Esso / Exxon / Smokey Joe's BBQ / catering / Clayton's Cars / Irmo Properties / Bill Hinson Auto Sales / Irmo Debt Consolidation / Columbia Credit Corporation / Palmetto Glass, 8025/8027 Broad River Road: 2008 12 comments
Today's closing comes from commenter IrmoJeff who says:
Hey Ted…Junior Apprentice Closing Spotter, 2nd Class IrmoJeff checking in :D
I thought i’d toss this out there, in case you are ever out towards Irmo/Balentine again. 8027 Broad River Road is the address of a little triangular piece of land that sits at the intersection of Broad River Road and Woodrow Street, sort of just behind where Tez’ used to be. I drove by there the other day, and it looks like whatever business was in there most recently is closed up. I became aware of the building when i was just out of high school in the early 90’s when a friend of a friend opened Smokey Joe’s BBQ. Im not sure what was there previously, but i dont think Smokey Joes was the original occupant. The owner used to joke that he couldnt afford to charge me a flat rate for the all you could eat buffet, that he would have to weigh me going in and coming out :). Anyway after Smokey Joes closed, it was a catering business (or possibly a restaurant) for a while, run by the Catering By Dupre guy i’m pretty sure. I’m also pretty sure Dupre was somehow involved in Smokey Joes, possibly a silent moneyman or something. After that i lost track, but a quick Googling found all these businesses associated with 8027 BRR:
Bill Hinson Auto Sales
Clayton’s Cars
Irmo Properties
Palmetto Glass
Columbia Credit Corp (listed as 8025 BRR)Im also pretty sure i remember a flower shop, or maybe a gift shop there at one point. I also thought i remembered a car title place there at one point, but i could possibly be confusing it with the Columbia Credit Corp.
I added this pic to clarify which building i was talking about
I actually did take some pictures of this place in April of 2009 (I know from the date of some other pix from the same day) but appear to have deleted them somehow. As I had no idea what the place had been, I didn't keep good track of them.. I'm pretty sure however that the roof of the building was intact at the time or it would have stayed in my mind. Likewise, the picture that IrmoJeff links above shows the roof intact (but has no EXIF date tag). Given that the roof is currently not intact, I suspect that the incoming Hickory Point convenience store will knock the building down, or at least it doesn't make sense to me to leave a building you hope to salvage open to the rain.
As to the two addresses: The lefthand door is labelled "8025" while the righthand door is labelled "8027". I don't have a guess which address goes with the existing outbuildings.
(Hat tip to IrmoJeff, obviously)
UPDATE 18 July 2011: Added Esso & Exxon to the post title based on the comments. Wikipedia says Exxon replaced Esso on 1 January 1973.
UPDATE 12 June 2012 -- Here are two shots of the place as Columbia Credit from 6 March 2008 that I finally located:
UPDATE 20 June 2012 -- As commenter Andrew mentions, construction has started on the Hickory Point store. It's definitely going to have one honkin' long gas canopy:
12 Responses to 'Esso / Exxon / Smokey Joe's BBQ / catering / Clayton's Cars / Irmo Properties / Bill Hinson Auto Sales / Irmo Debt Consolidation / Columbia Credit Corporation / Palmetto Glass, 8025/8027 Broad River Road: 2008'
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Tom
18 Jul 11 at 8:18 am
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We drove by there again yesterday and i asked my wife (who also grew up in the same neighborhood as the Joe from Smokey Joes) and she said she thought the building was built for the BBQ place. Im not sure of that, but i will defer to her superior memory (Man i have been married way too long :D) I do remember that the original building didnt include the left hand part of the current building. Smokey Joes expanded the building to accommodate the large lunch crowds he was getting. Unfortunately, i believe he overextended himself to get a loan for the expansion and the business went under not too long after the expansion was completed.
I had no idea the building had fallen into such disrepair. It kind of looks to me like the building had been hit by one of the big thunderstorms that have hit recently.
IrmoJeff
18 Jul 11 at 8:25 am
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@Tom:
Do you remember when those businesses existed? I was pretty sure i remembered something being there before Smokey Joes, but couldnt remember what. Ive lived in Irmo since 1976.
IrmoJeff
18 Jul 11 at 8:28 am
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I drive by here all the time and had no idea the building was in such bad shape. You're lucky nothing fell on you! haha
Jason
18 Jul 11 at 12:06 pm
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@ IrmoJeff- Based on the architecture I would say late 1960s-early 1970s. The service bays were under the gabel on the right side of the building.
Tom
18 Jul 11 at 12:23 pm
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The local fire department is using the building as a training exercise. I saw this on WIS about a week ago.
Daniel
19 Jul 11 at 12:10 am
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Ah, kind of the same way The Bounty went out..
ted
19 Jul 11 at 2:24 am
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The two side buildings were put up by Ben Kirby when he started Imports Plus there in the early 1980's. I can ask him tomorrow who he bought the lease from when it was a convenience store.
Eric S.
20 Jul 11 at 8:56 pm
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Just figured I'd update this....the buildings are now gone and the land is being cleared. Probably not too long before construction starts on the Hickory Point convenience store/gas station.
IrmoJeff
15 Oct 11 at 7:24 pm
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If only they could rework Woodrow Street while they're at it to intersect US 176/Broad River Road at a safer angle...
Andrew
15 Oct 11 at 7:37 pm
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The Hickory Point gas station is under construction
Andrew
12 Jun 12 at 4:08 pm
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folks, Hickory Point is now in full operation at this site. Before much longer, another Hickory Point location will be operational at the intersection of Hard Scrabble and Lee Road in Northeast Richland
Andrew
14 Aug 12 at 3:20 pm
Ted, I have two more buisneess to add to the already long list of what this was. Originally it was an Esso gas station, then an Exxon.