Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce... And everything else now too.

This Burger King is on 8th Street in Fernandina, which is the main road coming onto the island from the mainland. That makes it a high traffic location, and the store was in a decent area (there aren't any really bad spots on 8th), so I'm not sure what happened here.

Well, OK, apparently the place was just bad: The google reviews are sprinkled with one-star reports, including the classic

I recommend taco bell or starve.

and the Yelp reviews are worse. The question is how does that happen? I get that the franchaise system means local ownership, but at some level corporate has to take care of the brand.

Anyway, as I said it's a decent location, so I would expect something else before too long.

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I hesitate to post a closing this far out, but The Free Times has already weighed in, so why not?

Steve's Classic Burgers opened in this little Saint Andrews Road strip mall back in 2015, and I admit I have never gotten around to trying it, though I have noticed the billboards from time to time. Ashland Park is just not really on my radar, and I don't think I have been back there since Sandy's closed. The place sounds as though they do a bit of outreach as well as cooking, with Bibles on the tables, something that puts me a bit in the mind of Edna's #2 on Pinehurst, which unfortunately I never got any pictures of before it closed and was torn down.

At any rate, with retirement and other issues to deal with, the owners have decided to close next Spring, so if you want to check it out, you still have time to make several visits.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

As predicted by commenter Mall Guy, this Hooters is gone.

I had been in a number of times over the years. They were open later than many other places, the food was competent, and, of course, the view was nice.

I did get the impression the last couple of times I was there that it was going downhill a bit, and the food was somewhat sub-par compared to times past. It's probably been at least two years since my last visit, so I can't say how it was at the end.

This building started out as a Hops brewpub, so we'll see where the chain of restaurant reincarnation takes it next. I would guess that there are competing Asian buffet places too close, so perhaps a Mexican venue as the nearest ones I can think of are on the small side.

(Hat tip to commenter Mall Guy)

The wonder of Zesto is not that one closed, but that any are still open: Each location is like a step into 50 years ago, and we are lucky to still have such portals.

That said, this location, in Chapin is actually fairly new as such things go, having opened "only" 18 years ago. As for the reasons this one closed, WIS quotes the owner:

It’s just time for me to have a normal life. Same struggles as all mom-and-pop [stores]. Can’t get decent employees, food cost, etc. Times are changing.

There is also a State story here.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

Well, that was quick, dang it!

I had some inchoate plans to finally get to Rockaway either for supper last Friday, or lunch last Saturday, but in the event the news of the closing spread so quickly, and the crowds were so thick that the club ran out of supplies several days in advance of their announced 21 January closing date.

Rockaway Athletic Club was one of those places I would think about two or three times a year and decide: Oh yeah, I've finally got to try that place out, but in the event I managed to go decades without ever stopping by and having the famous Pimento Burger, and now it's too late.

The State has the story, as does The Free Times.

Sic transit gloria mundi.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

Before I-20 came in, we would take US-1 through Camden whenever we would go to visit relatives in Hartsville. Often on those trips (or whenever we could nag successfully enough) our parents would let us stop for lunch at the Burger Family restaurant. In retrospect, there was nothing special about it, it was a standard hamburger stand in a town that didn't yet have a McDonald's, but it was someplace different, and that's what mattered. At this point, I can only recall three things about it: The manager had a hearing aide; the burger names were family themed: Papa Burger (the largest) , Mama Burger (more "normal" sized) and some kind of kids burger, the cute name of which I can't recall, and they always got something about the order wrong. It became a running joke with us.

After Burger Family closed, we switched to Hermes, which was sort of a Hardee's knock-off in a town that didn't have one of those either. Then, of course, I-20 came in, and we started taking that to Bishopville instead.

I am not absolutely sure this is the right building, but I have looked a number of times in Camden over the years, and this is the only one in about the right place, looking like it could have been there then, and have been a restaurant then, and which tickles vague memories. I could be wrong -- it was a *long* time ago.

I was in Summerville recently, and noticed this old-school ice cream and fast food drive-through & walk-up on the main drag. It's the kind of place you don't see too much anymore, and apparently was well regarded locally (though more recent reviews mention some slippage). As far as I can tell, they closed sometime in 2022 after February. If you look at the Yelp reviews, you can see that they used to have a nice patio out back.

I'm not exactly sure what the Lodi branding was about.

T

Main Street stalwart Drake's Duck-In has made a temporary move from its Main Street location to 1840 Hampton Street while repairs & renovations are made to its permanent home.

Contrary to the signage when I took these pictures, the actual opening of the temporary site did not take place until 21 April, as reported by The Free Times.

The Hampton Street spot has featured here twice, as Nathan's and Hampton Street Diner.

According to the link commenter Heath found, Drake's has been around in one form or another in various locations since starting on Elmwood in 1907.

So waddle on over...

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

I have seen Hwy 55 operations pop up here and there in the area and on the coast, but I have never gotten around to trying one. Apparently it's a North Carolina outfit that started out as Andy’s Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers. Not that I get to Elgin often anyway, but it looks like I won't be trying one here.

The Free Times has a bit on the closing of this location, saying that it is to become a fast-casual Greek operation, Gyromania Grill sometime in February or March.

(Hat tip to commenter Thomas)

When Smashburger first opened here, I liked it quite a bit. The burger was really good, and there were lots of bun options, including a chipolte bun that was quite tasty. The booths were much more comfortable than 5 Guys steel chairs, and the ice-tea, which was also quite good, was attractively dispensed from clear plastic tubes which mimicked old-style hand-pump gas dispensers. The only fly in the ointment, and one that kept me from being a regular is that I didn't like the fries. They were well executed for what they were trying to do, but I didn't care for the idea they were executing.

So, I would go every now and then, but probably not more than three or so times a year. All that was before the pandemic. When I went back after the pandemic, everything had changed. All of the bun options were gone, and there were no ice-tea dispensers at all in the dining room. In fact when I asked about tea, the staffer looked at me like I was crazy, and apparently went off to brew one cup. There didn't seem to be much traffic there, and a couple of times when I came to eat at the adjacent Moe's, I thought the place had already closed.

In fact, that didn't happen until late december of 2022 as reported in The Post & Courier. The reason given there was that the rent was due to triple, but I think the business they were doing had to be a factor as well, or I would have expected Moe's to jump ship as well.

Commenter Larry reports that this spot is to become a Dave's Hot Chicken.

(Hat tip to commenter Trevin Montgomery)

UPDATE 27 June 2023 -- Now Dave's Hot Chicken: