive and park on this stretch of road and there was a plan to fix that. Are they implementing that, or is this something else entirely?

This suite in The Addesso has held a number restaurants, not all of which I have tracked, but the most recent was Bruno’s Taqueria. According to their Facebook they closed at 5pm on Christmas Eve of 2021.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any convenient parking, so all I have are these long shots. We'll have to see what happens here next.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

I did not know Hummus Mediterranean Bistro existed until commenter Sidney mentioned that it was gone.

About all I know is that it was the follow-on operation in this spot to Uncle Maddio's Pizza and was run by the Al Amir folks. (Who rpeviously had a restaurant just up the street in University Corner at 629 Main Street.

This place got pretty good reviews, the last of which seem to be around March of 2019, so that's what I'm using for a closing date.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

As The Daily Gamecock reports, Yoghut at the corner of Main & Blossom streets is now The Corner Blend with a new menu, including Acai Bowls (something I had never heard of) and Bubble Tea. The place remains under the same management, but the new name reflects the broader focus.

UPDATE 28 June 2019 -- Forgot to put some pictures with the Yoghut branding up. Here they are:

20!20 Vision has moved to 1600 St Julian Place, leaving this Blossom Street building in Five Points vacant. This building has always had a slightly odd look to me, and the LoopNet listing says that's because it was "the first bank in 5 Points". Not sure what the bank affiliation was, but that does explain the boarded up spot that was a teller window I guess (though Blossom would have had to have been less wide then).

Uncle Maddio's was the follow-on in this location for Jasmine Deli & Cafe and opened sometime in 2013. I never ate there, and had not realized until looking at this post that in fact Uncle Maddio's is a chain of franchaises based in Atlanta, and is another fast casual pizza concept like Persona, Blaze, and Firenza.

Looking at the company web site, it appears this was the only South Carolina location, and the next closest is in Charlotte.

I never went to this place often, but at one time it was on my regular rounds, and I probably stopped by two or three times a year. I realized though when commenter Justin mentioned the place was closing that it had probably been twenty years since my last visit.

In the event, I found it pretty much as I remembered it. The place is divided into two buildings, the one on the north side of the property has an "ice house" look, while the one on the south side may have been a small warehouse. Each building is divided into individually curated stalls, thus the fairly common "antique mall" format. I hadn't recalled a stall with what looked to be pretty much every issue of Playboy ever published, but there was one, as well as a 40's era Rockola jukebox I would dearly love to have had I the space and the cash, along with several old kitchen ranges about which I could say the same.

Walking through, I was also given a few instances to reflect on how much life, or at least my life, has changed. At one time, I would probably have examined every 33 & 45 in the stacks, and probably would have found some to take home. Now: a) Who has the time? & b) What would I do with them? I do have a turntable, but realistically it's easier to find the song online and pay $0.99 for it rather than spend 20 minutes futzing with the turntable and CD recorder. The same largely goes for old books.

I didn't see any notice posted to the effect of "We lost our lease", or "We're retiring" to explain the upcoming closure, but I would guess that this lot, which for years was out of the way, and down-at-the-heels, is now a pretty valuable property with the recent opening of apartments in the Palmetto Compress Warehouse and the Carolina Collegiate FCU location.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

UPDATE 6 April 2017 -- As reported in the comments, this place has been razed. At the time of these pictures, it was the South building only. They are reportedly both gone now:

8 September 2013:

15 June 2014:

This place, by Yoghut in the Adesso building at the corner of Main & Blossom Streets was apparently a sister operation to Peppers House Of Pizza on Garners Ferry, and continued on several months after that one closed. If it were going to close, I guess the timing is not surprising. This building is right across from USC, and I imagine that anytime school is out is hard on the restaurants in this whole little strip (especially given the problematic parking for non-locals).

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

UPDATE 28 June 2019: Add map icon.