New restaurants open near campus

By Tiffany Barkley

barkleyt@mytjnow.com

Graphic by Shatesha Scales • scaless@mytjnow.com.Restaurants are popping up around Winthrop. Three opened this semester. Students can stop in for a drink and some barbecue at Pub House, head to Lell’s Café for locally-grown food and get a taste of the Caribbean at El Caribe Sunset Café. 

Other restaurants have put signs up but haven’t opened. The building across from Sub Station II has a Dragon Express sign, and the building next to McDonald’s has an Ichiro Sushi Bar and Hibachi Grill sign.

The possibility of Winthrop students as customers is attracting these new restaurants, said economics professor Robert Stonebraker.  

“You’ve got 5,000 students who want an alternative to dining hall food,” Stonebraker said. “The restaurants that are opening aren’t fancy restaurants. They’re offering food that’s affordable and that will

hopefully appeal to a large number of the students.”

Some students have already seen the appeal of Pub House, a restaurant and bar that opened in August. 

Seniors Carrie Beth Holler and Katie Horrigan both like the fact that Pub House is close enough to walk to from their apartments in University Place. 

The atmosphere of the restaurant also adds to the college-town feel, said Holler, a sociology major.

“They have all the Winthrop memorabilia inside, instead of seeing Clemson or Carolina stuff,” she said. 

One of the goals of the College Town Action Plan working group was to encourage businesses to incorporate Winthrop colors, banners and marketing. Winthrop and city officials are hoping the CTAP will bring more businesses similar to Pub House to the area around Winthrop.

“It makes it more collegiate,” said Horrigan, an English major.

Sydney Evans, chair of the Council of Student Leaders, said she thinks the number of restaurants and businesses around Winthrop will continue to grow over the next few years.

“I’m not psychic, but I do think  if they are successful and conform to college students’ tastes and price tag they will be successful,” Evans said, “and we’ll have more home-grown businesses that will make Rock Hill’s version of a college town unique and a real selling point for the city and the university.”

The survival of these restaurants depends on the quality of the food and the management, Stonebraker said.  

The CTAP also aims to help these small businesses stay open with help from Winthrop’s Small Business Development Center and the city’s Open for Business program, according to the plan completed in June. 

But price also has a lot to do with the survival of these restaurants near a college campus, Stonebraker said.

“I think there is a large market for cheap food,” he said. 

The Mexican restaurant Tequila across from the Coliseum on Cherry Road is always packed with students, Stonebraker said.

“If it were even three blocks closer,” he said, “it would be busier still.”

Sophomore broadcast major Billie Jean Shaw said the restaurants that are opening will provide more options for Winthrop’s diverse campus.  

“I think it’s good because it’s more variety,” Shaw said, “People get tired of McDonald’s burgers and fries.”