Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Friends House (no apostrophe apparently) was the follow-on in this Publix plaza suite to Chen's.

Commenter James R notes that the rent on this place went up and the owners opted not to renew. Currently the storefront is empty.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

This former Dairy Queen had been the Eggroll Station for 35 years before it closed in December due to the this, the adjacent Capitol Square shopping center, and the old Al's Upstairs location being bought for redevelopment.

I never ate at this place, which is connected to Eggroll Station / Eggroll Chen on Crowson, but my sister reported it as very good.

You can read about the closure and redevelopment in The State, The Post & Courier or Westmetro News.

As for the redevlopment, it sounds very ambitious, but one property I conspicuously did not see mentioned was House Of Raeford, which, if the breeze is right, can put quite a kibosh on activities in the area.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

I first knew this place as Frank-N-Stein, a monster-themed casual restaurant. That was followed by The Stadium Steak House and the first Columbia establishment to bear the name Twin Peaks, though the view was a bit more liberal there than at the current holder of the name.

I want to say Millennium came in sometime in the '80s -- at any rate they had been there quite a while.

Now the place, like seemingly every other address within miles, is to become student housing.

You can read about it in The State or The Post & Courier.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Bill)

UPDATE 22 January 2026: Actually the place had not been there as long as I thought. As several people point out in the comments, the Millennium name reflects the fact that the Buffet opened around that time.

Commenter Payne mentions that this restaurant in Mills Corner just to the left of the old Pig/IGA has closed.

Other commenters in Have Your Say mention that there are still a number of Chen's restaurants in the area, though it is not clear if they are connected. For what it's worth, I believe the Egg Roll Station on Crowson is officially a Chen's.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

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)

UPDATE 29 October: Update tags.

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)