When Jessica Shillato, James Beard nominated chef-owner of Spotted Salamander Cafe and Catering, opened her cafe on Richland Street in 2014, a host of local businesses were budding in Columbia.
It was the end of dominant '90s corporate restaurants, like Applebees and Ruby Tuesdays, and the beginning of a thriving local business scene, Shillato said.
But then, about two years ago, something changed. National restaurant chains began to dominate the city's news headlines and Columbia staples began to change or close.
"Now, so many corporate chains are coming here and it's just scary because they have millions of dollars in backing," Shillato said.
With the closure of long-standing bars and restaurants like The Whig and Yesterdays, and the sale of businesses like music bar New Brookland Tavern and Five Points coffee shop Drip Coffee, Columbia's dining scene grapples with change. As restaurants and bars emerge from the rocky pandemic years, business owners say increasing costs are threatening the future of Columbia's local food and dining scene — all while new development moves in.
'Death by a thousand cuts'
The temperature was still abysmally high. Freshman would move into their college dorms in a few days.
It was August 2022 when owners of The Whig, an iconic subterranean dive bar across from the Statehouse, announced the establishment would be closing after 17 years in business. A new hotel was being built above the bar's space.
It felt like Columbia stood still. Hundreds of people mourned the loss over social media. The impending closure was the topic of conversation at local haunts for weeks. The bar was the busiest it had ever been in the months before it closed.
The impact was similar to other times the city lost foundational bars and restaurants — Five Points lost Blue Cactus Cafe in 2019 and Yesterdays Restaurant & Tavern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just this year, the building that's housed music bar New Brookland Tavern for decades was sold and the business will soon be moved to a new location.
“It’s tough to lose a place that has those cool memories for you, but you also get to savor those memories as well, right?" Will Green, a co-owner of The Whig, told Free Times in a previous interview. “A loss implies that there was something wonderful there that existed and you can’t have the loss without having had that thing that you first loved.”
The space that once held The Whig will become a chain boutique hotel. In the former Yesterdays spot, a new brunch chain, Ruby Sunshine, is set to open at the beginning of November. New Brookland Tavern will relocate across the river to occupy the Cotton Gin bar.
Ruby Sunshine, a brunch chain from New Orleans, is coming to the former Yesterdays space in Five Points. File/Andy Shain/The Post and Courier
Ruby Sunshine, a brunch chain from New Orleans, is set to open in November in the former Yesterdays space. Ian Grenier/staff.
Even as places change and new, creative concepts from local business owners open, some restaurant owners fear smaller businesses will continue to struggle to keep up with larger, national chains moving into the market.
Andy Rogers, a co-owner of Art Bar, the eclectic, long-running watering hole in the Vista, called it "the Walmart-ing of Main Street." He offered an example: If Walmart opens a location, sells bikes for cheap and runs all the local bicycle businesses out of town, the chain can rack up prices once it's the only place that sells bikes.
"That's a simplification, but that's our fear is that these big chains ... can come in and essentially not deliberately put you out of business, but they eat up just enough market share," Rodgers said. "It's death by a thousand cuts."
Owning a business gets tougher by the day
The city's food and dining scene has received national and statewide recognition in the last few years.
Three of the city's restaurant entities — Lula Drake Wine Parlour, City Grit Hospitality Group and Shillato of Spotted Salamander — became the first three in Columbia's history to be nominated for James Beard Awards earlier this year. The executive chef of Market on Main, Howard Stephens, was given the chef of the year award from the SC Restaurant and Lodging Association in February. Smoked bartender Jess Pomerantz won a national bartending competition in July of last year.
But the growth and recognition comes at a time when business owners say running a restaurant or bar becomes increasingly harder — rising commercial real estate prices, difficulty finding construction companies to handle buildout and high liquor liability insurance rates.
New Brookland Tavern's space on State Street. File photo.
An archived photo of 122 State St., where grungy music bar New Brookland Tavern sits. The bar will soon relocate across the river to occupy the space of Cotton Gin in Five Points. Photo/Courtesy of Richland Library 2023
"The landscape for small business in the United States is becoming more and more difficult by the day," said Steve Cook, who owns the fine dining restaurant Saluda's. "Everyone sits back and they say 'Oh, well rents are going up and property values are going up' and they read about it, but say 'Oh that doesn't affect me.' That's where it trickles back into the economy."
The average cost of rent per square foot for retail space in Columbia is around $16, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. Vacant retail spaces dropped .3 percent from 2022.
"It's expensive to start a restaurant," Cook said. Construction costs right now are around $200 to $300 per square foot, he added.
Establishments that serve alcohol are hit with another added cost that continues to rise astronomically in recent years — liquor liability insurance. Bar owners like Rodgers at Art Bar have seen insurance costs more than double in the last year.
"At the rate that they're raising insurance, versus the business that we're doing, and even if we did a substantial amount more business, insurance is outpacing that at an alarming rate," Rodgers said. "There's going to come a tipping point where we can no longer keep up with insurance."
Restaurateurs emphasize eating local
For 12 years, Sean McCrossin worked the register at Drip Coffee. He thoughtfully poured hot water over coffee grounds. "Hi, how are ya," he asked of customers who approached the counter.
But soon, McCrossin, the longtime owner of Drip Coffee in Five Points, won't be the ever-present face behind the bar. After more than a decade, he sold the coffee shop to Akera Sellers, a West Columbia coffee shop owner.
"We all know that Drip has been a staple to the community in Five Points for over a decade, so I have no plans (to) change it," Sellers said.
While there are a number of chain eateries taking over longtime local places like Yesterdays and The Whig, the hand-over from one small business owner to another, as was the case with Drip, felt different. There are a handful of places that've filled in the gaps as iconic places have closed.
Shillato of Spotted Salamander opened a second location of her popular lunch spot in the former space of Drip Coffee on Main Street. When The Whig closed, former co-owner Green joined forces with two industry vets to open The Hoot, a neighborhood bar in Rosewood. And although New Brookland will no longer be in West Columbia, the same owners recently opened a smaller, acoustic music venue on State Street.
Shillato said she's hopeful diners in Columbia will realize how important local restaurants are to the city's food scene and begin choosing small businesses over chains.
"(Chains) are nothing special," she said. "Go out to eat at a local restaurant in Columbia. It's so much better."
