Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Commenter Larry points out that this vet's office across from the old Richland Mall will be closing soon. He also notes that a Guthries Chicken Tender restaurant may be building on the site. If so, that's more information than the practice has given out, or that the Post & Courier has come across.

The hospital has made plans to move records, but recommends that if your pet is a patient to schedule any shots etc now to get everything shipshape for the transfer.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

This Lizard's Thicket, in a former Shoney's building on Forest Drive is closed for renovations. The chain just redid one in Lexington as well, so perhaps they are looking to freshen up several sites. Of course, to my memory, the one on Beltline was updated and nonetheless closed.

I last at at this one on my niece's birthday last December, and it was fine: Your typical Lizard's experience. I don't recall noticing anything particularly wrong with the physical plant, but who knows what kind of issues there might be behind the counters.

Apparently SAS means San Antonio Shoemakers, and they are headquarted, logically, in San Antonio.

I was not really aware of their Forest Acres store until commenter Larry mentioned it, but it is in the little retail center abuting the former Richland Mall. I took these pictures in mid-December, so the logical time for the final closing would probably have been the end of the year, but I have not driven by again to see if in fact they are now closed.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

We've mentioned this closing several times in Have Your Say, but Blythewood based Chubby's Burgers has closd their Jackson Square location. This storefront is a mention on Good Luck With That, having hosted a number of different restaurants in the relatively short time the plaza has existed.

I always expected I would check out Chubby's sooner or later, but if it's a matter of driving out to Blythewood, that may not now happen.

The Free Times has the story.

Well. This was a long time coming, but pretty much inevitable. This Panera Bread location had been epically mismanaged for a number of years, as a glance at the Google reviews will show. I used to come here pretty frequently as it is fairly close to my house and they had a patio that was pleasant in temperate weather. However over the years things just got worse and worse with tables never being wiped down, the dish return stations going unbussed, the bathrooms unscrubbed and the counter almost completely unmanned. If you did manage to place an order, something inevitably would be wrong with it, and if you ordered coffee, the urn would invariably be cold. Add in being panhandled at first outside and later inside, and it was just not a good experience.

Apparently the space is being prepped for a Metro Diner, a chain with which I am unfamiliar, but which appears to be sort of a down-home breakfast & comfort food place.

In the meantime, I have found the Panera on Killian Road to be pretty well run, if harder to get to.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

I have never cared for Chipotle in general, and this one in particular as the few times I had eaten there I always had an issue: For instance the chips were stale the last time. My sister & nieces did enjoy it, but it was a running joke that they were always out of something basic like cheese with one fellow customer even going across to Publix to buy missing items.

The have moved a few blocks closer to I-77, into the new construction at the former site of San Jose, which gives them a drive-through. My understanding is that tonight they were out of guacamole.

If this Zesto weren't there for my entire life, it was pretty close. Richland Mall came, went, came and went again while Zesto chocolate dipped one soft-serve cone after another. In fact I have to admit that unless my folks got me something else when I was very young, those chocolate dip cones are all I had at Zesto, with the dark shell cracking over the creamy goodnes the first time you bit it and lasting down to the part where you ate the cone and got ice cream all over your fingers.

The owner is retiring after a good long run, and it's certainly well deserved. I can't really see the building being repurposed as there is not enough parking for a full sit-down restaurant, and not enough space for a drive through, but time will tell. In the meantime, there's those decades of sticky memories.

Here's ColaDaily on the closing, and here's WIS on the final day.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

UPDATE 22 January 2025:

UPDATE 16 April 2025 -- As mentioned in the comments, the sign for Mo's Dairy Bar is up:

Interestingly, I had discussed this place with my sister just a week or two ago. I was unsure what it was all about, and she said she had tried it once and didnt' like it at all, so it wasn't on my to-do list.

Apparently, Verde is a Charleston based salad chain, which still has a number of locations in Charleston area. The Trenholm Plaza location opened in May of 2020, replacing 32 Degrees Yogurt Bar, and lasted until mid-December of this year, making about a 4 and a half year run. For now the Facebook is still up, though it looks not to have been updated for three years.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Flour Power Cooking Studios is apparently a national chain, with their Columbia location being in the back building at Forest Village by the former Village Idiot.

Looking at their Google reviews, it appears their main business was kids' birthday parties, something that seems to have gone over well on the whole. Their Facebook closing message doesn't really give any reasons, but I wonder if the inflation in food prices over the past year or so made it a long reach for a lot of parents..

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

As discussed in Have Your Say Muv Fitness (technically Müv Fitness like a metal band) has apparently sold their Midlands operations (save for a West Columbia location) to Onelife Fitness. I don't see any media reports on this, but it seems to have happened several weeks ago.

This is the Forest Drive location, which started as Forest Drive Church. As you can see from these through-the-windshield shots, the new branding is already up.

(Hat tip to commenter Lone Wolf)