Cici's Pizza, 3730 North Main Street: 17 August 2011 15 comments
If You Build It, They Will Come
But will they stay?
Apparently the city has poured two million dollars into this small shopping plaza on North Main, with very little to show for it.
Last year they lured Cici's Pizza away from its longtime location on Decker Boulevard and things were looking up. This year not so much. Recent years saw the closing of another nearby city sponsored restaurant, The North Main Deli, but just across the street Zesto's still seems to be going strong. Perhaps there's a message there.
(Hat tip to commenter MB)
15 Responses to 'Cici's Pizza, 3730 North Main Street: 17 August 2011'
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tonkatoy
24 Aug 11 at 6:36 am
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It's all about LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION.. and this AINT the place to build anything anymore. Harbison maybe..but NOT North Main. It's Heyday was in the mid 60's.
Del
24 Aug 11 at 10:18 am
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Love to see my tax dollars at work -- oops I should have said pissed away in da hood
Kc
24 Aug 11 at 1:15 pm
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The Columbia City Council needs to give it up..Columbia isnt the "Atlanta" of The South..
Del
24 Aug 11 at 2:57 pm
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That's because Atlanta is the Atlanta of the South . . .
Kenneth
24 Aug 11 at 3:01 pm
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and Columbia is typical "Columbia" also. No matter how much Columbia tries, it just doesnt work anymore. The last time I can remember Columbia actually being up with the 20th Century was back in the early to mid 60's..and then it went downhill from there.
Del
24 Aug 11 at 3:30 pm
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I think what happens is that City doesn't do their homework on what would work for the area. They probably don't pay much attention to the demographics that commercial real estate firms tend to
When they opened the Columbia Food Fresh Market they first approached the grocers that are established in the area and they wanted stores that are bigger than what developers had in mind. So they opened up an independent grocer for the Celia Saxon neighborhood. Result? The store lasted less than 2 years.
I swear city government needs to do a better job of studying the demographics and how business fit those demographics or get out of the business of bringing stores into an area they aren't suited for...
Andrew
24 Aug 11 at 5:13 pm
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Oh, they do their homework, they just ignore what they find and press on with their social engineering, Doesn't work.
Columbia needs a visionary mayor like Lester Bates was. Columbia was in a period of ascendency then. There were a few folks that were miquetoast, then Bobblehead put the city on a quick downward track. T-bone Benji seems to be putting it in a tailspin.
tonkatoy
25 Aug 11 at 6:43 am
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Coming next a 2 million dollar gas station in the middle of Gonzales Gardens. Seems that would adhere to the logic being applied...
Peter
25 Aug 11 at 3:40 pm
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Cici's are dropping like flies. I know we had about a dozen in Michigan, but five of them closed due to shady business practices and the others just disappeared. Luckily, the nearest one to me (Flint) is still there.
Bobby P.
17 Sep 11 at 12:59 pm
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last week, I was in the area and noticed signage that they were not hiring (not sure what for)
Andrew
1 Feb 12 at 12:30 am
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make that now hiring...
Andrew
1 Feb 12 at 12:38 am
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folks, I noticed earlier this week that Papa John's had signage indicating that they were now open at this site
Andrew
2 Mar 12 at 8:05 pm
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I wonder how much Columbia bribed them to go in there. Once again, I predict in less than a year, they'll be gone.
tonkatoy
5 Mar 12 at 7:38 am
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Based on this, I'd say Houston's Low Country Grill is on the road to closing:
Houston’s Low Country Grill at North Main Street Plaza and Houston’s Catering at Middleburg Plaza each has defaulted on a loan, missing a total of $31,136 in payments, according to the records. Efforts to reach owner Frank Houston were unsuccessful.
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/03/05/2177927/city-issued-loans-are-in-default.html#storylink=cpy
tonkatoy
5 Mar 12 at 8:12 am
I'd heard it was ten million a few years back, but two million seems to be the number bandied about today. the way mony was flowing through there, who really knows.
Anyway, this isn't a surprise, and it lasted a week or so more than I predicted (less than a year). I have a feeling that they got one year money to move here, but after the money went away, it wasn't profitable.
Not a great section of town. I ate there once and the place was maybe 10% full, if that, and there were no to go orders that I saw.
Just another typical example (CCI, Rosewood Hills, Adesso, etc) of why Columbia shouldn't be in the development business.