Western Auto, 1224 Taylor Street: 1970s(?) 7 comments
I have been meaning to get these pictures up for a while since work at the Hotel Trundle storefront ended up exposing the old marquee for a while.
When I was growing up, the Western Auto at Trenholm Plaza more or less where the Lululemon is now was my goto place for hobby batteries. In particular they had gigantic 1.5 volt carbon-zinc cells with screw tip connectors. I forget whatall I did, but electro-magnets, oddball things with flashlight bulbs and glowplugs figured into it. The stores were ubiquitous for a good while then the whole chain went into decline. I kind of remember that the last one open locally was in the Two Notch Kmart building.
I don't actually remember this location at all from back in the day. Of course we would not have driven downtown given that Trenholm Plaza was much more convenient, but I would have thought I would have some memory of seeing it, which I don't.
According to Wikipedia Western Auto was bought by Sears, which worked out as you would expect, and Sears sold most of it to Advance Auto Parts with the chain basically going defunct by 2003.
7 Responses to 'Western Auto, 1224 Taylor Street: 1970s(?)'
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Tom
29 May 25 at 9:02 am
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Forgotto mention that the only two other locations WA had in Columbia that I can recall was at Midlands Plaza and Knox Abbott Drive.
Tom
30 May 25 at 7:46 am
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This marquee and the Rose Talbert next to it were visible back in 2002 when my wife and I lived in an apartment further down on the corner of Main and Taylor, right above where Prohibition is now. Seeing these old buildings actually got me interested in Columbia history back then and eventually led me to this site years later. Cool to see this finally featured here.
Justin
31 May 25 at 8:40 am
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Tom, I seem to recall a Western Auto store in a small shopping plaza on Garners Ferry Road. This would have been late 60s-early 70s. This store closed and reopened as an Otasco store.
Before moving to Columbia my family enjoyed living in a small, rural midwestern town. Western Auto on Main Street was the go to store for our sleds, bikes, skateboards, baseball cards and lawn mowers. Good times.
Joe Shlabotnik
1 Jun 25 at 4:20 am
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My dad was district manager for Western Auto. My folks actually met in this store. I know Rosewood had a store, which moved to Garner's Ferry and Jackson BLVD.
Mr. Bill
11 Jun 25 at 9:00 pm
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There was one in the K-mart shopping center on Two Notch, Trenhold Plaza had one, and I'm sure a few others. My dad actually retired from there around the time I was born. My parents were invited and attended the grand opening of the Hotel Trundle.
Mr. Bill
24 Jun 25 at 8:04 pm
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I noticed the other day that I can still read the painted over Rose Talbert logo from a certain angle driving by.
ted
24 Jun 25 at 10:18 pm
Back in the day Western Auto had one of the best brand of bikes, their Western Flyers. Another thing about WA is that it seemed like there was one in almost every town, big or small. Besides auto supplies they also sold heavy duty appliances like washers, dryers and refrigerators.