Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This storefront at 10008 Two Notch has been a number of different restaurants over the past few years. The Baked Potato Factory took over from Good Greens sometime between March 2022 & March 2023.

It's not quite clear when this place closed. Looking at the Google reviews, they had been having trouble meeting their stated hours for a while, but the last reviews are tagged "three months ago", so I am going with January 2025. While I enjoy a baked potato every now and then, I never got around to trying them out, though the reviews also suggest the potatoes were pretty good and amply sized.

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.

Tropical Grille followed Smashburger into this endcap when the burger chain closed here in 2019. I wasn't sure exactly what the theme of Tropical Grille was, but they characterize themselves with:

Savor the rich, authentic flavors of Cuban and Latin-inspired cuisine at Tropical Grille.

which sound pretty good (if a bit chicken-y for me).

Looking at their website, it's an upstate South Carolina chain with 9 other locations, this one having been the only one here in the Midlands after the Main Street location closed in 2012.
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I like the mascot!

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

I know I ate in this place once in 2024. I thought it was fine, nothing special, but certainly not bad. Given that Google reviews say it has been closed for around 7 months, I guess that must have been in the Spring or Summer of last year.

I'm a little fuzzy on the history of this place. I know it was a D's Wings, a Casa Linda and an El Patron before this, but I think I may have missed another Mexican restaurant somewhere in the rotation.

I do find the name a bit interesting as I associate Garibaldi with the foundation of modern Italy, not Mexico.

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To follow up on the Pelican SnoBalls post from 11 February: That store apparently started here, and moved up the street a few years later.

This Free Times article says it opened on 23 June of 2017, and looking at StreetView, it appears it probably moved after the 2021 snow cone season.

Here is the LoopNet information for the building.

I like snowcones, but not enough to pay ice cream prices for them, so I have never sampled one of the several local Pelican's locations. Technically this store has been closed since the season ended, but the fact that it would not re-open was announced on 17 January. No specific reason was given in that story or this one, but I presume the volume was just not there.

I believe this is the second Main Street location for the franchaise with the former one being further down towards Eau Claire.

The chain maintains a number of other locations in the Midlands, so when things warm back up, you will be able to get your fix.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I mentioned this was happening earlier, but Brooklyn Express Pizza & Pasta has now completed their move from Friarsgate Plaza to this (now upfitted) freestanding Ed Robinson building.

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).