Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Cafe Strudel opened in this Lexington restaurant space in May of 2018, replacing (after a hiatus) Kovachi's.

The Cafe Strudel brand, which included this store and the original State Street location in West Columbia, was recently purchased from its founders by the Foundry Hospitality Group which will be retaining the original flagship and bringing a yet to be specified new concept to this spot.

Considering the the original location has been up since 1997, you might think I could have managed to stop by sometime in the last nigh unto 30 years, but in the event not yet.

You can read about the closing on ColaDaily or in The State.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Crafty Crab was one of Columbia's influx of crab-themed restaurants over the past several years, and replaced Tin Lizzy's Cantina in this Vista storefont. The recent Google reviews are interesting and share several themes, possibly pointing to the ultimate fate of the place, though I don't see any media articles on the closing.

The strip itself is quite busy: There was too much traffic to park and get a good shot of the place.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Commenter Payne mentions that this restaurant in Mills Corner just to the left of the old Pig/IGA has closed.

Other commenters in Have Your Say mention that there are still a number of Chen's restaurants in the area, though it is not clear if they are connected. For what it's worth, I believe the Egg Roll Station on Crowson is officially a Chen's.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

I was never particularly interested in going to TakoSushi, as the menu didn't sound up my alley, but there are a number of them about, so apparently it works for them. Although in the event, not in Forest Acres, I guess. The State has the closing story here, and say that the place was open for a little more than a year, after replacing Baskin Robbins, which closed in 2022.

The storefront is already in train to be a Jimador Real, which I assume is a smaller version of an El Jimador, though I don't really know.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

These (not particularly good -- I was on my way somewhere else) pictures are from 20 May 2023, the grand opening of The Dales Biergarten and Bottle Shoppe, which will be closing on 17 October with a bit over two years under its belt. Taking over from wedding venue The Springdale House & Gardens, The Dales aimed to be

a family friendly Biergarten and retail shop.

.

The closing sites staffing issues, and the usual recent liability concerns.

You can read the venue's announcement here and stories from The State & Post & Courier here & here.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

This location of Pelican's was in the old Winn-Dixie plaza at the corner, and was apparently some sort of bank at one time.

I had noticed that it was no longer sporting the Pelian's colors, but hadn't gotten around to checking it out. Apparently this location shares ownership with the Rosewood one, and closed in early May, which is not what I would normally expect, as that is just as the SnoBall season is really starting.

The place as been redone with really odd orange awnings above, and black below to block out the Pelican's branding. It seems, somehow, to also have acquired a new set of windows on the side nearest Decker.

When I mentioned that Old Chicago in this plaza had closed, I neglected to say that the across-the-parking-lot neighbor, Flapjacks Pancake Cabin had also closed. You will remember that this location was a former Western Steer which then became a strip-club. At the time there was speculation that the (then) new Wal-Mart was pressuring the city to de-zone the club to make the area a bit more family friendly, and it appears that Flapjacks didn't exactly leave under their own steam either. This Facebook is all rumors, but it appears that the plaza owners have non-restaurant plans for that wing of the property.

In the event, Flapjacks was there for about ten years. Here is the Sun News on the place moving in. (Notice that the original plan for the Old Chicago spot was a Quaker Steak & Lube, which never happened).

The chain still exists, and now appears to be restricted to Tennesse. For now, you can still see their Garden City page here.

That does beg the question on the location. Google & the street address say this is Murrells Inlet, but to me it is pretty clearly Garden City.

UPDATE 7 October 2025: Found a picture of the lighted sign and added it up top.

I don't have much to say about this place beyond that it was another Scooter's Coffee and closed with the rest in the area.

I do think it is nice that the lights are still up.

Actually I had just noticed this place several weeks ago, and thought to myself that sitting outside on the patio would be nice on a sunny fall afternoon, but like all too many places, I waited too long.

Iron Hill Brewery was a 29 year old company according to USA Today, with 19 locations along the east coast. There were signs of trouble recently as the company closed its original store, and two others. The trouble came home on 25 September when they closed the remaining 16 stores, and filed for bankruptcy. The USA Today story does not specify what chapter was filed, but the company's closing note made hopeful noises about a return someday.

Interestingly, I see from the closing list that they had opened a location in Geenville at 741 Haywood Road, the site of a former favorite place of mine, Don Pablo's, although I don't believe I ever did a closing on it.

You can check WIS, WLTX, or The State for (some) details on the local closure, which is a bit of a blow for The Bull Street District.

When I went by on Sunday, there were definitely people inside the place, I don't know if they were packing up, or evaluating the building, but it seems like a pretty nice one, so hopefully something new will come in before too long.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

The Woody moved from the Vista to this Main Street corner in 2020, and continued in operation after the passing of founder Woody Windham last year. Unfortunately with the new SC liquor liability laws, the family is unable to keep the doors open past October.

They say they hope to open in a new location as a real restaurant, but there are no firm plans for that yet.

In the meantime, the upstairs neighbor, Hendrix, will be taking over the space to open a pizza restaurant.

You can read about the closing in ColaDaily, The Post & Courier, The State, and on WLTX.

It seems to me that South Carolina's nightlife scene has been greatly altered almost surreptitiously & through the back door.