Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Not straying too far from yesterday's post, I noticed that the West Main Lizard's Thicket in Lexington is under renovation, and closed for now. There did definitely appear to be work going on, so I think this one will legit be back, which is not always the case when a place closes to remodel.

Margaret's was on the North side of Garners Ferry out past Mr. Bunky's, and I took these pictures in 2018. It appears from the Yelp reviews (which are pretty positive) that the place probably closed in 2020, and in the event I never got to try it out.

I took these pictures on 20 January 2024 after commenter Mall Guy predicted on 16 January that this location was closing. I haven't been back since, but at some point I will get shots of the closed store.

I like Cracker Barrel fine, but it doesn't come up on my rotation often, and I don't believe I ever actually ate at this location. I do know that I bought several gift items at the attached store. This Village At Sandhill outparcel seems like a decent location. It doesn't fit with the chain's Interstate preference, but there is a good bit of traffic on Two Notch, and with the growth of Killian Road, and the widening of Clemson Road to four lanes all the way to I-20, it's not too far off the Interstates..

However, both the media stories I see report the chain saying this store just wasn't making the numbers. You can check those out at WLTX & The State.

(Hat tip to commenter Mall Guy)

UPDATE 9 May 2024 -- Some post-closing shots:

Compton's Kitchen was a family run meat-and-three which has been around since late 1977 in several different locations. including Topspin Plaza in Lexington, ending up in this Triangle City storefront. I never ate there, but I like the murals.

Nobody seems exactly sure when the place closed, but it was definitely gone by mid February, so I'll just go with "February 2024". Both The Post & Courier and The State have stories, here and here

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

For a long time, it was not clear if this restaurant was closing or not. I believe they were trying to direct traffic to their other location, in the old Ruby Tuesday building at Dutch Square, but were keeping this one, in a former Wendy's, open too for a while.

In the event, it is now definitely closed, and for sale, and you should head to Bush River Road for your down-home fix.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie & co)

UPDATE 9 October 2023 -- The place has been leased:

UPDATE 13 December 2023 -- A bit better picture of the "Leased" sign, but no more details on what will be going in:

UPDATE 7 Aug 2024 -- Now Braza Chicken:

UPDATE 15 October 2024 -- A slightly better, not pouring down rain, picture of Braza:

Sumter based Willie Sue's was the follow-on in this building to breastaurant The Tilted Kilt, which was the follow-on to Huller's Black Forest, which was the follow-on to Sticky Fingers, which was, I believe, the first tenant.

These pictures were taken on the closing day, 18 September 2022, and I have to say they went out with a bang, as the parking lot was quite active.

Their Facebook announcement simply cites "circumstances beyond our control", and the story at The State doesn't really give any more information.

(Hat tip to commenter Ellen)

Some time ago, I did a closing for a vacant diner/gas-station on East Palmetto Street heading east out of Florence. Here's another one.

In fact Ms Annie's was closer to Florence than INS was. I think the reasons I hadn't noticed it before were twofold. First, if I'm going to go to the beach by this route, I usually take the cut-off from the I-95 exit that comes out by the Dunkin' Donuts which is past this stretch of US-76/East Palmetto. Second, more often than not, I would be driving by during the night even if I skipped the short-cut.

Anyway, I can't find out much about the place. The address comes from an online menu site, but the menu has been taken down, so I can't say what they served other than it was "Home Cooking", and the shattered window signage emphasizes breakfast. I'm just guessing about the closing date -- it certainly appears to have been several years ago.

I did find the historical marker quite interesting and a bit scary.

Be warned that the place has been heavily tagged by folks with foul mouths and strong political views as you can see if you continue to the rest of the pictures.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I find this a bit surprising: I go by Boozer Shopping Center fairly frequently, but somehow I entirely missed a new restaurant in there until it had already closed.

It appears that down-home/soul-food joint Hungry Moments started sometime around April 2016, and lasted at least until March of 2017, when the last Yelp review appears. The reviews are mixed, but it seems if you hit it at the right time, you could get a good old-fashioned Southern meal.

I also apparently missed the previous tenant in this slot, Generations Bakery & Catering.

UPDATE 20 October 2018: Added picture of Boozer marquee.

Well, here's a bit of synchronicity. Friday 24 August 2018 was the first time I had ever happened to be in West Columbia, near JackSon's Southern Kitchen at (my) lunch time, so I decided I would finally check the place out.

Pulling in, it seemed to be dark, and there was a sign taped to the door, so I was going to get out and look at it, but then I noticed that the lunch hours during the week were only until 2:30, and it was 3:00, so I figured I had just missed it and drove on. I got home that evening, and people were already posting in Have Your Say that the place had closed down due to legal woes.

Here's the story from WIS (For some reason, they seem to have trimmed most of the text that was originally there).

You may recall that JackSon's started in Richland Mall and moved to Sunset Boulevard in 2016

UPDATE 4 May 2021 -- As reported by commenter Barbara reports, this storefront is undergoing a major upfit. Unfortunately, the construction sign is singularly unhelpful in telling what is to come:

Also adding a map icon.

Looks like the Lizard's Thicket remodeling effort that has revamped several of their stores is continuing. This one is at the corner of Knox Abbott Drive & State Street, and was some sort of restaurant before, though not a Shoney's like the Forest Drive and Beltline locations. I've eaten there before, and don't recall any particular building issues, but I guess everything has its time.

UPDATE 8 April 2019 -- I don't have a picture, but this location is open again, and has been for a while.