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Changes planned for downtown entertainment venue

Christina Lee Knauss //August 1, 2022//

Changes planned for downtown entertainment venue

Christina Lee Knauss //August 1, 2022//

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The Main Course at 1624 Main St. will be shutting down in late August. (Photo/Christina Lee Knauss)

Big changes are coming to a building on Columbia’s Main Street which houses multiple businesses.

The first floor at 1624 Main will see one change in tenants, according to an announcement from LTC Hospitality Services, a Columbia-based restaurant management group.

The first floor currently houses Main Course, Soda City Beer Garden and 1626 The Venue Piano Bar.

Main Course will continue to operate 6 p.m. to midnight Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. to midnight Saturday and Sunday until Aug. 29 when it will close its doors, according to a spokesperson from LTC Hospitality. A new restaurant will be moving into the location now occupied by Main Course and should be announced mid-August.

Live music that was scheduled at Main Course will be moving next door to The Venue, and Soda City Beer Garden will remain open as usual.

A new business is also coming to the fourth floor of the same building.

Player’s Club Academy, an expansion of the Player’s Club members-only indoor golf club on the third floor, will hold a grand opening event from 6 to 10 p.m. Aug. 18. The Academy will offer virtual golf and other activities for the general public.

“We are excited to bring interactive games, golf and other amenities to the general public, who can now enjoy the Player’s Club experience,” said Scott Olliges, director of the Player’s Club and Academy. “The Academy will offer more than golf, including other entertainment for the whole family, like our Virtual Reality Oculus Rift systems, Nintendo Switches and classic arcade games.”

The original Player’s Club concept offers a modern country club atmosphere featuring state-of-the-art golf simulators with real life courses, a virtual putting green, onsite golf professionals and other amenities in the heart of downtown Columbia.

The Academy will feature an open-floor layout, golf bays, onsite private lessons with a PGA Class A member, and club fitting by Doc Griffin, master club fitter with Doc Griffin Golf.

Limited tickets for the Academy’s grand opening are free to the public and available online at https://www.playersclubsc.com/all-events/grand-opening-august-18-2022.

1624 Main is owned by the Middleton family and is not the only one of their properties undergoing change. Good Life Cafe and The Shoppes on Main, both currently on Main Street, will move into the 1200 block of Taylor Street next to Hotel Trundle in March 2023. 

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