Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
COLUMBIA — For more than 17 years, Scottie’s Cafe and Grill has been serving up American, Greek and Italian fare next to a gas station on Wilson Boulevard. But on Dec. 14, the popular Blythewood restaurant will close its doors. Owner Scottie Opolyn made the announcement in a Facebook livestream on Nov. 7, expressing gratitude for people visiting the cafe over the years, and to Larry Sharpe, who first gave him the opportunity to open in Blythewood. Opolyn told the Free Times that he first heard wind that the Sharpe Shoppes, where Scottie’s is located, would be sold to new owners last week. He thought a sale and transfer of ownership was months down the line, but things ended up being finalized sooner , and the new owners told him on Nov. 6 that the restaurant’s lease would not be renewed. Thinking about the closure over the last few days has been a little surreal, Opolyn said. “You don't think about what you're going to do when you're not doing the restaurant anymore, because I've been doing it for 20 years,” Opolyn said. “I never thought about slowing down or retiring and moving on, what it's going to be like. So, you know, yesterday was kind of a weird day to think I'm going to be unemployed in two months.” Scottie’s Cafe and Grill was open in Chapin for three years before moving to Blythewood, where the restaurant has operated for about 17 years. He said the impending closure has made him think a lot more about the future. Opolyn said while he would have liked to sign another five-year short-term lease — which ended up not being an option — he realized that if he was offered a long-term lease, it could have been a problem. “The big thing is that I'm 65 years old, and if they wanted me to sign a long-term lease again, I probably couldn't have, you know,” Opolyn said. “So was it God forcing me to retire? Probably.” While Opolyn isn’t sure what is in store for the future, he has considered bringing out the restaurant’s food truck, which hasn’t been used in a few years due to lack of staffing , a few nights a week. “Maybe do lunch, a couple nights a dinner, and just hang out with everybody and just relax and semi-retire,” he said. Community support for what’s next Opolyn said the saddest, but also most uplifting part of the closure announcement has been talking to customers and seeing their responses on social media. Opolyn’s wife, mom and daughters all work at Scottie’s, and the cafe owner said over the years he has become deeply involved and invested in the community. He has employees he now sees as sons. He’s catered and donated to high school and church events for years and said he is like Blythewood’s Bruce Springsteen for his charismatic personality around town. Scottie’s and its owners are such a staple in the community that when the restaurant announced it was closing in 2022, customers rallied around Opolyn and his family and helped them reopen within a week. “It keeps my heart so warm that people just love you that much that they want you to stay,” Opolyn said. “But it just wasn't in the cards for us.” Especially after COVID, Opolyn said costs have been increasing, and it is hard to run things the way he used to. He said the sale of the shops makes him think that “maybe it was time for me to change as well.” In the next few weeks, Opolyn asks that people keep coming into the restaurant and encouraged people to reach out to him by phone at 803-608-8885 if they have any ideas for next steps for Scottie’s Cafe and Grill in Blythewood. “ We're going to be open till mid-December, we ask everybody to come in and say goodbye and pray,” Opolyn said. “I'm not giving up hope that I will be back in the restaurant business anytime soon. I just don't think I'll be at as big of a restaurant.”
