Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I got a little behind the times here, missing two in a row.

The Southern Belly opened a location in this spot around 2018 after Spork closed. They lasted apparently until 2022.

After that, Krab Kingz opened on 21 April 2022, as detailed in this State story. They also folded in somehow the Hook Fish & Chicken operation from River Drive after they closed.

Krab Kingz seems to have folded sometime in 2024, with the last archived web page I can find from October 2023. I believe they were part of a national chain which still exists.

Now the place is Best Wings Of Columbia.

This was probably inevitable given the chain's ongoing bankruptcy, but still it's sad to see a decades long area staple go. The ax came down rather quickly here, as CNN reported the latest closing list today, and by the time they had published, this location was already shuttered.

The State has a bit more.

(Hat tips to commenters Tom & Larry)

Hook Fish & Chicken is aparently a chain of sorts, though it's not clear to me that all the locations are closely related. At any rate, they were the follow-on operation in this building at 3600 River Drive to Lamb's Bread. Going by their Facebook page, they moved in January of this year to the row of shops on Colonial Life Boulevard which houses The Melting Pot:

We are more than happy to announce we will be back up and running THIS Saturday, January 14th.
We are coming back stronger than ever with a new partnership with KrabKingz! Come and see us at 1410 colonial life blvd Columbia sc 29210!!
We know you missed us, because we missed you!!!!!!! See y’all Saturday!

I didn't realize when I took the pictures that they had moved, or I would have tried to get some shots of the new location.

Here is The State on the opening in March of 2022.

UPDATE 19 June 2023 -- Here is the Krab Kingz location on Colonial Life:

UPDATE 1 October 2024 -- Hope springs eternal. Now River Grill House Of Pizza. I can't find any online presence, but House Of Pizza restaurants are traditionally run by Greek families:

UPDATE 5 February 2025 -- River Grill & Pizza is now open:

This spot first featured here as Vegetable Medley back in 2018, and commenter Andrew reported in June of 2019 that Oak Grove Fish House was up and running as of that time.

It's certainly a location that needs good word-of-mouth, as it is off of the main drag. The signs on the property paint the closing as temporary, but at this point it's pretty clearly permanent.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby)

Longtime Seven Oaks stalwart, St Andrews Seafood Market is currently closed. Unfortunately the owner has been having some health issues, but, judging by the posted signs, is thankfully doing better now. Nonetheless, she is taking the opportunity to retire, and the business is up for sale.

So, if you're feeling pescatory, you might want to reel in this catch.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

The Seafood Academy started in the old TGI Friday's location in Richland Mall in, I believe, 2014. After that, in 2016, they moved to East Pointe Plaza on Garners Ferry Road.

I'm unclear exactly when they closed, but I can't find any reviews later than 2018, so I will round up a bit and say 2019.

The suite is currently being refitted as a blood plasma center.

(I'm pretty sure this came up recently, but looking at the comments, I'm not seeing who it was to give a hat tip.)

S & A is the follow-on in this much restauranted building to Uncle Ned's. According to their web site, S & A has another location in Blythewood. This location is now closed for construction (though I did not notice any going on). The signs say it is temporary, and hopefully it will be.

I ate in this building a number of times when it was Chili's, but not since then. Krab Hut was part of the wave of crab-themed restaurants that has washed over Columbia during the past few years, leaving us, I suspect, a bit over-crabbed. (In fact, the Harbison Ryan's also became a crab eatery). Judging by the Google reviews, I think this place closed at the end of August, and is already setting up to be a Korean hot-pot & barbecue restaurant: Kpot.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

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Since I am not a seafood person, and definitely not a raw seafood person, I wasn't really aware of Sushi Yoshi in Five Points. Online reviews suggest it was a quirky little place with a small staff and idiosyncratic seating arrangements. As nearly as I can tell from those reviews, they probably closed late in 2021, as a January review mentions that a "temporarily closed" sign had been up for several months by that point.

(Hat tip to commenter Deana)