Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

When I finally got over to Forest Lake Park after commenter Sidney mentioned that the gym was being torn down, I found the whole place fenced off and closed. Presumably there is an upfit planned here, but oddly, I can find no mention of it on the Richland County Recreation Commission site. Elsewhere on the site there is a ten year plan for the system, but the only mention of the park there is that it is in "fair" condition and could be better. I don't see any news stories about it either.

I actually did not realize this was a park -- I thought it was all part of the adjacent elementary school. It looks to have been a pleasant enough place.

Also, for the record, I have used the term Forest Lake Park on this site before to talk about the park attached to the old Forest Lake Shopping Center, which is apparently technically incorrect.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)

I last wrote about this space in 2008, on the closing of The Happy Bookseller. Even before that venerable institution closed, the Happy Cafe had been inside functioning as a bookstore cafe. After that they went standalone, and have had a good long run.

Unusually in this snakebit year, they are not closing due to the pandemic, but to move on to new ventures, including selling the cafe's well known caramel cake online. This ColaDaily article has the story and says:

Hodges and Reynolds said they would love to see customers dine-in, order to go and stock up on favorites like the pulled chicken barbeque, casseroles, and Sue's famous caramel in the coming months. They said their plan is to close the cafe on a celebratory note.

That would come near the end of the year. I really should try to get over there and eat lunch before 3:00 for once.

I'm not sure how long, Yummy II has been here, but quite a while I while, I think. Initially I thought there was a real estate sign in the window, but in fact it is simply a placard for the construction company which is doing the asbestos removal and interior demolition.

Google has Yummy II marked as "termporarily closed" so I am going with that in the post title, but the absence of any "See you soon!" type of sign is not a good omen.

(If there is still a Yummy I, I don't know where it is.)

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

UPDATE 9 September 2020: I have taken the "Temporary?" notation off the post title as it appears from the comments while that was the hope for Yummy at the start of the crisis they are now gone and this is to become a Kudzu Bakery. I have been in the Litchfield & Georgetown locations of that chain a few times and recall both of those spaces as larger than this. Also commenter Thomas calls out the previous occupant in this storefront as Little Caesars, so I have added that to the post title.

Judging by reviews, this Fatz may have been closed on a temporary basis since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, but now they have made it permanent.

To the best of my memory, this location is the only Fatz at which I have eaten. It would have been while I was living out of town, in the late 1980s, or early 1990s I think, and I was not impressed. I remember distinctly thinking something like Secret Sauce?: Mayo!

Now, I may have come on the wrong night, or ordered the wrong thing, because the Yelp reviews of the three Fatz locations I have looked at (this one, the one on Broad River Road and the one in Conway) show plenty of people who used to love the chain. They also show a recent precipitous decline in perceived food quality, service levels and physical plant maintainence. I just guessing here, but there seems to be a viscious circle going on with declining income leading to a decline in the things that bring in income. (By the way, what's up with both Yelp and Google showing reviews in other than newest first order? The recent ones are kind of the most important!)

It will be interesting to see what happens to this location, because while it is at an Interstate exit, it really isn't that easy to get to.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

As noted by commenter Andrew and others, Stein Mart filed for Chapter 11 on 12 August 2020 and is expected to close most or all of its 281 stores across the country.

This story focuses on the Trenholm Plaza store, pictured above. A list of all of the announced store closings is here.

To the best of my recollection, I have never been inside this store, at least as Stein Mart. It is hard to say after so many years and upfits, but I believe this is the space once occupied by Tapp's Twig, a "smaller than a branch" storefront run by storied local department store Tapp's. If so, I would have been inside a number of times growing up.

Looking at the store closing list, I see the other local store is in Lexington, and I will try to get by before it is gone. In the meantime, the closing sale is already on, so we'll see if this location lasts into September.

(Hat tip to commenter Andew)

I was at Baskin Robbins the other day, and noticed that the adjacent Pizza Hut delivery/take-out storefront was empty. I'm not sure when they left, but I know for sure they were there this time last year.

I used to go to Pizza Hut all the time, but I don't think I've been in one during the last five years, and didn't even consider this place for takeout during the crisis. I'm not sure when exactly they fell off my list, but there are so many options now. (For instance, I did use Marco's up the block several times for delivery during the lockdown -- it's not bad).

This plaza used to be called Forest Park, but I'm not sure it still is. The roadside marquee used to have an "FP" logo, but lately it has been replaced by whatever grocery store is in the main slot at the time.

It seems to me this nice little building in the little group at the corner of Beltline & Trenholm has been a number of cleaners over the years. I have it in my mind it was an Arnold Palmer's once, and google says it was a Masters fairly recently as well.

I'm sure you've all seen the video of this sinkhole that errupted on Trenholm Road in front of Mays Park on 14 October. If you haven't the WLTX clip is embedded above.

The State says it was the result of a 16 inch water main breach. As of Sunday 27 October, when I took these pictures, the road was still closed, though work was obviously ongoing.

Read the rest of this entry »

This urgent care beside Richland Mall had been up for sale a number of months, but continued to operate while that was ongoing. At this point it has either sold, or they have given up. At any rate AFC is now closed, and the building is undergoing renovations. The permits are made out in the name of a medical company, Prisma, so it is not clear to me if this is a completely new business coming in, or if AFC is part of Prisma and will be back after the upfit.

UPDATE 22 January 2020 -- Well, the construction is done (apparently), the branding is down, and the real-estate sign is out. The interior still looks like a doctor's office though:

I was not familiar with this photo services business in the little strip beside Richland Mall, but apparently it closed sometime in August. There is already a new operation setting up: Bad Daddy's Burger Bar which appears to be an up-and-coming chain of, well, burger bars. They apparently have locations in Greenville and the Low Country, but this will be the first location in the Midlands. I have to say the space seems rather small for a restaurant, and there's not a lot of parking either.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. BO)