Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

When I mentioned that Old Chicago in this plaza had closed, I neglected to say that the across-the-parking-lot neighbor, Flapjacks Pancake Cabin had also closed. You will remember that this location was a former Western Steer which then became a strip-club. At the time there was speculation that the (then) new Wal-Mart was pressuring the city to de-zone the club to make the area a bit more family friendly, and it appears that Flapjacks didn't exactly leave under their own steam either. This Facebook is all rumors, but it appears that the plaza owners have non-restaurant plans for that wing of the property.

In the event, Flapjacks was there for about ten years. Here is the Sun News on the place moving in. (Notice that the original plan for the Old Chicago spot was a Quaker Steak & Lube, which never happened).

The chain still exists, and now appears to be restricted to Tennesse. For now, you can still see their Garden City page here.

That does beg the question on the location. Google & the street address say this is Murrells Inlet, but to me it is pretty clearly Garden City.

UPDATE 7 October 2025: Found a picture of the lighted sign and added it up top.

For such a small store, this place has been going of of business a surprising amount of time. I believe I noticed the first signs up back in December, and as of the start of June, they were still open. Low Country has been a stalwart in this this little lagoon-centered strip which underwent a major renovation/reconfiguration ten or so years ago. Some longtime shops like The Island Cafe & Deli, The Mole Hole & Spa Sera closed or moved, but Low Country stayed on.

I have gotten a number of new watch batteries installed there, but now I guess I will need to find another place in the area.

Back in 2012, I did the Zip The Canyons zipline in Ocala Florida, and really had a good time, so when Radical Ropes opened, I thought I eventually might give it a try. Well, setting aside that doing something in your early 50s is a bit less daunting than your early 60s for sure, it turns out Radical Ropes was apparently mostly, or substantially, other non-zipline canopy activities, and looking up at some of these courses makes me go not just 'no', but 'he..ck no'.

The park apparently opened in July 2015. Interestingly, I cannot find any media stories on the closing, but judging from Google reviews, it did not open again after the 2023 season, probably closing some time after Labor Day. As far as I can tell, the place is not for sale, and Google claims it is "temporarily closed", but while it is still generally in reasonable shape, there has obviously been no maintenance going on.

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Well, I am happy to report that the best sandwiches on the Strand are available again. After a fire closed Dagwood's in Surfside back in January, the place underwent a several month rehabilitation, opening again last week as reported on their Facebook.

Here is a WMBF story on the fire. According to the chain's site, this building has been a Dagwood's since 2006. I am pretty sure I recall it being a Shoney's before that, and where we ate Thanksgiving dinner one odd-off year when all our relatives were away.

I look forward to a BLT+ the next time I am on the Strand!

I think Old Chicago has a decent pizza, and here in Columbia it has the advantage of being a decent place regularly open late. About the only negative thing I have to say is that they can't settle on a garlic bread appetizer. They have gone through three or four iterations in the last several years. Anyway, this Murrells Inlet location was not open late as consistently as the Vista one, as is typical for Grand Strand restaurants in the off seaosns, but nonetheless I ate there a good number of times over the last several years.

It was a new store, replacing another bar whose name escapes me, and which was completely razed to put up this building, but in the end it didn't last that long. I noticed in December driving by that it did not appear to be open when I would expect it to be, and finally a stop verified that it was gone.

The Sun News had the story here, saying that 30 November was the last night.

The follow-on is now open -- Bohemian Bull Tavern and Beer Garden:

I remember this Krispy Kreme going back to high school days in the late 1970s. Lately it has seemed not to be open as late as the one near the former Myrtle Square Mall or the one in North Myrtle Beach, and I hadn't been in for a while. It was still a bit of a disappointment to see it closed and all papered over last December.

The Sun News says it actually closed in October. The company didn't provide them a reason, but it's not too far from other location I mentioned, so I suspect given traffic and staffing, it probably was just not worth it to them to keep it open.

This building was built as a smallish KFC. After that closed in 2015, Jimmyz Hibachi moved in, closing in 2022. Jerimiah's opened, I believe in the spring of 2024 and did not quite last out the year. I did not get around to trying it, but while I was taking these pictures somebody pulled into the (just) closed drive-through and expressed disappointment as in their opinion, it was quite good.

BTW, Three Dog Night are coming to the Township in April.

This Dairy Queen replaced the old Hardee's and opened during the Pandemic of 2020 when people were desperate to get out of the house somehow, whether they could go inside and eat or not: During the opening weeks, the line of cars would be backed up on US-17 for half a block.

After that, things settled down, but from my observation the place seemed to do a decent business, making me think the closing may have more to do with the chain's ongoing issues than anything with this particular store.

I was a little bemused during my walk-around to see Dennis The Menace surfing on a mural. Dennis was the chain's spokeskid during the 70s, and one radio commercial of Dennis and his pal Joey talking gave me a (probably annoying) catch-phrase to throw into conversations: Yeah, Joey: Like a super-brazier chilli-dog! I had thought Dennis & Dairy Queen had parted ways years ago, but I guess not.

Here is a very brief news note on the closing. As of early 2025 there is no activity with the building.

My trip to this year's Nights Of A Thousand Candles was one of the coldest in quite a while. Last year the Smores setup seemed like one of those things you do at the Fourth of July because the kids like it, but the chocolate is melting everywhere -- this year that was not a problem, and the heat from the firepits was very welcome! In fact, my fingers were going numb on the camera controls, something which hasn't happened for a good few years now.

I wasn't expecting the traffic to be particularly bad for a Sunday show, but in the event it took an hour to make my way from the start of the lineup on US-17 to the parking lot. There were a few visible changes this year: The Garden Of The Muses is under construction, so there were no lights at a spot which has has some quirky setups over the years, the indoor model train setups have added a Hooterville layout, and the main Christmas tree is lighted again after giving it a few years off to recover.

The event runs weekends through New Years, so if you happen to be in the area, but sure to check it out!

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I've always enjoyed the Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville, but for one reason or another I have not been able to get there since 2016, so when I saw that there was a charity Ren Faire in Socastee, I thought I would check it out.

It was a nice sunny day, and the place was drawing a decent size crowd. They have a good number of craft booths, concessions and the usual Ren Faire players including kind-friendly fairies, bawdy ballad vocal groups, fire eaters & jugglers. It is nowhere near the size of the NC encampment, so you only need an hour or two to take it in, but it was a fun way to spend a Fall afternoon, and if you will be in the area next weekend, I suggest you check it out.