Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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)

In yet another sign of the oddness of our times, Rush's on Sunset Boulevard has closed temporarily due to staffing issues.

We have seen these drag on and become permanent at other places such as Lizard's Thicket on Beltline. Hopefully in this case they will be able to come back.

This open-air hotdog & hamburger stand was formerly Charlie's Barber Shop and then Pelican's Snoballs (which moved up the street).

They have another location, which is still open at 655 Saint Andrews Road in the former Tripps Fine Cleaners storefront.

(Hat tip to commenter Matt)

Here's another Hardee's closed, this one on Dutch Fork Road. I'm starting to think there is something going on with the chain, as it seems quite a few have gone dark over the last year or two.

I see they just named a new CEO last week, but it's a press release, so there is no analysis there. (I will note that the corporate-speak is so thick there, that they think a paragraph like:

"We are excited to welcome Brandon to our talented Leadership Team. His entrepreneurial spirit, strong finance focus and results orientation will be perfect complements to our team," says Chief Executive Officer Ned Lyerly. "Brandon's proven track record in dynamic, multi-unit food service environments will be on display as we build on our momentum and create value for stakeholders in our business."

sounds reasonable..)

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

I'm guessing at the closing date here, but given that commenter Zach reported this in early January, I'm guessing that they probably closed out the year & month and then folded with the New Year. Since there was still a "hiring" sign in the window, I wasn't sure until I got out of the car and peeked in the (heavily tinted) windows that they were actually closed. While the furnishings were still inside, it looked pretty clear from the state of things that they were not set to re-open the doors.

I have seen this new-ish chain in a number of locations lately, including several spots on the coast, but I have never gotten around to eating in one.

(Hat tip to commenter Zach)

UPDATE 18 Janurary 2022: Commenter Beth reports that in fact they are still open, so I have revised the post title with "Open". Always good to be wrong about bad news!

Here is one where I just kept misplacing the pictures over and over. I observed back in 2013, when the first photos were taken, that this McDonald's on the Charleston Highway near the junctions with I-26 & I-77 still had the boxy kids' play area architecture. Since I like that look and knew that the chain was phasing it out, I took some pictures. And, indeed, at some point after that, they remodeled and dropped that look completely. The problem was I kept taking pictures of the new look and forgetting to do anything with them while they were still near the top of the stack. Finally when I did the Lazy Llama closing I took some more and remembered before I lost track again.

I have to admit I have not really eaten at a McDonald's in years, but they do now have a quite good cup of coffee.

This Hardees on US-1 in Batesburg-Leesville apparently closed sometime in 2017. I see some reports that it moved to a new location, but not where that actually is. As of three or four years later, there is still no new tenant. The glassed in dining area on the west side (right side in these pictures) is interesting as I don't recall that from Hardees. It looks like it could be very nice or way too bright depending on the time of day and season.

It seems to me that quite a few Hardee's have closed recently. This one was actually fairly new, part of the Killian's Crossing build-up. As far as I can determine from google reviews, it was open as recently as two weeks ago, so I am calling the closing at mid-June 2021.

From the way this place is being totally gutted, I would guess they already have the next tenant lined up.

(Hat tip to commenter Bethany)