Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Footaction was on the lower level of Columbia Mall at the foot of the winding staircase, underneath the old Lowery Organs location, across from the former Radio Shack and adjacent to the former JC Penny.

According to their door sign, Footaction had initially closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, but rolled that into a permanent closure at some point, and they have already stripped the store. As reported by commenter Rashaad, the other Footlocker brands have also left the mall, and will probably feature here in due course.

As an aside, social distancing is not an issue at Columbia Mall:

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)

Commenter Lone Wolf notes this Free Times story on the closing of State Street upstairs loft location of The Cigar Box, which sounds like it was a bar as well as a cigar lounge. They had only moved to this location last September, and as you would expect COVID-19 was a factor.

Commenter Heath noted their move last year, and this Free Times story about it, but I never got around to doing a closing on the stores on Main & Rosewood. I do have some pictures of the wooden fox mural from the Rosewood store that hopefully I will get up sometime.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)

After the Dutch Square Theatre closed and the building was razed, Ruby Tuesday built a new store on this site, and ran it until last month. Ruby Tuesday has been having problems and closing locations in recent years in part because the restaurant has no strong identity. You go to Ruby Tuesday for what, exactly? For me it's the salad bar, but if that's not your thing, then its hard to say why you would -- Which is not to say there's anything wrong with the food.

Anyway, this store probably would have held on for a while, perhaps indefinitely, but with the temporary closure for COVID-19 and no money coming in, I guess the balance just tipped the wrong way.

(Hat tip to commenter Homer, et al)

Sabor Latin Steet Grill was the follow-on operation to breakfast & lunch spot Le Peep which closed in April of 2019. Sabor opened in July of 2019, as reported in ColaDaily, giving it a run of something less than a year.

Although the pictured Family Box seems to hew towards standard Mexican items, my understanding is that Sabor had a fuller menu with items from other Southern countries, and I had it on my mental list to eventually visit. Unfortunately, the restaurant was caught up in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and was not able to last from its 21 March 2020 temporary closing into the coming (hopefully!) full reopening period. The Free Times has that story:

The Vista location of Sabor Latin Street Grill, a fast-casual restaurant chain out of Charlotte, closed late last month amid the coronavirus’ impact on area restaurants.

Mark Gardner, former general manager with the restaurant, confirmed to Free Times that the restaurant closed on March 21, and that the closure is now permanent. The restaurant had employed 22 workers.

“COVID-19 … just hurt sales too much,” Gardner explains.

Numerous restaurants throughout the area have grappled with takeout-only offerings since Gov. Henry McMaster closed South Carolina restaurant dining rooms on March 17 in an effort to enforce social distancing. Gardner says the Columbia Sabor gave takeout a shot, but it wasn’t successful enough to justify continuing.

“We tried that the first week, but the sales just weren’t there,” he says.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

Uncle Louie's in The Vista has closed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. They have been closed on a temporary basis since 17 March, but today made it permanent. Commenter Lone Wolf provides the news, and this Coladaily link:

Representatives from Uncle Louie's, a popular bar in Columbia's Vista, announced Wednesday that the business will be closing permanently, effective immediately. The bar had already closed March 17, at the time as a temporary closure, due to COVID-19.

Management posted on the business Facebook page:

"We are sad to say that March 17th was our LAST last call. When we opened 20 yrs ago we never imagined the time we would have. Without a great staff and the best regulars in town it never would have been possible. Thanks for letting us serve you and for the friendships we made along the way. Please continue to eat and drink local, tip your bartenders, and be good to each other. Cheers!"

I took these pictures some years ago when I got an incorrect report that the place had closed at that time.

As a general note, I echo Lone Wolf's sentiments that something has got to give. Every death is tragic, but at some point the harm being done by destroying people's livelihoods just becomes too overwhelming for this to go on.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)

And so it begins..

When my parents were still living, we ate at Yesterday's fairly often. In recent years, I have only gone a few times, but never worried about it, as I figured it would always be there. Hopefully they will come back.

Read the rest of this entry »

As you have noticed, there have not been many posts in the past week or so.

While we are not under lock-down as a lot of other areas are, I have naturally been staying pretty close to home and not going out that much. I don't think this situation can last indefinitely, for one thing at some point the economy is destroyed and in some harsh calculus you have negated any good you might have done, but for the duration posts here will probably be pretty sparse.

I encourage everyone to continue commenting, either on this post, comment-appropriate posts or in Have Your Say, and to be careful and stay well.