Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Put this one down to the changing craft beer landscape and South Carolina's new bar regulations. As I understand it, the saturation of the craft niche made operating a retail outlet iffy in the first place, while the difficulty of putting a kitchen in this building made transforming into a full restaurant problematic as well. Of at least that's my takeaway from the numerous articles about the closing.

I was not really aware of this place, despite it having been open for eight years, and admit I probably would not have visited knowing it was not a full restaurant.

Columbia Craft Brewing continues to operate as a brewery, and we will have to see what's next for this space.

You can read about in in The Post & Courier here & here, in The State, or on WIS or WLTX.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

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 have probably been to this location more often as Swensen's than Hunter-Gatherer, but every time I did go there it was fine.

This space is yet another COVID-19 casualty, with the owners shutting down temporarily to focus on their Rosewood location (of which, frankly, I was unaware).

Here is the story from the Free Times.

(Hat tip to commenter JohnR)

UPDATE 15 November 2021 -- As mentioned in the comments this place is again open: