Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I was at East Forest Plaza this evening, and noticed a construction bin in front of Eastern Buffet. Looking online, it appears to have been closed since sometime around February. Apparently there is something happening to the property, at the least all the benches have been pulled out, but to what end is not yet apparent.

I was not aware of Jin Jin tucked away here in the struggling Capitol Square shopping center, but they apparently closed on 2 December according to their facebook. As far as I can tell, this closure brings an end to any activity at the plaza. Since their note mentions that their lease was ending, I can't help but wonder if the owners have been getting everybody out in advance of redeveloping the property which abuts an up-and-coming area (with the only negative being the chicken plant when the wind is wrong..). Given that even the plaza's roadside marquee sign has been let to go to pot, I suspect something like that is happening.

The other thing about the property which strikes me, aside from it being all vacant, is the number of payphones, mostly not vandalized (though not currently connected) along the walkway. I mean, I suppose '3' is not a high number historically, but it's the most I've seen in years.

Here is the strip's real-estate brochure, which mentions none of this, but does show a number of former tenants, and the roadside sign.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

UPDATE 18 December 2023 -- Here is the plaza sign in happier times circa 2016:

The last Google review I can find for this place suggests it was closed "7 months ago" (honestly Google, how hard would it be to put a real date on each review?) which would put the closing around July of 2022.

Commenter Gypsie suggests that something is going on there now, and I did see a vehicle parked there, so perhaps something is forthcoming for this building.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

As mentioned by commenter James R, Chen's Chinese Restaurant in Lexington is now Friend's House Chinese & Seafood.

Here is a State story on the new place that deploys the word plethora.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Happy China Buffet was in the Westland Square storefront which used to house Gooney Birds. Last year they moved into the new building built on the old Quincy's lot a few blocks down Sunset towards Lexington.

According to this ColaDaily article, they originally planned to keep the same name, but in the event, they reopened as Blossom Buffet (you can see that the phone numbers are the same).

Here is the new building:

In the meantime, an Olde Country Buffet is to open in the old location:

Ten Ten was in Magnolia Pointe down from the old Piggly Wiggly. The first marquee sign I have for them says Chinese Restaurant, but a later one (and Google) says Ten Ten Oriental Restaurant and some sources say Vietnamese Restaurant, so perhaps there was a change of focus or ownership at some time in the last few years. At any rate, they are now closed and we will have to see what becomes of this storefront.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

I noticed ths closed Chinese buffet in Batesburg-Leesville when I was driving through on US-1 recently. I can't quite place the fast food chain for which the building was originally built, but it looks to have been there a good while. The google reviews suggest this place struggled for a while before closing somewhere around late June 2020.

I don't know much about this place, and the pictures were all kind of against the sun and not so great, but Top China Buffet at the top of Saint Andrews Road is closed.

As near as I can tell from the google reviews, this happened sometime in the August 2020 timeframe, so past the start of the pandemic, though that certainly cannot have helped things, especially with a buffet.

As I took these pictures, there were indications that some sort of upfit was ongoing, but I didn't see any indication of what it is to be.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Bill)

UPDATE 28 February 2022 -- Now Truth:

There seems to be some self-caused confusion about the name of this place, as the outside sign brands it Best China Buffet while the inside one goes with Super China Buffet. The last Yelp review is from late 2018, so I'm going to guess they closed in 2019. To be honest, the reviews suggest it was probably inevitable. There seems to be one food operation still in the Dutch Square food court, but it's a far cry from the days of Annabelle's, Morrison's, Chick-Fil-A and Cromers (not to mention lunch counters in Woolworths and Eckerds).

There was a question on Have Your Say recently as to whether the Chinese buffet in Crossroads Commons (down from the former Bi-Lo) was still open or not.

It's not. As far as I can tell from Yelp, it closed in early 2020. I'm guessing that COVID-19 played a role, but the reviews had been trending downwards for a while.

I don't seem to have a picture of it, but there is one here as part of the LoopNet listing.