Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Hope everyone is having a great 4th Of July!

At first it seems like this Fatz is well situated, being highly visible from the Interstate, and right next to Gaffney's most famous landmark, but on further consideration, it is quite a long distance down a frontage road that by the time you get to the Interstate exit, you have half forgotten that you were going to get off. Locating in an outparcel of the Hamrick's right at the exit might have in fact been better. In the event it is all moot since the whole chain shut down as we have discussed before, but perhaps not moot at the time as this location apparently closed well before the others, and the note from management hints at some issues.

The building has obviously attracted unwelcome attention, and may be beyond salvage at this point. I'll have to see how it looks the next time I'm in the area, which most likely won't be for a year or more.

Here is the building in happier times.

After missing last year's convention due to a wedding, I was able to get back to Charlotte Saturday for day 2 of this year's.

I managed to get there a little earlier this year and the extra time actually let me walk every asile of the convention floor, which is massive, and I was definitely feeling it in my feet and in my bag-laden arms by the time the floor closed at 6:00.

In the event I picked up a number of things I would have bought on general principles, and another number of things I had never heard of from creators who were also good salesmen. There is a certain danger in making eye contact going up and down the asiles, but by the same token that's one reason for going to a big show: To get something you had no idea existed, but yet which someone is passionate about.

This young lady is "Poderosa" one of the heroines of Pittsburgh based "Heroineburgh" comics which I was enthusiastically given to understand is a sort of pinup based comic series similar to AC Comics "Femforce" which also produces campy live-action episodes at https://www.heroineburgh.com. I left with several autographed issues, an autographed picture of Ms Poderosa and this proof that it happened.

This group of cosplayers had kind of a Shrek thing going on with also some Marvel & DC representation.

I was glad to see that the creators of Elfquest, a comic I liked a lot back in the 80s are still rolling along.

These were a couple of more sales made by a stoked creator. Apparently the hero here is a tiger in a Zootopia type city of animals who holds down a day job as a teacher and works the nights as a Batman type vigilante with a strong focus on anti-bullying in both roles.

Indie space opera -- I don't know anything else about it yet.

Comic tie-in to the above.

Reportedly a humorous story about a knight in love with a dragon and all the mayhem that would cause.

The Heroineburgh comics plus assorted associated swag.

An issue of Hogan's Alley, an ongoing comics' history magazine.

More indie space opera, there are several novellas in this volume, but that's all I know!

You can't go wrong with Pogo!

I just fininished Volume 72: Luffy & the crew are split into several groups in the mysterious country of Dressrosa where toys are alive, and Luffy must fight in the arena to keep the power of his late brother Ace from falling into the wrong hands.

I had a nice conversation with comic writer Mike Baron towards the end of the day. He had a long run on "The Flash" for DC, but is probably best known for the space-opera superhero series Nexus and the Wisconsin gonzo series The Badger ("Put on a costume and fight crime? You'd have to be crazy..."). Recently he and Nexus co-creator, artist Steve Rude, parted ways and they are now doing separate Nexus projects. Baron was fairly philosophical about it and indicated that at least they could actually do that because they owned the character. It turns out that Baron actually has no ownership of The Badger, so getting new Badger projects going is more difficult. I picked up Baron's latest Nexus graphic novel Scourge (done now with artist Kelsey Shannon), an issue of his Florida Man which I hope has some of that Badger gonzo spirit. His police thriller Thin Blue Line (he admitted that coming out as a pro-police conservative has hurt him some in the industry), and his take on Sherlock Holmes.

All in all, an interesting day, and I left pleasantly footsore and laden to fight the I-77 traffic.

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.

Here's a Fatz I missed back during the chain closing as it's in a place I rarely drive by at the first I-26 exit for Clinton. I noticed it a few times while it was empty, but was always past the exit by the time I saw it, and now it has been repurposed as a Mexican restaurant, El Poblano.

The approach is a bit odd in that you basically have to go through a gas/convenience store's parking lot to get back to the restaurant and hotel. I did not try the restaurant, but it has generally good reviews (as always with a few one-star ones thrown in).