Woodlief's Appliance Co Inc. / Frank Richards Beverage Shop (The Cocktail Shaker) moved, 6420-N Garners Ferry Road: 2 March 2009 12 comments
When I was checking out the closing of Fred's in Cedar Terrace on Garners Ferry recently, I noticed that the storefront adjacent to it on the left was currently empty as well.
The most recent business there, Frank Richards Beverage Shop (aka The Cocktail Shaker) has moved to suite 'D' at the front of the plaza and is apparently going strong with an active online presence as well, but I found what I take to be the next most recently previous business there to be a bit interesting.
Not for itself per-se (though I'm sure as with every closing there's a story there), but for a good example of something I've seen quite a bit since I started this. From the old sign sitting in the back of the interior, I'm pretty sure this spot was called Woodlief's Appliance Co, and the marquee sign pretty much confirms it -- If you look closely, you'll see that while the marquee box is empty now, the back of it is an old Whirlpool sign, reversed.
I've seen this a number of times now, old reversed signs still part of a later businesses signage, and I'm not sure why it is. It's doesn't seem likely that they thought the next store would be another "Whirlpool" vendor and were holding the spot...
12 Responses to 'Woodlief's Appliance Co Inc. / Frank Richards Beverage Shop (The Cocktail Shaker) moved, 6420-N Garners Ferry Road: 2 March 2009'
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Michael Taylor
13 Nov 09 at 4:38 am
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I like having some lemon or lime in my Vodka and tonics. The sour is a nice addition to the drink.
ChiefDanGeorge
13 Nov 09 at 5:28 am
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After I thought about it, I used to enjoy drinking gin or vodka with a lemon-lime soda pop on occasion, and when I lived in California several years ago, I did follow the natives and put lime sections in my beer every once in a while (of course long before people were doing it around here), but all the hard lemon drinks such as limoncello came along after I took a break from drinking. I'm actually wondering what limoncello tastes like. The first thing that comes to my taste buds when I hear the word limoncello is the flavor of lemon extract in syrup with some malt added. Same for "Mike's Hard Lemonade." Just kind of curious what that stuff tastes like.
Michael Taylor
13 Nov 09 at 5:56 am
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Re: the marquis reversed I have a more obvious theory: it's a way to save money. Rather than buying an entire new sigh the next business to occupy the place just buys a new panel for the existing one.
dtaylor
14 Nov 09 at 12:12 pm
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A google search revealed that there is still a Woodlief's Appliance in business farther out Garner's Ferry, almost to Lower Richland High, which is where my mother bought a refrigerator once years ago. When this entry was first posted, I thought the name seemed familiar, but definitely remember driving way out Garner's Ferry because we had found a great deal on a specific model at this place called Woodlief's Appliance. The phonebook lists a Woodlief's Appliance with a couple of phone numbers for different districts, one of them in Cayce and the other having the 8126 Garners Ferry Road address when googled. Also, the phone number on the sign in the back of the store is the place at 8126 Garners Ferry Road. Another mystery in the brew.
I suppose one simple way of getting to the bottom of this one is to pick up the phone and call one of the numbers listed for Woodlief's. Maybe the people at Frank Richards Beverage Shop would have some answers. To be honest with you, I'm kind of curious to talk with the folks at the ABC store just for the sake of finding out what that place is all about; their website has my attention for some reason and I don't even drink at present.
Michael Taylor
14 Nov 09 at 11:39 pm
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Frank Richard's is great! they do not have a huge selection, however all of us regulars know to just give them a call and our order is placed and they will call you on Fri when the truck arrives.
Helen
17 Nov 09 at 1:13 pm
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Helen, thanks for checking in. Ironically, as a non-drinker at present I find myself fascinated by Frank Richard's for some strange reason. Your comment has reminded me that I had set myself up to the task of finding out who was at the above storefront before Frank Richard's. Who knows, before it's over I might be trying out the Van Gogh Dutch Caramel Vodka on some rocks. Or maybe not.
Michael Taylor
17 Nov 09 at 11:21 pm
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I appreciated the phone call from Michael Taylor alerting me to this blog entry. Yes, Frank Richards Beverage has moved to the front of the plaza (Suite D), and we appreciate you telling your readers about our new location. As for the Woodlief Appliance shop, I was not aware of any extenuating circumstances surrounding the decision to move to another place of business, except that there were landlord issues with regard to maintenance of the building. I heard that same complaint from the manager at Fred's - that maintenance issues was at least one of the issues that caused Fred's to close that location. Even in our new space, there are maintenance issues that remain unresolved.
Thank you for the compliments on the website, we are trying very hard to appeal to customers outside our general neighborhood, and I'm glad to hear the feedback.
Thanks again!
20 Nov 09 at 5:28 pm
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As an aside, Woodlief Appliances definitely knew what they were doing when it came to A/C! As we were subsequent tenants, we had the good fortune to inherit their A/C unit, and it was a good one!
20 Nov 09 at 5:34 pm
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And the tenant before Woodlief was a karate studio that first moved to the space on the OTHER side of Fred's (Where the Bingo place has come and gone), and that karate studio has since moved down on Devine or somewhere in that vicinity!
20 Nov 09 at 6:02 pm
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I just got off the phone with the son of Mr. Woodlief and according to him, the original Woodlief's Appliance on Garners Ferry Road was the 8126 address. They moved to Cedar Terrace to be closer to town and then moved to Cayce when the the Cedar Terrace store was robbed at gunpoint. Evidently the robbery and move to Cayce put a strain on the elder and he has since passed away. I didn't ask too many questions because although Mr. Woodlief was very friendly and helpful, I could sense the ordeal of the robbery and the death of his father was still pretty raw for him. He did happen to tell me that before they moved to the above Cedar Terrace location it was a Jeffers McGill appliance store, but that was as far back as he could go. Having two appliance stores in this location gives more sense to the backward Whirlpool sign panel.
My next call was to Frank Richards and the very nice guy who answered the phone basically confirmed the move from the back of the lot to the front. I didn't go into much detail on this call because I figured if the guy started telling me too much about the store, I'd have to buy a bottle of Van Gogh Dutch Caramel Vodka before it was over.
I asked both to join us on Columbia Closings.
Michael Taylor
20 Nov 09 at 6:03 pm
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Well, thanks for the check-in; you posted before I got around to it, that was weird (but great) to see your comments. We didn't discuss too much on the phone because I got the sense you were suspicious of the call and the question of the robbery so we didn't get to talk about the karate studio or much else about the history of that space. Your input here is much appreciated by this commenter.
Michael Taylor
20 Nov 09 at 6:11 pm
I'm surprised by the liquor store's website to be honest with you. I was with a friend a couple of years ago who wanted some adult beverages for the weekend and we were on Garner's Ferry Road so he pulled up to this place. It is the last liquor store that I've been in, literally. When I was there I didn't sense anything out of the ordinary about it, seemed like your average liquor store. Judging from the website, there is some kind of sophistication going on that one wouldn't expect in an ABC store miles away from the Vista or 5-Points.
The main story on their website at the time of this comment was how the buyer for the store has noticed limoncello growing in popularity around the world based on his travels around the world, quite the traveler. Somehow I don't equate a liquor store in Cedar Terrace with having a buyer who travels the world, one of those weird disconnects. Coincidentally Thursday night (11/12/09) on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Danny DeVito was on drinking and hawking his brand of limoncello. What's the story with limoncello and why would anyone drink lemon flavored alcohol? No really, I'm asking that as a curious question.