Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Perry's Gourmet Flaming Grilled Chicken (there's a mouthfull by itself!) opened in this former Taco Cid building in on 29 August of 2022. WLTX had the story here.

Apparently the chicken was Portuguese style, which I am not familiar with, but they had traditional Southern items as well. The Google reviews are almost uniformly positive, though there are not a ton of them, which may be an indication they weren't getting the volume they needed.

And of course, the building is odd and old, something Taco Cid finally gave up on, so there may well be a lot of issues to be addressed as indicated in the Closed For Remodeling sign. Unfortunately I don't see any work going on, and those signs are often more aspirational than accurate. Hopefully that won't be the case here and they will be back, but we'll see.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

I don't see any information online about this closing, but given that they have been in business since 1980, I suspect retirement is a factor here.

I like the lions!

For now, the webpage is still up.

(Hat tip to commenter george011210)

This State story about the opening of a House Of Raeford plant near Aiken, with the possible closure of the "Chicken Plant" in West Columbia as a possible knock-on, made me think of the now vacant Capitol Square shopping center again, and of the fact that I had noticed that the House Of Raeford office space there had moved shop back when I was checking on Jin Jin.

The new location is 630 Sunset Boulevard, so presumably the workers from across the street won't have to go too far to get up with someone.

Personally, I wouldn't be too sad if the plant closed as the smell can be teriffic at times, but I understand they do make an effort to help people in recovery and with other issues into the work-force, so I hope nobody loses a job if it happens.

Compton's Kitchen was a family run meat-and-three which has been around since late 1977 in several different locations. including Topspin Plaza in Lexington, ending up in this Triangle City storefront. I never ate there, but I like the murals.

Nobody seems exactly sure when the place closed, but it was definitely gone by mid February, so I'll just go with "February 2024". Both The Post & Courier and The State have stories, here and here

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

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:

As far as I can tell Graham's TV in Triangle City started in 1985 and closed sometime in or not long after 2011. You can see their archived web page here. Looking at Google Streetview from August 2023, it appears this storefront is currently vacant.

I thought I had some daytime pictures of this place, but in the event I can't find them. The nighttime shots are suboptimal because of a big streetlight in the wrong place, but they'll have to do as a placeholder.

The New Brookland Tavern has been in this spot seemingly forever, with very few changes over the years. I Believe the last time I was there was to see The Explorers Club, which whould have probably been August 2011. At the time I recall thinking that the place was pretty ragged, and judging by the stories about the place moving, it doesn't sound like it has gotten any less so.

The building has been sold recently, and the Tavern's lease expires at the end of the year, so they plan to have the final shows in December, and hopefully find a new home in the new year.

You can check out upcoming shows for the final season here.

The story has featured several times in local media. You can read The State stories here & here, and the Free Times story here.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

UPDATE 2 October 2023: Added a (still not great) daytime shot.

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)

I think given the complementary signage, these two storefronts on Platt Springs Road, next to the final location of Taco Cid, were clearly under the same ownership and probably run together. I can't find out much other information, but the last google reviews suggest they closed about this time last year.