Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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 noticed this place was boarded-up as I drove past, so I turned around and took a closer look. As far as I can tell from the Google reviews, Entity Motors closed up in the time frame of "a year ago", having received mixed reviews.

The place is a solid looking older style house that would be attractive with a bit of TLC, so perhaps some sort of professional office will move in eventually. The LoopNet information is here.

It's a little hard to say the exact name of this place. Google has it as Grand Appliances•New Sales•Scratch and Dent Sales while their Facebook says Grand Appliances & Mattress•New Sales•Scratch & Dent Sales.

At any rate, their last Facebook post is from May 2024, so I'm going to list the closing date as "Summer 2024". There was some activity in the buildiing when I drove by last Saturday, so perhaps something new is coming.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

I was not aware of this restaurant, tucked away in McCauley Square until commenter Heath mentioned it. Looking at the menu, I think I would have liked some of the sandwiches, though I would not generally be in that area at lunchtime. I will say that when I stopped by to take these pictures, the the parking lot for the strip was entirely too busy and too crowded. The owners' Facebook page does mention the fact that having so many restaurants in there made it hard to stand out. You can read that page for the closing message as well.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

This location of Jersey Mike's on Sunset by Krispy Kreme, seems to have closed in Jaunary. I didn't see any sign on the door when I went by, and there's nothing about it on the Facebook page (which remains active with corporate level posts), but the individual web site for the store is gone as well.

(Hat tip to commenter JohnR)

It's definitely not ice cream weather tonight, but summer is coming -- eventually!

Ice Cream Taco was in this little strip mall on Sunset which has seen a number of things come and go over the last few years. I don't seem to have a closing for the previous operation in this suite, but as of 2014 when I did a cloing for Alibaba's, it was apparently recently vacated. According to The State, Ice Cream Taco opened here in March of 2022, and I actually learned something from the article. My assumption had been that the store name referred to some sort of frozen novelty served in sugar tacos rather than sugar cones, but in actuality, the place serves regular, hot, tacos -- and ice cream.

In November, they relocated to 2708 Emanuel Church Road.

(Hat tip to commenter Brian)

I remember when this store was on Main Street, and actually did a closing for that location, but kind of forgot about it and lost track after it moved to Capitol Square in West Columbia, though I must have seen it many times in passing as I drove by.

Seventy Five years is one heck of a run.

As I mentioned in the closing for Jin Jin, this plaza is now entirely vacant.

I was not aware of Jin Jin tucked away here in the struggling Capitol Square shopping center, but they apparently closed on 2 December according to their facebook. As far as I can tell, this closure brings an end to any activity at the plaza. Since their note mentions that their lease was ending, I can't help but wonder if the owners have been getting everybody out in advance of redeveloping the property which abuts an up-and-coming area (with the only negative being the chicken plant when the wind is wrong..). Given that even the plaza's roadside marquee sign has been let to go to pot, I suspect something like that is happening.

The other thing about the property which strikes me, aside from it being all vacant, is the number of payphones, mostly not vandalized (though not currently connected) along the walkway. I mean, I suppose '3' is not a high number historically, but it's the most I've seen in years.

Here is the strip's real-estate brochure, which mentions none of this, but does show a number of former tenants, and the roadside sign.

(Hat tip to commenter Justin)

UPDATE 18 December 2023 -- Here is the plaza sign in happier times circa 2016:

I don't know much about Ricky's Tire & Auto, but they seem to been a well regarded shop and closed last month after struggling with first COVID and then the economy for a while.

Commenter Andrew sends this ColaDaily link which has much more information, including a video report.

(Hat tip to commenter Brandon Brown)

As mentioned by commenter James R, Chen's Chinese Restaurant in Lexington is now Friend's House Chinese & Seafood.

Here is a State story on the new place that deploys the word plethora.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)