Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

The Free Times calls Local Yocal a "bodega" syle store. I've never been really sure what that word means, but here it seems to have applied to an upscale bar with takeout food and groceries if I am getting the gist of it.

I'm a bit confused about one thing. While this is the first time I have done a closing for 1712 Main Street, I have done several for next door 1710 Main Street. Looking at those old posts (which you can do by clicking the 1710 link), it appears that the Local Yocal storefront at 1712 has somehow just appeared between 1710 and the next storefont down. Or maybe it's just late.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

Chocolate bakery Chocolate Nirvana had the misfortune to move to a building on Gills Creek just before the Great Flood of October 2015. With their building effectively destroyed, they had no choice but to move operations to commercial kitchen for rent DER Kitchen, where they stayed until January of this year.

Their Facebook Page doesn't rule out future ventures, but for now, all the equipment has been sold.

(Hat tip to commenter michael)

According to The State, God's Blessing Cafe opened in early July 2018, serving classic Southern fare. This location is next to the former Jefferson Square Theater and is in the spot previously occupied by The Lunch Box, Palmetto Grille and Cavanaugh's Deli.

For me, this seems a tough spot to run a restaurant because parking issues will keep all but the local office crowd away. On the other hand, you could say the same about a number of Main Street lunch venues. Maybe it's just a bit too far North.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

I noticed this vacant storefront as I was walking Main Street the other day. Judging by the signs, this is an old building that is way overdue for a big overhaul, and got past the point of everyday maintenance. I would be interested in what is upstairs, and what shape it is in. As you can see from the sign, the tenant, House of Fabrics has relocated to 652 Bush River Road.

UPDATE 5 June 2019: According to The State this building is to be razed. Adding map icon too.

UPDATE 18 June 2019 -- Demolition started Monday (17 June 2019) and the building is now gone:

UPDATE 18 November 2020 -- The vacant lot from this building is now hosting a huge Christmas ornament:

Uncle Maddio's was the follow-on in this location for Jasmine Deli & Cafe and opened sometime in 2013. I never ate there, and had not realized until looking at this post that in fact Uncle Maddio's is a chain of franchaises based in Atlanta, and is another fast casual pizza concept like Persona, Blaze, and Firenza.

Looking at the company web site, it appears this was the only South Carolina location, and the next closest is in Charlotte.

Well, I'm not sure what is going on here. The sign is extremely uninformative, and there is no sign of work being done inside or out. I hit the Forest Acres' Zoe's from time to time for the Greek salad, but have never visited this location.

UPDATE 31 August 2018 -- Removed the "temporary" from the post title based on the comments.

UPDATE 31 August 2018 -- The State reports it as a restroom issue (in that the store had none) though parts of the reporting contradict that..

UPDATE 1 September 2022: Editing tags and adding map icon.

The signage still posits this closing as temporary, but the Free Times has verified that it is, in fact, permanent.

This spot has been the home of a number of restaurants over the years, including Capitol Cafe, Cat & Cleaver, Dunkin' Donuts (almost), Fever, and Roll Call Deli.

I never ate at Persona due to the fact that I rarely go downtown at lucnch time, and would go some place with parking if I did. I will say that I would not use that name for a restaurant as the first thing I think of is Persona Non Grata..

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 7 October 2020 -- Well oddly enough, this place is unchanged after a bit more than two years. The signage is still up, and the interior looks almost exactly as it did when it closed, down to the delivery moped. The chairs have been tabled though:

Also adding the map icon.

UPDATE 8 February 2022 -- They have finally taken down the Persona signage, but have left the possibility that the storefront might be some sort of wood fired pizza in the future:

Here are some pictures from commenter Allen J. Rivkin recalling a bit of downtown history, his father's store Marks

The first picture is from the grand opening at 1321 Main Street in October 1963:

As nearly as I can tell, 1321 Main Street would have been just after the vacant storefront next to Cantina 76, which is 1307 Main, and before the SC Education Lottery storefront, which is 1333. However there's really no way to do a true comparison due to the demolition.

The store moved from 1321 Main to 1625 Main in 1980:

There is apparently an ongoing project to repurpose 1619-1625 Main, which you can read about here.

In 2017, the store moved to 1219 Bull Street, the former location of Ritter's Furs:

(Big hat tip to ALlen J. Rivkin)

As mentioned in Have Your Say, all Columbia area Harveys supermarkets are closing. You can tell how dire the trouble the parent chain is in by the fact that they spent a lot of money rebranding these stores from Bi-Lo to Harveys less than two years ago. I did not do a closing on this location as a Bi-Lo at that time, so I'm including it in the post title and Alphabetical Closings now.

At this time, none of Columbia's remaining Bi-Lo locations are closing, but that is probably another shoe waiting to drop. The full list of closing stores across both nameplates and over all affected states is here.

I noticed this vacant car refinishing storefront when I was getting pictures of Sandy Run Towing, which is two doors down from here. In fact I believe the intervening building (which has the most character of the three) is also vacant.

You can see a picture with the branding still present on this LoopNet listing.